Fitness+ Apple Watch pairing and Apple TV airplay issues

I had the same problem - finally found a support person with the answer. You MUST have the apple HOME app on your iphone to complete the home set up on your apple TV. once that is done everything will work. Download the app from the app store, turn on the toggles for the home app (that are on your iphone) and complete the set up. Apple, this information needs to be online and accessible when problems with connecting fitness plus (on the watch) occur

I had the same issue recently. All I did is log out of the iCloud in the Apple TV settings and then log back in. This troubleshooting is my first step for any issues related to my Apple ID and it fixes it 90% of the time.

I had the same issue with connecting my apple watch to the apple fitness app on Apple TV. I would receive the notification on my watch in the Workout app to connect to the Apple TV. I selected the green connect button at the top of the watch app and then it would either

1) flash a message saying it was connecting and then disappear

2) or show a new screen on the watch saying it was connecting but nothing would happen.

I accidentally clicked on the Menu button on the Apple TV remote-while the connecting screen (#2 above) was displayed on the watch- returning me to the previous screen at add an Apple watch. I then noticed a my watch was on the main screen, so I clicked on the icon and the pairing was complete.

Note: I following the directions to add the Apple TV to the Home App before I was able to get the watch to pair.

Settings > AirPlay and HomeKit on your Apple TV. You should see “1" in a red badge next to AirPlay and HomeKit, if you do, select Finish Home Set Up. 

Makes sure all 3 devices (watch, phone and Apple TV) have updated iOS then restart all 3 after updated and make sure you have HomeKit app on iPhone and it recognizes your Apple TV. A missing HomeKit app was my problem. It’s the orange house icon.

You sure your account is on 2-factor and not 2-step? That was my issue.

For pairing cancelled three things must be completed first in the order shown:

1) Two factor authentication must be enabled on your apple id

2) Keychain must be enabled in icloud for your apple id

3) Make sure apple tv and watch OS are updated.

3) After 1 - 3 are complete, you must complete Home Kit setup.

My watch was already working with my tv but then just stopped after an update. The solution I found as I had already completed the HomeKit setup was to sign out of you iCloud account then sign back in. This automatically meant I needed to setup my phone with the Apple TV again and then my watch began working again with Apple tv

The FIX was as follows:

1) Remove the user associated with the Apple TV. Under settings -> user and accounts

2) Re-add user (it was really straightforward as all I had to do was hold my phone next to Apple TV and it did the rest)

3) You then should have on HomeKit saying you need to finish setting up. This means you are associating your Apple TV to your “home”. It’s easy, again you hold phone next to Apple TV.

4) Go back into fitness and do connection again. This time you will see your own Apple Watch shown. Connect through that.

Everything up to date on phone, watch, and TV? Is everything using the same Apple ID? No red asterixis in the Settings on the Apple TV indicating some piece of the setup is not complete?

Are the Apple TV, iWatch, and iPhone on the same WiFi network? They also have to be logged into the same account.

I restarted my phone and watch and now everything works...phone, watch, apple tv.

I was able to resolve this issue. 

I was somehow logged out of fitness+ in the fitness app on my iphone. 

Once I logged back in, it paired immediately. 

Yes, it has to be an HD or 4K Apple TV. (Any of them that come with the black "Siri" remote, instead of silver aluminum remote)

Well, let me say this the service is fantastic and it will be worth the trouble! I think a lot of the "pairing canceled" problems can be attributed back to he need to go into Settings>Airplay and Homekit, and activating Apple TV as an iCloud device(which you do via bluetooth with an iPhone or other iOS device).

My Apple TV would not connect via bluetooth to my phone and I had to physically unplug the Apple TV, and then go back thought the motions.

Best of luck!

Yes me to. It’s a work around but it works till Apple fixes it. I worked it out after sharing my screen with Apple support. You have to unpair and reset your watch, I did not restore from a backup so don’t know it that made a difference but after it’s reset and reconnected it worked perfect. Can finally use Fitness+ as intended.

Hey cjax1818,

We see you're experiencing issues with pairing Fitness+ on your Apple TV. We do see you've received a few answers, but wanted to make sure we provided a helpful resource in case it's still needed.

Check out the following article:

If you see "Pairing Canceled" while starting a workout in Apple Fitness+ - Apple Support

Thanks!