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

[bdub786]

Remember when Scott Forstall, then head of iOS and heir apparent to CEO, was literally kicked out of Apple for not apologizing that Apple Maps in iOS 6 did not function properly — and that was a free part of iOS with its predecessor (Google Maps) still available as a free alternative. Tim Cook, then and still CEO, apologized instead and Scott was forced out of the company. https://www.macrumors.com/2012/10/29/scott-forstall-reportedly-forced-out-of-apple/

Now, a premium paid service hasn’t been functioning properly for months and no one at Apple is acknowledging the issue, apologizing, reassuring customers they’ll fix it, or demonstrating any accountability. I don’t want anyone to be fired, but come on, Apple, this is out of character.

 

[charmag]

did Apple secretly fix this? This seems to work now and doesn't crash after 30 seconds.

 

[bdub786]

did Apple secretly fix this? This seems to work now and doesn't crash after 30 seconds.

I assume you are referring to the AirPlay workaround (i.e. AirPlaying a workout from your iPhone to your AppleTV because the AppleTV still isn’t connecting to your watch in a timely manner on its own)? That workaround stopped working for me altogether, but I’ll try it again later based on your message. Thanks!

Also, I verified the very delayed Apple TV to Apple Watch connection has not been fixed for me as of this morning. I’m on all of the latest OS’s.

 

[charmag]

Yes, the AirPlay from my iPhone to AppleTV works for me now. I've done it multiple times with Fitness+. On the second issue, after I reset my watch, it's been connecting pretty quickly (under 10 seconds), but since this degrades over time I won't know for a week or so if that has been fixed. I am on the latest OS's. I rePaired my watch. reBooted my router. reset my AppleTV. and reBooted my iPhone and iPad. Too much work and there is no reason for apple to release such a fragile system when they control all the pieces.

 

[bdub786]

watchOS 8.4.1 was released today, but it does not fix the issue. Just confirmed it took over a minute to connect to my watch. Maybe next time…

 

[bdub786]

Today took me 26-minutes and 9-seconds to connect. Which gave me time to write my third email to an Apple Executive begging them to give this issue meaningful attention.

Watch, TV, iPhone all on latest OS. I re-paired the Watch twice since this issue started. After each re-pair, the issue gradually gets worse.

 

[bdub786]

Apple just released watchOS 8.4.2 today 2/10/22. I updated my watch a moment ago (not my iPhone or AppleTV) and it appears to have fixed the problem! Connected in less than a second — this morning’s workout took over 11 minutes to connect. Fingers crossed this is truly fixed.

 

[bdub786]

Thanks to all who worked with Apple Customer Support to share diagnostics and help sort this out. I thought you might find this interesting…

On February 9th while waiting for my watch to connect to my AppleTV, I sent a brief email to Tim Cook describing the issue, linking the Apple Support Community thread, and asking for help. Much to my surprise, Tim Cook (or whoever helps monitor his email account) forwarded my email to someone in Apple Corporate Executive Relations who contacted me the following day and gathered information to help resolve the issue. Coincidentally, Apple released the watchOS 8.4.2 update the same day, which seems to have fixed the issue.

As I thanked the person who helped me with the issue, I shared that I hoped Apple would credit customers in someway for the paid service being unavailable/degraded for over a month, and asked if my recommendation could be relayed to whomever is in a position to consider it. I was promptly reassured it has been passed along for consideration.

Time will tell what if anything comes of it. In the meantime, just happy Bakari and company are getting us back into our routines. Thanks again for everyone who shared their experience!