I’ve been seeing a few posts recently about various things not working as they should, and a lot of them are seemingly connected to a bug with the NowPlayingInfo integration in the HBO Max app.

The integration basically tells tvOS what is playing in HBO Max, and since the release of HBO Max v7.5.0, it has been broken.

This will cause HBO to be unable to work with a lot of tvOS services, including TV app Continue Watching, Sonos and other wireless airplay (and seemingly Bluetooth) speakers, the Now Playing widget on iPhone and iPad, play/pause functionality from AirPods and probably some other things.

When content is playing in HBO Max, your Apple TV thinks it’s idle, not playing or paused.

I have been in a two-week back and forth with HBO Max support, and they have been helpful, despite briefly trying to pin this issue on tvOS. This morning, I got an email from them saying that their development team is actively working on a solution, so fingers crossed.

Bottom line, this is a problem with the app, and will require a fix in an update to the app. Updating tvOS will not fix the problem, so don’t update to tvOS 27 beta if all you’re looking to do is to fix this.

Also, the most recent app update did not fix the problem, unfortunately.

Hope this answers some questions. I wish I had a solution to offer, but it looks like we’re all stuck waiting for an app update that actually includes a fix.

Click ok, goes away for two seconds, comes right back. Can’t access control panel or settings. Appeared three days ago, and now I’m seeing Dante in a new light. Any thoughts?

I got Apple TV but how do I have it to have u select profile each time

Also can you turn off content that you buy or rent or have to go to another streaming app to watch

Btw this is the final streaming we got

We have

Prime, Netflix, max, paramount+, Disney+ and now Apple TV

Not in that order btw

I have noticed that I am seeing an issue with 2 JBL Partybox 310 speakers turning on. The speakers are configured in JBL stereo mode, paired with each other with Bluetooth. I have the AppleTV 4K 3rd gen 128K with ethernet port set to stereo audio instead of automatic mode. The speakers only seem to wake up running Bluetooth off my AppleTV channel. If I run HBO, the speakers never turn on so there is no sound. I think Netflix is the same way. Maybe others. What I do when I first turn on my Sony 85-inch Bravo and my AppleTV I select my AppleTV icon and run any show or movie, whatever comes up first. I run it long enough for the speakers to turn on then I can switch to HBO or whatever and the speakers continue to work fine the rest of the evening as long as I don't turn it off.

I will switch to CAT6 cable in the fall. But I am not sure it is network related. It would seem to be more Bluetooth related but I don't really know. My AppleTV is connected to my Sony TV using HDMI 4K on the Sony Bravo TV.

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to understand whether this is expected behavior or if I’m missing a setting.

My setup is:
Apple TV 4K (2022)
Onkyo TX-SR674 (HDMI 1.1, no Dolby Atmos support)
Sony TV
5.1 speaker setup

The Apple TV is connected to the Onkyo via HDMI, and the Onkyo is connected to the TV via HDMI.

Here are the results of my tests:
- Disney+ (Pirates of the Caribbean): Onkyo reports “PCM MULTICH HDMI”.
- Apple TV+ (Napoleon, Dolby Atmos): Onkyo also reports “PCM MULTICH HDMI”.
- Apple Music:
Dolby Atmos is enabled (“Automatic”).
The currently playing track clearly shows the Dolby Atmos badge (for example Elton John’s Rocket Man or Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall).
However, the Onkyo switches to Dolby Pro Logic IIx, suggesting that it is only receiving stereo PCM.

So it seems that:
- Movies (including Atmos titles from Apple TV+) are rendered by the Apple TV as multichannel PCM, which my old AVR can decode perfectly.
- Apple Music Atmos tracks are apparently not rendered to multichannel PCM and instead fall back to stereo.

Is this expected behavior?

Does Apple Music require an AVR that advertises Dolby Atmos capability before it will output a multichannel render, while the TV app will happily render Atmos movies to PCM 5.1/7.1?

Or is there another setting I’m missing?

I’d appreciate hearing from anyone using Apple TV with an older non-Atmos AVR.

Update: I forgot to mention that my Apple TV 4K (2022) is running tvOS 27 Public Beta. Movies from both Disney+ and Apple TV+ still output PCM MULTICH HDMI on my receiver, but Apple Music Atmos tracks fall back to PLIIx. So this could also be a tvOS 27 Public Beta issue rather than expected behavior.

Update 2: Thanks everyone for all the suggestions and ideas. I did some more testing and I think I’ve narrowed it down.

I’m running tvOS 27 Public Beta on an Apple TV 4K (2022) connected to an Onkyo TX-SR674 (non-Atmos AVR).

Here’s what I found:
Automatic audio format
- Movies (Disney+, Apple TV+) → PCM MULTICH HDMI on the receiver.
- Apple Music Atmos → PCM + PLIIx.

Convert to Dolby Digital 5.1
- Movies → Dolby Digital 3/2.1.
- Apple Music Atmos tracks (e.g. Rocket Man) → Dolby Digital 3/2.1 and they sound great.
- Regular stereo Apple Music tracks become completely silent. The receiver still detects the signal, but there’s no audio until I switch back to Automatic.

At this point I’m starting to think this is a tvOS 27 Public Beta regression, specifically affecting stereo Apple Music playback when Dolby Digital 5.1 conversion is enabled.

I have this 4th generation appletv just lying around the house without purpose - with 1080p output, I think it lost it resell value.

Can I re-purpose it for something else? some hack? Is it possible to install on it another OS? Just hearing for some random cool stuff that could be possible - thanks!

Couldn't have done it without the great feedback from this sub! (the Watch Next sorting was a direct ask from here)

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/watchqueue-tv-watchlist/id6781497389?platform=tv

WatchQueue tracks every show and movie you're watching, shows you where each one is streaming, and always cues up your next unwatched episode. Connect Trakt or Plex to pull in your history and library or skip both and just use it on its own. The Trakt/Plex integration is a sub of 7 bucks/yr or 20/lifetime but once it unlocks it's good for family sharing and syncs across devices as well.

Free, no account required. And it's now a universal app: iPhone, (eventually)iPad, and Apple TV, synced through iCloud.

Also working on: tapping a title to jump straight into the streaming app that has it... what's still missing?

Older 1080p Samsung TV set (from 2008-2012) but it does have AnyNet+ as its HDMI-CEC control mechanism.

My Roku Ultra 2022 has no issue controlling the volume and TV power.

The apple tv controls the volume perfectly. But when I use the power button it turns off the apple tv and kills the connection to the hdmi port ("disconnecting anynet device" message pops up on screen) and switches to the "TV" port (which woukd be channels it picked up over digital airwave signal) instead of turning off the TV set

I have an LG C9 OLED where the apple tv works perfectly in another room. The source list on the Samsung TV actually lists "Apple TV" with an AnyNet+ logo next to it.

Any advice?

im being sold a Apple TV 4k 1st gen for about $50 (A brand new Apple TV 4k 3rd gen costs 250 USD here). Is it still a great value for 2026 considering it was released 9 year ago? Im upgrading from the onboard OS of my Smart TV

I can switch the device back to my phone, but it seems to pop back up with whatever’s on my TV a few minutes later

I've done a lot of googling and have not come up with an answer to this, so I think there might not be one. I am trying to figure out a way to make my purchased content (TV series and Movies) more easily accessible without having to open the Apple TV App then navigate to Library on the left sidebar. Ideally, there would just be a shortcut on the homescreen that goes straight to my library.

Is this possible?

My Apple TV is so sluggish. I consider myself good at tech and am struggling

The case:
Connection over WiFi
Super sluggish buffering to stream. Either picture quality comes in super low, or stream stops for 30 seconds every few minutes
Even Apple Music is slow to play

If I switch over to my tv interface, no streaming issues and quality is great on streaming

I factory reset, still an issue.
I got a replacement from Apple after it took 24 hours to complete the factory reset, still issue

Any ideas?

Last month I posted here about the TestFlight for an Apple TV app I was working on: Overflight, a radar scope that shows the aircraft flying over your house (or office or...). Just following up to announce that it went live on the App Store today: https://dgrlabs.co/g/bvb9xb

Quite a few people from r/appletv joined the beta (thank you, and check your email!) and the Apple TV numbers genuinely surprised me. As it turns out, it's a totally different app on Apple TV than it is on iPhone/iPad.

Average Apple TV session in the beta ran almost 30 minutes, versus under a minute on iPhone. People leave it on. So v1.0 leans into that: the screen saver never interrupts it, and the app prevents burn-in by drifting the whole display a few pixels every couple of minutes so the static parts aren't actually static. There's also a pure-black background option if you want the UI to really stand out in a brightly-lit room.

When something notable is inbound (military or other rare type) the display goes amber and counts down until it reaches you. Most days are quieter than that, but when it happens it's pretty cool.

The scope itself is free. With Pro you get routes (origin and destination), spoken callouts, interesting inbounds, and always-on mode for $3.99/mo, $19.99/yr, or $69.99 once. There's a 7-day free trial on the yearly sub if you want to test drive it first.

Thanks again to everyone here who tested it. A good chunk of the polish in this build traces straight back to beta feedback from this sub.

tvOS26 - ATV 4k 3rd gen - shows starting loud but immediately drops to desired volume

As the title said? Anyone of you experienced similar behavior?
What did you do to solve it?

Many years ago I bought an Apple TV expecting to find a great IPTV player.

Instead, I spent months trying almost every app available. Some looked like Android ports, some were missing basic features, and what frustrated me the most was constantly running into paywalls. Want another playlist? Pay. Want another feature? Pay. Want to have Airplay? Pay!W ant to remove another limitation? Pay again. It started to feel like every little improvement came with another purchase.

Eventually I got tired of the "pay, pay and keep paying"!

I’m a software engineer, so I decided to build the IPTV player I actually wanted to use.

I studied the best streaming apps and try to learn what worked and how to create a solid experience.

What started as a personal weekend project slowly became the app I use every day, and after many months of development I thought it might be worth sharing.

My goal wasn’t to build the player with the longest feature list. It was to build one that actually feels like it belongs on Apple TV.

It supports everything I personally expect from an IPTV player: Xtream Codes, M3U playlists, EPG, Continue Watching, Recently Watched, favourites, custom channel groups, HDR, Dolby Vision, and the ability to browse on your iPhone, iPad or Mac (the same app is going to be available for all these platforms too) and instantly send a movie, TV series or live channel to your Apple TV via AirPlay without having to type everything with the Siri Remote.

But more importantly, I wanted to build something that people could simply buy and enjoy.

No ads.

No watermarks.

No artificial viewing limits.

No “pay again to unlock another small feature.”

Every feature is included from day one, and the app is actively maintained with regular updates and improvements based on user feedback.

The app uses a single account across your Apple devices, so as native versions for iPhone, iPad and Mac are released, they’ll all work without you need to purchase another app for another platform.

It also includes proper parental controls with child-friendly filtering, because not every IPTV app is used by a single person. Many of us have families, and I wanted that experience to be built in from the start instead of being treated as an expensive add-on.

I’m not claiming it’s the most feature-packed IPTV player available. There are some excellent alternatives.

But if you’ve ever wished there were an IPTV app designed for Apple users first and not just another generic player with features locked behind endless upgrades—that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to build.

I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts, suggestions and criticism. The app has become what it is thanks to feedback from people who use it every day, and I intend to keep improving it for a long time to come.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xtream-iptv-player-pro/id6787746118

Found this link that had the apple tv 4k for the old 149 price. Went to best buy and could not process match in person. However, upon texting support I got the match! Will leave the link to the Walmart post for n case you guys want to try it out!

Here is the link: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Apple-TV-4K-128GB-3rd-gen-Wi-Fi-Ethernet-MN893LL-A-2022/1779214586?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1321&adid=222222222981779214586_0000000000_23887149012&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=&wl4=&wl5=9060439&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=1779214586&veh=sem&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23892387002&gbraid=0AAAAADmfBIqN-caA0j1LGfZG_uWzjSm97&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6_HSBhCpARIsANvVltYWbmfSywKaG9CgWRFKmTRCe0y3PwNTiWkJBvy_MNQDz3HvWXAUpKUaAjOTEALw_wcB

Hello,

I recently got a Sony Bravia 8II, and almost everything is perfect. However, I’m having an issue with the Apple TV 2021. When I play Dolby Vision content from, for example, HBO Max, the screen often goes black, and nothing happens until I return to the Apple TV’s main menu. I’ve tried setting the Apple TV to SDR as the default, as well as Dolby Vision as the default, with both "match content" and frame rate on and off. I’ve also tried different HDMI cables—both are 48Gbps certified—and different HDMI ports, all set to enhanced mode. When I use HBO Max through the built-in Android TV section, everything plays fine.
Are there others who have experienced this hassle with an Apple TV?

Is something defective here?

I have three apple TV 4k devices in my home. 2 first gens, one third Gen. I use plex to stream from a home server. All the are connected to the server via hardwire. I'm having repeated issues with the 3rd Gen not playing content off my plex server that the 1st gens play just fine. The third Gen will either just hang or will give me some odd error message. Had anyone else experienced the same thing? Do I need to reencode my content? Any help would be appreciated.

I just upgraded to a 3rd Gen ATV 4K and this thing keeps switching my Volume Control setting from 'TV via IR' (which actually WORKS) to 'Auto via HDMI (Receiver)' which does NOT. So I'm losing my ability to control my TV's volume multiple times a day with the ATV remote. I never experienced this problem with my previous 2nd Gen ATV 4K, but I also had that thing running an older version of tvOS so I don't know if this is a bug with the later firmware or what??

Okay I need help BIG TIME. I don’t know if this issue coming from Apple TV or MY LG G1 4K TV.

Before the last three software updates, I had my TV turn off Dolby atmos, it just doesn’t sound right on my tv. So I have it turned off for everything.

Then come the the first update, every time I turn it on, the message prompted me to turn on Dolby Atmos for the best experience. I have to manually press close. Then whenever I select a content to watch, the message prompt again. Then whenever the content is ended, the message prompted again. It’s soooo annoying. I’ve been doing that ever since.

Now I need help to stop the message from being so persistent and f***ing annoying. I don’t know if this issue is coming from Apple TV or the tv itself. I recently tested it by going to the Netflix app coming from the LG TV’s (not from Apple TV), the message didn’t prompt. Nothing at all. Disney+ app (not Apple TV), same, nothing.

Saturday afternoon I noticed that I couldn't stream anymore. All of the apps open and I can search through them(Prime, Disney+, Discovery+, Crave, Paramount+), but when I go to actually watch a show or movie, it gives an error code. The code I received on Prime was 5051. Apple TV was purchased new in 2017, TV is old (2011 I think, not a smart tv). Any thoughts on what it could be? There haven't been any system updates that I'm aware of.

Seems like more and more posts here are people shilling their ATV app. It's great that people are trying their hand at "programming" and it's cool to see new things, but if the posting trend continues there will be more "hey look at me" content than actual ATV hardware content. There's thousands of app developers out there and things would get cluttered quickly if they all made a post ever time they dropped a new version.

Having a separate megathread for these types of posts would still allow them to publicize their work, it would make it easier for users interested in testing new apps to follow along, and it would clean up the main subreddit similar to how "Should I buy a new ATV?" megathread has.

Hey yall! So I’ve been having a weird experience with only HBO Max on my Apple TV. I can use any other app and the audio plays from my HomePod Mini, but the second I use HBO, it plays from my projector speakers!!! The Apple TV still says the HomePod Mini is connected, yet the audio just plays out of the projector. It’s so weird.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I’m genuinely confused, I’ve had an ATVs since 2017. My current gen one today randomly started turning the volume up to max while I was vacuuming and then when I turned the vacuum off, it would immediately go back down. I tried checking the settings on both the ATV and my Samsung tv, and I couldn’t find the setting that would cover that. Is this the Apple TV or the Samsung TV? I’ve never had this happen before today.

Is it just me or is Apple TVs watch list impossible to find and when you do it is incomplete. I know I have added shows to my watchlist, such as smoke and they don’t show up. Would love just to see a list of shows I want to watch so I can pick and not have to scroll through all the others especially the ones that are on different services anyway. Hopefully I’m just doing it wrong.