Harmony Hub Won't Power On Apple TV 4k - Solution

I ran into the same issue and finally getting around to looking at it here in mid-December 2019.

On an up to date tvOS 13.3 on 4th gen Apple TV used in conjunction with a Harmony hub, using the latest available version (hub software 4.15.250) the issue is occurring even after a sync so I am guessing you may have a slightly different setup than me.

In any case I was able to insert a “Home” button command into the startup sequence and that works as well (at least from a fully powered off state from all devices). So you could conceivably use Play/Pause as well since that powers on the device from remote. Mileage may vary, of course.

Thanks OP for the tip, and since over 200 people have marked this as “me too” hopefully Apple/Logitech will fix this at the software level without users having to hack it.

I too was having the issue with Apple 4K TV not switching on or off. The fix was simple and similar to that mentioned by MistaDemon. I added the Apple TV as a device again via the harmony desktop app and updated my Apple TV activity to the new device and it worked, it switched the Apple TV On and Off. No need to add menu as an additional step. It is possible a sync update could have done the trick also. Thanks MistaDemon for the suggestion.

I'm thinking this has to do with tvOS updating rather than Harmony. My 4K and my HD stopped turning on via Harmony remotes (Harmony Elite w/hub for 4K and Harmony 650 for HD) after tvOS updated recently. Adding the menu command solved for me as well.

My Logitech remote was similarly not giving the appropriate menu command at startup. I just updated the remote through MyHarmony (without the fix mentioned in this forum) and my Apple TV started up properly afterwards. I'm thinking perhaps Logitech got wise to menu being necessary to start the ATV and updated things on their end.

Thanks for this fix. It works great. I also added a command Menu to the shut down procedure. I was having and issue when I went back to play TV the apple TV stays on for a while. Play TV gets me back to watching TV but when the Apple TV finally shuts down after a while the picture on the TV goes off also and I am left with just audio. I am hoping this extra command to the end sequence will work for that as well.

This worked even for Apple 3rd Generation. I believe when Apple Updated the Apple TV, it interfered with the Harmony Remotes.

Thank you.

You can use Bluetooth to control and it can poweron and power of

https://support.myharmony.com/en-us/harmony-experience-with-apple-tv#appleTVBT

Control your Apple TV with your Harmony Remote via Bluetooth you can add your Apple TV as a device using manufacturer Harmony Pro and model number BT Apple TV 4. This will allow additional features such as the TV/Home button and sleep mode.

TV/Home button:

The Home button provides additional functionality by allowing you to directly return to the home screen and launch the App Switcher when pressing twice.

Sleep mode:

The Harmony will automatically put the Apple TV to sleep when hitting the of button or switching activities. This default behavior can be changed by modifying the default power settings. For more information, see: Changing when a device powers on or off

Once you have setup this in your hub, you first need to use the harmony remote app to connect to apple tv.

In apple tv menu you can acept harmony keyboard as bluetooth device.

When u use also an elite, touch it will synchronize the remote and u can use it to control apple tv.

c

Thank you! After spending time trying to figure out where the problem was this did the trick. This works for both my Harmony Touch and a new Harmony 950 with two different versions of the AppleTV. Like everyone else, it doesn't turn off (the AppleTV turns off briefly then immediately turns back on) but I have auto-sleep enabled.

Yes, this solution works, it turn on. But when i shut everything off the apple tv does not respond and stays on.

I cant find anything about this on Logitechs forum/help.

I had the same problem. I edited the end step of the activity by adding apple tv home command. It now shuts off as it did before.

Thanks, confirmed this also worked for me.

Can you elaborate on this part? Makes perfect sense how to get the ATV to turn on by using the Menu command, but how are you using the Home command for shutdown/sleep? I get how Home/Enter will put it to sleep if using the onscreen commands from the main screen--is this how you are going about it? Thanks in advance.