Apple TV Won't Login to HomeShare

Given we are up to 7+ pages on this complaint, we need to make it more widely known, so that Apple puts some effort into fixing it.

I have already sent a note to the Wall Street Journal tech section and the TWIT IOS podcast (https://www.twit.tv/shows/ios-today), with an explanation and links to this forum topic.

If everyone else can do the same thing (sending emails to tech websites that cover Apple or posting on Reddit), we might get some action. If it is just from me, no-one will take notice, but if lots of people go on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and post to Apple pages, they will want us to go away and will fix it. The media is always looking for controversy, and this will give it to them (APPLE USERS OUTRAGED!)

If it is only on this forum topic, we might as well just yell at the clouds.

I saw someone mention my previous post on switching to plex and thought I would share this for anyone who was interested due to some trial and error I learned. I also agree with another user that this is frustrating because I also live in the Apple ecosystem and everything is Apple. I just never got around to getting an Apple TV 4K because my 3rd gen worked and there was no reason for me to upgrade because the new features like downloadable apps and games isn’t my thing. 

That said, while I could have just went out and bought the new Apple TV, I got a fire stick just out of spite because I feel this was their not so subtle way of urging me to upgrade. 

However, from the start I hate the fire stick and love it at the same time. The love is that it allows me to download the app like plex to stream my movies like I used to on my Apple TV. The bad, is the dang advertisements and app and movie suggestions. This is where I miss the Apple TV, but I guess that’s what you get when you go from a $160 product to a $40  product. 

But I digress. So setting up the plex system was pretty simple and easy to do. I moved my iTunes media folder contents like movies and tv shows to a new location and named it plex media server. I then directed the server to that location and it did its scan and everything was up and running. Installed plex on the fire stick and connected and now I’m back to streaming my content again. I can also stream remotely using the plex app for both fire stick and iPhone and iPad. 

Just a tidbit for those penny pushers like me. Plex is free but has a paid subscription. If you try to watch movies on an iPhone or iPad app it will want you to pay for the plex pass or $5 one time unlock fee. So the work around is to install an app called infuse and it lets you stream from your plex server as well and has a better mobile interface. I personally like the infuse app interface in mobile better than plex, but the plex interface is great on the fire stick. 

There is another option to keep using your Apple TV’s 3, because both the iPhone and iPad app of infuse and plex allow you to airplay from your device to the Apple TV. I however, didn’t want to do this every time so I got the fire stick to use the plex app on. One side note is infuse does charge $0.99 to enable the airplay, the plex app does not. So you can run both on your phone to avoid paying any fees. 

One final thought on issues I did encounter is Subtitles that are not hard coded would play in the middle of the screen and I also noticed this in iOS 13 as well so not sure what’s up with that. My subtitles were added to my files with iFlicks so that could be why. However, in regards to the iOS 13 subtitle issues, never had this issue in iOS 12, so it’s recent. The solution was to remove the subtitle from the mp4 or m4v file and just place them as a separate .srt file within the movie folder.

For example. 

Batman (Name of Folder)

Batman.m4v (name of movie)

Batman.en.set (name of subtitle)

Plex does have a detailed article for helping with this. It is also the same for tv shows. You also need to set up subtitles in plex to read forced subtitles for foreign parts and it will auto select it for you so you don’t have to set them manually. They also have a good support article on that.

One other issue I found is that plex wants you to name movies with the year, for example (Batman 2006.mp4). I did not change mine unless I had movies with the same tiles, such as remakes, because it would then group them together. If this occurs it’s a simple fix, the movie will show a purple square next to the title in the upper left. Click on the movie and hit separate files, and then just click unmatch on both and rematch them for the correct movie. Plex will fetch metadata or you can just use your own. Also see their support article on that. 

One final note on tv show naming if you get any issues of grouping, plex wants you to name tv shows like (Batman.s01.e05.mp4). Again I didn’t do this unless I had a metadata issues that caused a tv show episode to be out of place. 

So other than that Plex was a great switch and I’m enjoying it. It is also nice to use the infuse app as well. It is also great to be able to stream my content remotely from home using the plex app or the infuse app. 

Sorry for the long post but if this helps someone avoid a headache or get back to enjoying their library then it was worth it. 

I have recently desired to use my Apple TV 3 as Home Hub, but it hasn't been clear from what I've read whether or not it's even an option (I know that for automations, Apple TV 3 won't work; the info is very clear on that), so it's good to hear that you have been able to do it in the past. Based on the fact that I haven't been successful in getting it set up and yours is now not working, I suppose the situation may be that this Home Sharing issue is also mucking up the ability to use Apple TV 3 as a Home Hub. Ugh.

As for the password + verification code "trick" for iCloud: although it still works and so it's fine to use that approach, I have found that it is no longer necessary because now you're prompted for the code and I've found that I just have to make sure that the device displaying the code continues to display it through the time that I enter, submit, and have it validated by Apple.

I had a Homesharing error message on my ATV3 yesterday. I tried restarting iTunes on the Mac, then restarting the Mac without success. Then tried restarting the ATV3 and it worked!

Hopefully it will continue working this evening.

-so it's good to hear that you have been able to do it in the past

Yes, work great. "Once a upon time .... I controled all my home, then a big Apple arrives and ....." lol

.... I have found that it is no longer necessary....

Yes, Apple TV now asks for six digits code after the password, but I tryed may times without success, with and w/o the code in the iPhone screen.

I noticed that the code expires every 30sec, then I asks for a new code many times in iPhone until the code changes, them a wrote this new 30sec valid code, after the password. For the iCloud/iTunes logon works all time.

I tried this. I typed my password without hitting submit and then repeatedly asked for a new verification code until I saw it changed. Then I entered the new verification code and clicked on "submit". It didn't work.

Apparently Apple screw clients with 3rd gen Apple TV. I spend an hour + yesterday with a bunch of "genius" over the phone they don't even have an idea of what's going on. Apple engineers resolution is to purchase an AppleTV Gen4.

By the way the know about this issue since 08/25/2019 and they told me they focus on newest model problems, homes sharing is a no go as of today and login to iCloud it might be a server problem, " too many stuff going on today with the release". Good luck!!!

Update 4Gen AppleTV works fine.

OK. updated Mac OS, to Catalina, reset all 3 apple TV's (3rd Gen) and attempted to sign in Apple ID. 2 factor auth on mobile device code, entered that. and NOTHING.. I have 3 ATV's 3rd gen. and 1 ATV 4th Gen. 4th gen works fine, the rest of them it would seem are now paperweights, like the iPad 1 & 2. So disappointed with apple, yet again, take your money and then after a few years, their kit is obsolete. what a waste of money.. I now have 2 x iMac 2011 (basically being used as a second screen), 1 iPad 1 (in bottom of drawer) 1 iPad 2 (now used as a timer in kitchen) 3 x ATV 3rd Gen (now paperweights).. this is not why we pay premium prices! there is absolutely no loyalty to continued customers. The only solution apple offer, is upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. even if the kit is in pristine condition, no faults, and working perfectly... appart from the fact that apple will not support software, so your devices are now unusable.. thanks apple for your consideration for the environment. Not happy at all..for something that should be so simple to implement on older machines, like Apple ID, and home sharing. .. nearly forgot to mention, I spoke to the "genius" staff member at the store, who was not a genius, far from it, just wanted to sell me more apple products to resolve my problem.. "why dot you buy the new Apple TV".... I cant repeat my response. I have been an advocate for Apple products for over 10 years, and have purchased many iMacs, MacBook Pros, MacBook airs, iPads (pros/minis/standard), not to mention iPhone after iPhone after iPhone.. and of course the ATV's.. it may be that time.. to leave apple behind.

Done, feedback submitted on a lovely looking, albeit pricey, paperweight. Incidentally I raised a ticket 4 weeks ago. After some initial correspondence the day afterward, and a promise my matter would be looked into, I've not heard a bean since. Rubbish!

I took on board that 30 second time limit to enter the 6-digit code. The only way I could achieve that was by connecting my bluetooth keyboard to the tv, and literally running from my pc with the code to type it in after entering my password within 30 seconds. The wonders of modern technology.

Amazingly, it did the trick and Home Sharing is working now. I don't trust it to continue if I turn if off, but at least something worked for the time being.

Just checked because of what Iksy said and as of this morning October 11th my Apple TV DID let me sign into Home Sharing. I did not have to use a Bluetooth keyboard to input the 2Fa code I just used the atv remote. Good luck folks!

Just checked also and now able to log into Homesharing by putting two-factor code immediately after password on my 2nd Generation ATV and on my 3rd Gen by using number screen following password submission. Well done Apple for resolving this and thanks to all for logging their tickets, etc. Shiny paperweights now back in full working order!

I can now sign in to my First Generation Apple TV. Thanks for resolving the issue Apple. You may need to work on your communication skills though given some of the responses I've read on here but thank you for resolving the issue

I reported the problem to an exec at Apple, who escalated it yesterday. He told me that as of this morning it is now fixed. I just verified the fix. My 3 Apple TV Model 3s all work now. If I had to guess, it was a 2FA timeout problem in the Apple cloud. No, I'm not going to give out his name or his contact info, but he certainly has my thanks. The link to this support site I'm sure certainly helped.

Agree niklasgustafsson. I am also confused by the 'well done Apple' comments. This was not well done. An issue such as this should have been fixed in 2-3 days, not over 6 weeks. Also Apple do need to take courses in customer communication. There was no comment from Apple that this was a problem. I spent over three hours trying to resolve this until I came across this thread. Had I not found it I would not have known the problem existed and I am certain there are millions of Apple users out there who were mystified as to why they could not connect to home sharing.

Apple could at least have owned up to the problem and alerted users. They should also post updates as to what is being done to resolve the issue along with information as to what hardware is affected. This could easily be done in a specific thread on the support communities alerting users to current hardware and software issues. Should Apple not have the manpower for this then they could dip into the $trillions they have to hire someone.

Come on Apple, you need to restore your reputation as a company that customers will stick with and admire again.