Fitness+ Apple TV stuck on “Confirm on your Apple Watch…” screen

[bdub786]

Is anyone else having this issue??

I have used Fitness+ on my Apple TV since the service was first offered, but for the past month or so, I experience ridiculously long waits on the “Connect on your Apple Watch…” screen. I open the Fitness app on my Apple TV, it asks me to select an Apple Watch, I select my Apple Watch, I immediately get a prompt on my Apple Watch, I accept the prompt, the prompt goes away, but the TV doesn’t immediately (if ever) acknowledge the Watch is now connected — just stays at the “Confirm on your Apple Watch…” screen with a loading icon spinning over the user I selected. In fact, it has been loading for over an hour as I write this! It started at least a few weeks ago. At first it was annoying, maybe a minute or two to connect. Since January 6, 2022 (I know because I recorded it) it takes more than 10-minutes every time. All of my software is up to date. I have a Series 6 watch and Apple TV HD. The 400Mbps network I use and location of my setup has not changed.

The only “workaround” I have found is workouts on my iPhone or iPad work almost instantly (like the Apple TV had for about a year) — I do a 20-minute workout on the iPad and if I’m lucky, the Apple TV connects by the time I finish for a Mindful Cooldown — today I am not lucky. Today I started to connect at 7:10 am ET (verified on Nest Cam), and as I post this at 8:27 am ET, it is still connecting. I contacted customer support multiple times but their solutions (predictably verifying software is up to date, resetting devices, unpairing and pairing again, etc.) have not solved the problem. This is 100% an error in Apple’s software/services somewhere between the TV and the Watch (because it doesn’t affect the iPad or iPhone Fitness+ workouts). Please like this if you’re having the same issue, and please share if anyone gets a solution or Apple acknowledges it is a known error that they are fixing with a software update. Thank you!

 

[RoundaboutRey]

Is anyone else having this issue??

I have used Fitness+ on my Apple TV since the service was first offered, but for the past month or so, I experience ridiculously long waits on the “Connect on your Apple Watch…” screen. I open the Fitness app on my Apple TV, it asks me to select an Apple Watch, I select my Apple Watch, I immediately get a prompt on my Apple Watch, I accept the prompt, the prompt goes away, but the TV doesn’t immediately (if ever) acknowledge the Watch is now connected — just stays at the “Confirm on your Apple Watch…” screen with a loading icon spinning over the user I selected. In fact, it has been loading for over an hour as I write this! It started at least a few weeks ago. At first it was annoying, maybe a minute or two to connect. Since January 6, 2022 (I know because I recorded it) it takes more than 10-minutes every time. All of my software is up to date. I have a Series 6 watch and Apple TV HD. The 400Mbps network I use and location of my setup has not changed.

The only “workaround” I have found is workouts on my iPhone or iPad work almost instantly (like the Apple TV had for about a year) — I do a 20-minute workout on the iPad and if I’m lucky, the Apple TV connects by the time I finish for a Mindful Cooldown — today I am not lucky. Today I started to connect at 7:10 am ET (verified on Nest Cam), and as I post this at 8:27 am ET, it is still connecting. I contacted customer support multiple times but their solutions (predictably verifying software is up to date, resetting devices, unpairing and pairing again, etc.) have not solved the problem. This is 100% an error in Apple’s software/services somewhere between the TV and the Watch (because it doesn’t affect the iPad or iPhone Fitness+ workouts). Please like this if you’re having the same issue, and please share if anyone gets a solution or Apple acknowledges it is a known error that they are fixing with a software update. Thank you!

Yep. Exact same issue. Only started about 10 days ago and it’s totally infuriating. Apple doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue. ??‍♂️

 

[EastHillWill]

What series is your watch?

 

[EastHillWill]

Yep. Exact same issue. Only started about 10 days ago and it’s totally infuriating. Apple doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue. ??‍♂️

What series is your watch?

 

[bdub786]

What series is your watch?

Series 6, 44mm with cellular, M0G83LL/A.

I’ve had and am using the same Apple TV and Watch since Fitness+ launched. It worked as advertised for many months, then just suddenly stopped working.

 

[EastHillWill]

Series 6, 44mm with cellular, M0G83LL/A.

I’ve had and am using the same Apple TV and Watch since Fitness+ launched. It worked as advertised for many months, then just suddenly stopped working.

Gotcha. My series 6 works fine, but my wife is having this issue with her series 4

 

[bdub786]

Gotcha. My series 6 works fine, but my wife is having this issue with her series 4

Thanks for sharing. So with the same Apple TV, Fitness+ works on your Series 6 but not your wife’s Series 4?

I wonder what subset of users are affected. I’m surprised this isn’t getting more attention considering the commonality of fitness-oriented New Years’ resolutions, and Apple just launched fitness collections.

 

[EastHillWill]

Thanks for sharing. So with the same Apple TV, Fitness+ works on your Series 6 but not your wife’s Series 4?

I wonder what subset of users are affected. I’m surprised this isn’t getting more attention considering the commonality of fitness-oriented New Years’ resolutions, and Apple just launched fitness collections.

That's correct. And yes, we were just talking about the timing being far from ideal given it's resolution season.

 

[bdub786]

Yep. Exact same issue. Only started about 10 days ago and it’s totally infuriating. Apple doesn’t seem to think it’s an issue. ??‍♂️

A workaround until this gets patched. Find the workout on your iPhone, and click “Let’s Go”. In the bottom-right, there’s an option to AirPlay it to your AppleTV including stats and timer. Note: Using screen mirroring (rather than AirPlay) does not include the stats and timer, but AirPlay shows everything as you’d normally see it. Annoying, but it works. Hopefully the real issue is patched soon.

 

[bdub786]

That's correct. And yes, we were just talking about the timing being far from ideal given it's resolution season.

A workaround until this gets patched. Find the workout on your iPhone, and click “Let’s Go”. In the bottom-right, there’s an option to AirPlay it to your AppleTV including stats and timer. Note: Using screen mirroring (rather than AirPlay) does not include the stats and timer, but AirPlay shows everything as you’d normally see it. Annoying, but it works. Hopefully the real issue is patched soon.

 

[RoundaboutRey]

What series is your watch?

I have 6

 

[EastHillWill]

A workaround until this gets patched. Find the workout on your iPhone, and click “Let’s Go”. In the bottom-right, there’s an option to AirPlay it to your AppleTV including stats and timer. Note: Using screen mirroring (rather than AirPlay) does not include the stats and timer, but AirPlay shows everything as you’d normally see it. Annoying, but it works. Hopefully the real issue is patched soon.

That’s good to know, thank you!

We reset her Apple Watch, which also worked (for now). But of course that’s an annoying process and far from ideal.

 

[shelle82m]

I've been having this issue going on for several months now. The only way to get it to start working for me is to unpair the watch and then re-pair it. Usually after I do this it will instantly connect with the TV, but after a couple of weeks or so it starts slowing down and then I have to do the whole process over again. I upgraded my series 6 watch to a 7 thinking that might be the issue, but the series 7 does it as well. I also tried setting the watch up completely new and not from a backup thinking there might something carrying over, but that didn't make a difference either.

 

[bdub786]

I've been having this issue going on for several months now. The only way to get it to start working for me is to unpair the watch and then re-pair it. Usually after I do this it will instantly connect with the TV, but after a couple of weeks or so it starts slowing down and then I have to do the whole process over again. I upgraded my series 6 watch to a 7 thinking that might be the issue, but the series 7 does it as well. I also tried setting the watch up completely new and not from a backup thinking there might something carrying over, but that didn't make a difference either.

Thanks for sharing. I shared a workaround earlier that you can broadcast your workout from iPhone to AppleTV with AirPlay, and unfortunately the next time I tried it my iPhone started getting stuck saying it couldn’t find my Apple Watch. So I used my iPad for my last workout — fingers crossed that still works tomorrow.

I have your same experience. Unpairing/pairing my watch is only a temporary (and time consuming) fix — the issue just keeps comes back.

Others have mentioned reassigning the Apple TV’s room in the Home app fixes the issue for them, but that has not worked for me.

Hoping a software update that fixes this is imminent ? at this point I would just be happy for Apple to acknowledge, “a small percentage of users cannot use Fitness+ on their Apple TV. We’re working on it. Also, here’s 3 free months on us or a credit to your AppleOne subscription for the inconvenience”.

 

[charmag]

Any updates on this? I have a S7 and it won't connect to my Apple TV for Fitness+. I use to be able to AirPlay from my phone or ipad to the AppleTV and get my workout with the rings, time, and burn-bar. Just last night it started to crash at 30 seconds, everyone time. I've tried changing the room, reboot each device, and nothing works. Fitness+ is the first app that has gotten me moving on a daily basis, so I want this to work. I've called Apple in the past and spent hours and hours on the phone with them. There has to be a solution to this.

 

[bdub786]

Any updates on this? I have a S7 and it won't connect to my Apple TV for Fitness+. I use to be able to AirPlay from my phone or ipad to the AppleTV and get my workout with the rings, time, and burn-bar. Just last night it started to crash at 30 seconds, everyone time. I've tried changing the room, reboot each device, and nothing works. Fitness+ is the first app that has gotten me moving on a daily basis, so I want this to work. I've called Apple in the past and spent hours and hours on the phone with them. There has to be a solution to this.

I have been following this on Macrumors, Reddit, and Apple’s Customer Support page — no acknowledgement from Apple that this is a problem as far as I can tell. I even emailed the Macrumors tip email address asking if Macrumors can reach out to Apple for comment, but I have not heard back.

The only workaround that seems to consistently (temporarily) work is unpairing your watch from the phone then pairing again. The process takes about 30-minutes, — it’s easy but frustratingly time consuming. I say it temporarily works because the issue ramps up again over time even after you follow this method (e.g. my first workout after re-pairing took a second to connect to the watch, next was 5 seconds, next was 30 seconds, etc.). Eventually connecting to the watch takes more time than re-pairing.

 

[charmag]

Thanks for the update. I tried a suggestion from reddit to un-pair/re-pair my watch to my phone and it did fix the issue. I use fitness+ a lot, so I hope it doesn't degrade as quickly as you say. I also just sent an email to the Macrumors tip line. Is it true that apple gave you 3-free months for the hassle? That might be worth calling their support again.

 

[bdub786]

Thanks for the update. I tried a suggestion from reddit to un-pair/re-pair my watch to my phone and it did fix the issue. I use fitness+ a lot, so I hope it doesn't degrade as quickly as you say. I also just sent an email to the Macrumors tip line. Is it true that apple gave you 3-free months for the hassle? That might be worth calling their support again.

The 3-free month suggestion was my recommendation to Apple — unfortunately I didn’t get any help from Apple on this issue. Seemed like it would be a reasonable response from Apple, and not unprecedented for Apple to extend a service for a few free months considering they extended free trials of AppleTV+ a couple of times after launch.

The new iOS, WatchOS, and tvOS just dropped. No mention of this issue in the release notes but maybe they fixed this — will comment later when I get a chance to install and confirm.

 

[bdub786]

I updated my Watch, iPhone, and AppleTV and unfortunately it still took over a minute to connect —before this bug it would connect for me in less than two seconds— so I suspect between no reference in the software release notes and this simple trial run that the issue remains and I’ll have to keep repeating the re-pairing process whenever the connection-delay gets unbearable.

Please share if you figure out any new/faster workarounds with iOS 15.3, watchOS 8.4, and tvOS 15.3.

 

[charmag]

I updated all devices too, and spent over an hour on the phone with Apple Support. They are still researching the issue and will get back to me later tonight. They had me reset my appletv. It did NOT solve the problem of crashing after ~30 seconds on AirPlay from my iphone/ipad to appletv. They told me this was not a known bug for them.

 

[bdub786]

They told me this was not a known bug for them.

Were they referring to AirPlay crashing after 30-seconds, or that AppleTV won’t connect to Apple Watch preventing you from using Fitness+ the way it’s supposed to function?

This issue is even older than this thread on MacRumors and it’s directly on their Apple Support Community forum. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253531266?page=1

Not a lawyer, but there’s probably grounds for a class action. Marketing a service that requires customers to buy two specific Apple products (Watch and TV) and a service (Fitness+ or Apple One), and accepting payment for months while the service doesn’t function. One could argue customers are entitled to a refund on the service and a fraction of the products too.

Putting that aside, how could they not know this an issue? Is it truly only affecting a few dozen people? Or are many of us bundled using Apple One so they don’t have a wave of cancelled Fitness+ subscriptions setting off red flags?

 

[charmag]

They were referring to the AirPlay crashing as Not being a bug. She said she did not see any internal chatter on that issue with the latest release.

The fact that it seems to reliably crash after 30 seconds, seems like it should be easy to pinpoint the service causing it. Thanks for the link to the other issue.

 

[charmag]

After many hours on the phone yesterday with Apple Support, they finally agreed that the AirPlay crashing after 30 seconds was a bug and would be sent to their engineering team.

 

[RoundaboutRey]

What’s extra frustrating is standing next to my husband and seeing him get into Apple Fitness instantaneously after tapping “Confirm” on his watch.

 

[RoundaboutRey]

Random, but does anyone else here have Google Fiber or another mesh home Wi-Fi router? I only ask because we’ve discovered several of our HomeKit accessories freaked out when we switched to Google Fiber and their router and now I’m wondering if this is related to that?