Nimbus Controller not working on tvOS 14.5

Thanks for sharing your experience with us on Apple Support Communities, imissstevejobs2.

It sounds like you're having some difficulty with your Apple TV recognizing your Nimbus controller after updating to tvOS 14.5. We can definitely help.

A great resource you can check out is Use Bluetooth accessories with your Apple TV, which recommends the following steps:

"If a Bluetooth accessory won’t connect to your Apple TV 4K or Apple TV HD or loses connectivity during use, follow these steps. After each step, see if you still need help:

1. Make sure that you're in range of your Apple TV and there isn't interference in the area.
2. Check that your accessory is fully charged and powered on.
3. Make sure that the software on your Bluetooth accessory and your Apple TV is up to date. For example, if you have Beats wireless headphones, check for firmware updates.
4. Move your Apple TV to a different location near your television.
5. Look for your accessory in Settings > Remotes and Devices > Bluetooth. If you see it but you can’t connect to it, use the steps above to unpair your accessory. Then try to pair it again.
6. If you need more help connecting or using a Bluetooth accessory with your Apple TV, contact the manufacturer of the accessory."

Give those steps a try, and see if there is any improvement.

Take care!

Thanks! This workaround also seems to work for me. Connected a bluetooth speaker first, then put the nimbus+ in pairing mode and tadaa it suddenly shows up in the device list for the first time and could succesfully pair with it. Even after restarting the apple tv the nimbus+ connected, but not if i keep the nimbus+ on during the restart, i have to turn it off and on again and then it automatically connects (don't know if thats normal)

Haven't tried playing with it yet, so i don't know if it's fully functional with this workaround, but at least i am a step further and i think we can savely say this is a apple tv problem and not a steelseries problem.

Thanks! Your solution (connecting with some Bluetooth headphones first) worked for me! It was the only thing that did work. Glad I found this solution for now. Hopefully Apple will fix this in the next OS update for ATV.

contacted Steel Series and was told The Nimbus+ is currently not compatible with the newer Apple TV, and we're working with Apple to get this fixed asap. - so why I wonder are apple still selling it along with the newer Apple TV - and why don't they just admit this and give a approx time frame - wasted hours on this!!!

For me it worked immediately when I first connected it to my iPhone and from there renamed it from “Nimbus” to “Nimbus 2”

That’s what worked for me too (pairing a Bluetooth headphone first .. changing name to Nimbus 2 on iPhone , disconnecting from phone, and suddenly the Apple TV discovers nimbus ) .. finally ..thanks

I think I can safely say all of us that are having the same issue w/the Nimbus Steele Controller not working HAVE ALL DID what you suggested!

The point is that you all Apple broken our Nimbus Controller w/that stinking 14.5 or 14.6 update! It was the latest update.

That’s why I WILL NEVER UPDATE my Apple products for at least 3 months afterwards. Undoubtedly you all “BRAKE” things w/each and every update!

At a minimum you all at APPLE needs to formally submit this bug/issue to be fixed w/yet “ANTOHER” update.

What is happening is that EACH TIME YOU SHUT DOWN the Apple TV via the sleep mode and/or by completely turning off the power to the unit, YOU HAVE TO UNPAIR and RE-PAIR the Nimbus Controller via any iOS Device by going to the settings screen whenever you turn on the Apple TV device AGAIN!

I‘m a step further. I you want to pair a Nimbus+ as the first device at your ATV 2021 it doesn‘t Show up in the device list. Nimbus is definitly in pairing Mode. (iPhone, iPad finds if) Workaround: If you pair another device First with your ATV like a Bluetooth headset it will be found. After that it works. But the Remote is Not working correct if a Nimbus is connected. You can’t go left/Right and up/down. Other Buttons are working. Sometimes it works.

Hi, I recently bought the Nimbus+ and the Apple TV 4k (2021). All my other devices like iPad, iPhone and also brandnew 2020 released MacBook Air can see the Nimbus+ and pair it. But in Apple TV (currently on latest 14.6 tvOS) it even does not shine up in the list of devices while scanning. I called the hotline two times, one time they promised me to hand it over to development team to check the software. I also posted a bug report yesterday to Apple in addition to get this issue addressed.

However what really helped was the workaround from NeighborBob here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252721911?answerId=255311581022#255311581022

Try connecting another Bluetooth device first, after doing so suddenly it will detect the Nimbus+. This would be really the work around for this "feature" ;).

I've had the exact same issue of the bluetooth device not even being detected. The fix, as mad as it seems, appears to be other apple devices. I saw this on another thread. With my controller in pairing mode, as soon as I deactivated bluetooth on my iPhone 11 Pro, the controller appeared in the bluetooth device list for the Apple 4K 2021 TV. I've no idea why, but it resolved the issue and allowed me to pair.

I have a new 2021 Apple TV. I went through the pairing process with the Nimbus. Then went to the Bluetooth setting and clicked on the one device that showed up which was my computer speaker. When I did that my Nimbus controller showed up and paired. Easy breezy. 😀

The solutions that seem to work for some people only work if you had succesfully paired it in the past with your old apple tv and/or if its a nimbus and not a nimbus+. I both have a brand new nimbus+ and brand new apple tv 4k 2021. My apple tv doesn't even detect the nimbus+ as a bluetooth device. My iphone does detect it and i can pair with it, so it really seems to be an apple tv problem. I tried everything mentioned here but the problem remains.

After tvOS 14.6 I'm still having problems with my Nimbus controller. Anyone has been able to fix this? The only way to use it is to unpair it and then repair again each time I want to have a gaming session.

The AppleTV says the controller is connected, but it doesn't respond.

Same here...

AppleTV 4k with 14.5 (now 14.6) and a new Nimbus Steel controller. Paired and working correctly to my MacBook Pro and iPhone 8 Plus. But on the AppleTV I noticed that after a sleep or reboot that the controller shows "connected" but no longer responds.

Tried factory rest of the controller, check and updated the firmware on the Nimbus (with the little app) and renamed, re synced and rebooted everything multiple times. The only temporary fix is to resync the bluetooth device each time.

To summarize: Works great on the MacBook with no issue but the AppleTV looses it after a reboot or sleep.

More likely an OS issue, as I cannot pair to iPhone, either, and it was paired previously.