HT205302: Use Bluetooth accessories with your Apple TV (4th generation)

Learn about Use Bluetooth accessories with your Apple TV (4th generation)
baydghanam

Q: I cannot get any of my apple devices to detect each other or the Apple TV by Bluetooth

TThe problem is fully stated in the object.

it's bad enough that it takes forever to pair any Bluetooth device with any of my iPhones but for all Apple products to not even detect each other's Bluetooth presence is just scandalous.

apple should spend more resources making sure its actual products are up to scratch instead of churning out new ones fewer people are ready to buy.

Posted on Apr 23, 2016 11:57 PM

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Q: I cannot get any of my apple devices to detect each other or the Apple TV by Bluetooth

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  • by Vinceassociate,

    Vinceassociate Vinceassociate Apr 24, 2016 12:25 AM in response to baydghanam
    Level 4 (1,738 points)
    Apr 24, 2016 12:25 AM in response to baydghanam

    Actually most Apple products are not intended to be connected to each other via Bluetooth.  With the Apple TV Bluetooth is used to communicate with only certain devices like the Siri remote, headphones, keyboards, game controllers and Bluetooth speakers.  Bluetooth has limited capabilities as a technology data wise and is used for certain connections only.

    Use Bluetooth accessories with your Apple TV (4th generation) - Apple Support

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 24, 2016 4:50 AM in response to baydghanam
    Level 4 (2,895 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 24, 2016 4:50 AM in response to baydghanam

    As Vinceassociate says, your Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac) are not meant to communicate over bt. The bt data rate is pretty low, so you really wouldn't want them to.

    What are you trying to pair with what?

    If you have Apple TV 4, remember that you must have tvOS 9.2 to pair a keyboard.

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 24, 2016 5:49 AM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 4 (2,895 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 24, 2016 5:49 AM in response to Diana.McCall

    Just by the way, you can connect two iOS devices via bluetooth if you enable AirDrop on both. But  that's limited to trivial items like photos and contacts.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 24, 2016 5:52 AM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 9 (58,370 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 24, 2016 5:52 AM in response to Diana.McCall

    Diana.McCall wrote:

     

    Just by the way, you can connect two iOS devices via bluetooth if you enable AirDrop on both. But  that's limited to trivial items like photos and contacts.

    Actually, with AirDrop, BT is only used for the devices to identify each other. The actual file transfer is done over Wifi.

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 24, 2016 7:46 AM in response to Meg St._Clair
    Level 4 (2,895 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 24, 2016 7:46 AM in response to Meg St._Clair

    Hello Meg,

    I see that you are correct, of course. I was totally fooled on that one, having never tried it, of course. I just imagined that, because it was peer-to-peer, the transfer would be over bt.

    So, as we have already said, bt is used to communicate with end devices, mainly audio. Apple has also cleverly used it for peer-to-peer discovery, but not in fact for data transfer.

  • by Meg St._Clair,

    Meg St._Clair Meg St._Clair Apr 24, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 9 (58,370 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 24, 2016 8:17 AM in response to Diana.McCall

    Diana.McCall wrote:

     

    Hello Meg,

    I see that you are correct, of course. I was totally fooled on that one, having never tried it, of course. I just imagined that, because it was peer-to-peer, the transfer would be over bt.

    So, as we have already said, bt is used to communicate with end devices, mainly audio. Apple has also cleverly used it for peer-to-peer discovery, but not in fact for data transfer.

    It fools a lot of people!