Apple TV 4th Gen - iOS Remote App (Solved)

[BigMcGuire]

Figured I'd share my experience with a recent Apple TV purchase.

My wife and I upgraded from the 3rd gen to the 4th and could not get our iOS Remote app to see the TV no matter what we did (restarted TV/phones, got latest updates, made sure we were on same wifi network, etc...). The remote that came with the TV worked just fine but the iOS app didn't see it, no matter if running the App or doing it from the control center.

Solution?

Connected Apple TV 4th Gen to a 5ghz wifi network. (It was connected to a 2.4ghz). iOS remote app saw the TV right away, it paired right away, everything works perfectly now (for my iPhone and my wife's iPhone).

Just an FYI to others who may have the same problem.

 

[techwarrior]

That doesn't make much sense.

Airplay, Remote App, Home Sharing, etc all use Bonjour (kind of Apple's answer to UPNP). This is an L2 broadcast which can be seen by any host on the network. 2.4 or 5Ghz WiFi simply are ways, like Ethernet, to get on the network.

My ATV4s are Ethernet connected, the remote app can see them whether I am connected to 2.4 or 5Ghz Wifi, or Ethernet (Mac).

Is there something unusual about your network? If your WiFi has a guest network configured, and\or an ISP Wifi (Comcast for example) and you connect to this SSID, it is effectively a different network that won't see any of your internal hosts connected to your private LAN or private WiFi. If so, make sure the guest wifi is configured with a different SSID (NETWORK_GUEST for example) to make sure you don't accidentally connect to it. If you "Forget" the guest network after testing it, you will never connect to it unless you enter the password.

Or, perhaps your router has UPNP settings that are configurable by SSID (never heard of this but there are a ton of WiFi routers in the market).

 

[BigMcGuire]

Well - maybe it is just me? I have a Netgear N600 - and as far as I know the guest network is off. I know my 2.4ghz wifi has been horrible around my house in the last 6 months - regardless of the channel because all the retired folk are moving out and the kids moving in all get Charter cable with wifi. This may be why --- I just assumed it was something with the Apple TV.

I don't doubt it is my fault (in fact it probably is). I just know when I switched it to my 5ghz band - iOS Apple TV remote found the TV instantly and I was good to go.

Thanks for the info - I'll check into the other stuff when I get home. I know I don't have network isolation on either.

Wish I could ethernet my Apple TV - but it's 3 rooms away from my N600 and I'm way too lazy to wire ethernet (I'm renting too).

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Hermes Monster]

A friend of mine had this issue with his Virgin Media router, solved in the same way you described

 

[techwarrior]

Well - maybe it is just me? I have a Netgear N600 - and as far as I know the guest network is off. I know my 2.4ghz wifi has been horrible around my house in the last 6 months - regardless of the channel because all the retired folk are moving out and the kids moving in all get Charter cable with wifi. This may be why --- I just assumed it was something with the Apple TV.

I don't doubt it is my fault (in fact it probably is). I just know when I switched it to my 5ghz band - iOS Apple TV remote found the TV instantly and I was good to go.

Thanks for the info - I'll check into the other stuff when I get home. I know I don't have network isolation on either.

Wish I could ethernet my Apple TV - but it's 3 rooms away from my N600 and I'm way too lazy to wire ethernet (I'm renting too).

Thanks for the reply.

If you have Coax running throughout the home, you can run MOCA (Ethernet over Coax) using MOCA adapters, you can also use power line adapters to run Ethernet over the power lines in the home. Both, with the more current products, are capable of respectable bandwidth.

If your 2.4 is competing in a crowded frequency band, all sorts of havoc can occur. Setting the channel to 1 or 11 can often clean a lot of that up because most people never bother, or don't know how to change their WiFi channels. So, in a crowded space, everyone using the default channel 6, packets from every network in range hit your router, and it has to determine what to do with it. But, isolating channels reduces the number of "stray" packets.
[doublepost=1512770342][/doublepost]Or, you could line your walls and windows with foil and turn your space into a Faraday Cage. lol...

In this day and age with WiFi becoming so common, 2.4 is not practical in many cases. 5Ghz has shorter range, so your neighbor's networks often lack the strength to reach your home, thus interfere less. If 5Ghz covers your space well, use it and avoid 2.4.