Is your new fourth-generation Apple TV acting funky? Here's how to force quit, restart, and reset.
Apple's newest set top box has a lot going for it, but it's still a pretty new product, with a new operating system and new app SDK—the occasional bug here and there is inevitable.
Thankfully, there are a few easy ways to troubleshoot pesky apps and system quirks.
How to force quit a misbehaving Apple TV app
If you run into trouble, you can force quit it by pressing and holding the Menu button on your Siri remote. Easy as pie.
If you're still having trouble with apps and the Apple TV, you can force restart your device by going to Settings > System > Restart. If that doesn't cure your Apple TV ails, you may want to try uninstalling and reinstalling the misbehaving app in question and reaching out to the developer.
Having issues with the content in a specific app?
If you're having trouble getting video or audio content from a specific channel or provider, you may want to chat with them. Check out Apple's list of contact information for content providers for phone numbers, websites, and email addresses to most popular services supported on the Apple TV.
How to reset a glitching Apple TV
If you're having issues with apps and tvOS across the board, it might be time for a hard reset. You can restore your Apple TV to factory settings by going to Settings > System > Reset. Be aware that doing so will erase any local content you have, including game saves that aren't backed up to iCloud.
How to fix a bricked Apple TV
If your Apple TV is completely unresponsive, it may be time to connect it to your computer and force a restore via iTunes. Here's how to do so.
- Plug your Apple TV in to your computer using a USB-C to USB cable.
- Open iTunes.
- Select the Apple TV from the Devices menu, then click Restore Apple TV.
Still can't get your Apple TV to work?
It may be time to book a Genius appointment at a nearby Apple Store. You may be asked your Apple TV's serial number; you can find it by checking one of three sources:
- If your Apple TV boots, you can go to Settings > General > About (or Settings > Remotes and Devices > Bluetooth > Remote for your Siri Remote's serial number).
- If your Apple TV's bricked, you can view the serial number by connecting it to your Mac via USB-C cable and opening iTunes.
- Can't get any signal from your Apple TV? Turn it over; the serial number is located on the bottom of the device, below the FCC symbols and information.
Any other questions or troubleshooting worries?
Run into a problem with the new Apple TV you can't fix? Let us know in the comments and we'll check it out. You can also check out Apple's troubleshooting advice for more information.
Reader comments
How to troubleshoot your Apple TV
Just from some experiences with Apple and HDMI-CEC. HDMI-CEC can be difficult to debug because sometimes your TV is talking downstream to receivers and sometimes the apple tv is in the mix.
Things HDMI-CEC appears to be controlled by apple:
1. It switches your TV input whenever you interact with the remote to match the input of the apple tv
2. It turns on your TV if it is off
3. On shutdown it will turn your TV off.
4. It will control your receiver volume (if not tv over IR then hdmi-cec over bluetooth)
The Apple TV screen saver can cause your home audio receiver to go to sleep. When apple awakes, you can be left with no audio. Make sure you disable some of that sleep logic in your equipment settings to see if that helps.
If you select 'auto' for tv volume control, sometimes Apple TV will use HDMI-CEC to control your TV volume, and sometimes IR. I have not determined how it decides which. If your tv refused to relay volume over CEC to your receiver but the apple does it right, I do not know how to force this auto-decision but unpairing and covering the IR during re-pairing remote seems to kick it in.
Sometimes turning on the apple tv (and the resultant TV and receiver being turned on) will result in no audio. it seems random when this happens to me.
Make sure you enable your 'viera-link' (panasonic) and other proprietary-sounding names in your tv menus for controlling external equipment. This is the HDMI feature apple tv needs to truly shine.
It seems that the Siri search function does not include Home Share libraries. If anyone has made this work, please report how you were able to do it. I'm using a home share with my DVD collection ripped (and with complete metadata tagging courtesy of iFlicks) and Siri search only offers me iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu choices.
Apple TV 3 will turn on at various times. Sometimes it turns on right away, or can take up to several minuets to turn on. I also find that turning off the power, and turning it back on will reset it. I hope these bugs are fixed in the new Apple TV. By the way, it is worth buying a good surge protector, and plugging into that. Never plug straight into the wall.
Sent from the iMore App
Anyone else having trouble getting the iPhone and Apple Watch remote apps to work? I can get them to find the Apple TV.
They're not supported yet. TBD!
How do you delete apps?
Edit: Never mind, I figured it out... Press and hold, then press the play button.
I've connected the new fourth-generation Apple TV 4 to my Airport Express trying both the automatic and manual setup method, but no matter what I do, I get an activation failed message, telling me to try again or cancel. If I turn off the router the Apple TV states that connection has been lost, so I think it has the connection right, but I don't know???
Every other device is on the router and is working.
Hi did you ever manage to fix this - I have been trying for 2 hours tonight with my new Apple TV and like you am just getting Activation failed ;( Very frustrating especially as I have an all Apple set-up with an Apple airport router etc..
Yes I did!
But it took days before I managed to grasp the problem. I think my problem was related to the fact that I have 2 different accounts- one for Apple ID and another for iCloud, anyway, while waiting on the phone for Apple Support to resolve the issue, I tried automatic setup with my daughters iPad that doesn't have Apple ID or iCloud logins setup in settings. And that did the trick!
So finally managed to get it working by plugging up the Ethernet port (so NOT using the Wi-Fi), I don't know if its relevant but I have two Apple IDs one for the store and the main one - maybe that's what confused it when I was attempting the IOS device set-up?
Has anyone figured out how to change the Name of the Apple TV? I have 4 Apple TV's in my house, all named by location. I can't figure out how to name my new one! I've been through every menu option and never saw a way to change the name.
Settings > AirPlay > Apple TV Name
I've been having 2 frustrating issues. First, the Hulu app keeps logging me out everytime I leave the app. Secondly, CEC will not work. I enable it on my tv, but it is still greyed out and set to "off" in the settings of the Apple TV. Hopefully these are just some post-launch bugs and will be sorted out in forthcoming updates.
So after so more troubleshooting. The CEC does seem to work, however it took a bunch of plugging and unplugging to make it work. I'm thinking it is more of a TV issue than Apple TV issue. In regards to the Hulu app, I was mistaken in it logging me out when leaving the app. It's only when the Apple TV restarts. So not as big of a problem as I though.
Hi just wondering if anyone else has had an issue with Breakneck after downloading begins an update but gets stuck on 0%...also transistor connects to game centre then freezes...I've tried reinstalling and restarting the apple tv but nothing seems to fix the issue...only two games I've seen so far that aren't working. Thanks in advance.
Hi
There is a problem with subtitles in new ATV4 if you use Unblock Us and set DNS to manual, in order to change country with Netflix. Very strange. Some title will just not show (Narcos) while other lock up on playback, requiring you to go back with menu button. All corrects with auto DNS. This is a big problem for us. Any solutions would be appreciated.
i'm very frustrated with AirPlay. Not sure if it's iOS 9.1 or tvOS but when the screen of my iPhone goes off while playing something, it just stops playing. Didn't do that with my previous Apple TV.
Yes, that exactly what's happening to me! Didn't happen ever with my previous apple 3 and now this and I've searched everywhere and I can't find any help regarding this issue. Have you?
I'm having the same problem with my iPhone and my Macbook Pro.
My 4th generation Apple TV only synced 45 song from my iTunes on my mac, so I selected the Apple TV in the drop down menu in iTunes and restarted my Apple TV and my mac, but still only had the initial 45 songs on the Apple TV and not my whole song collection. What am I doing wrong?.
Has anyone had problems getting the 4th Gen Apple TV to work with YouTube Red? After logging in, the YouTube app initially works fine without ads. After about a few hrs of use, you will get consistent Playback server error messages and no videos can be played for more than 30secs. You can either log out of your Red account and the problem goes away, or delete the YouTube app and redownload, but the problem will eventually return. I have posted to both the Apple forums and YouTube forums and there are others with similar issues.
Brand new Apple TV 4th gen. The only thing the I can do with the Siri remote is reboot the Apple TV. Nothing else works. I haven't been able to set up my Apple TV yet. Even holding the menu and up volume button within inches of the Apple TV, does nothing. Any suggestions on how to get my remote to work? I've reset the thing several times with no changes.
Restart Apple TV without computer, tv screen stuck on restart with iTunes and computer. Only have iPad
Anyone have any issues with Apple TV 4 loosing connection or connection speeds slowing to a crawl. Mine did, tried hard resets , everything I saw in forums . Only thing that worked was unplugging it for like 30 seconds
My Apple TV 4 has the annoying issue of video losing sync with audio.
Mainly with TV shows.
Sometimes restarting helps, but not always.
I haven't been able to activate an apple tv 3, after restoring it through itunes. It stays in the setting date and time screen. It is connected to the wifi, but there is no way I have been able to activate it. I tried connecting it to my 3g network, to another network, I opened the 123 port in my modem, and nothing works. I restore it every single time I tried to connect it to another network......It connects to the network, but the activate status is not complete and the date and time, is not set... Any other suggestions? I tried all the possible solutions I found in internet... is there any secret one I don´t know of?