Thursday, January 19, 2023

Issues With Apple TV Remotes and iCloud Terms

Greg Pierce:

Maybe just lucky, but since upgrading to the newest Apple TV, with the USB-C remote, we've had to reboot the remote periodically to make it work the TV volume.

Despite using Apple TVs for many years, I was not previous aware that you could reboot the remote.

Tim Hardwick:

Several MacRumors forum and Reddit threads have been created to bring attention to the issue, which seems to relate to the Siri Remote's inconsistent Bluetooth connection with the latest Apple TV 4K, even at close proximity.

Apple:

Press and hold the TV/Control Center button and the Volume Down button at the same time. Hold the buttons down for about 5 seconds, or until the status light on your Apple TV turns off and on again.

Benjamin Mayo (via Paul McGrane, Hacker News):

A viral tweet today highlights a somewhat frustrating limitation with the Apple TV software. As of a recent software update, tvOS expects users have access to an iPhone or iPad in order to do things like accept new iCloud terms and conditions, or update their Apple ID settings.

[…]

Apple contacted @hugelgupf to provide a workaround. Apparently, fully signing out of iCloud and back in on the Apple TV will prompt terms and condition screen which can be accepted on the same device. Weird.

Previously:

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Sébastien LeBlanc

This is very common on the Lightning remote. Happen all the time with my 4K second gen and Samsung TV

Yeah, same here, I've got the previous gen Apple TV 4K with the Lightning Siri Remote. The Bluetooth radio connection is tenuous within 15 feet some days, but most of the time it seems fine even from much farther away. And once it did lose the ability to control the television (i.e., sound bar) volume directly and that's when I first learned the remote could be rebooted to fix it. On a few occasions, I've had to re-pair the remote to the Apple TV for no apparent reason.

So in my estimation this isn't a new problem introduced with the latest-gen Apple TV 4K, nor with the USB-C Siri Remote. Bummer, because if anything I was hoping the next-gen stuff would fix the problems I've seen already.

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