Apple TV remote app won't connect

Set up the Apple TV Remote on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Verify that both devices are on the same home network. Same as with the old app.

Verify that both devices have up-to-date system software.

Try restarting both the iPhone and Apple TV.

If you still can't set up the Apple TV Remote, contact Apple Support.

1. If you have an apple remote go to step 2. If not; you must have a remote or a friends phone to go to step 2.
2. go to remotes / devices under Apple TV settings.
3. remove your phone and or all devices (besides the phone or remote your are using to navigate)
4. restart your phone and apple tv
5. Go to remotes / devices once again.
6. turn on Bluetooth and WiFi on your phone.
7. hokd your phone within 1 inch of the apple tv
8. hot "pair" on your phone
9. enter the code that appears on the screen.

Settings on TV4--> Remotes and Devices --> Remote App and Devices.

Note that it doesn't give you a formal menu choice to pair a device -- you have to look in the print beneath the lovely Apple TV logo on the left, where it says "To pair a device, hold it close to this Apple TV" -- you might have to turn bluetooth off and on.

And the strange thing is that on my iphone and my ipad, if you look on the bluetooth "my devices" list -- ATV4 doesn't show up on either of them.

So I think that pairing the bluetooth is a critical step into having the remote work from your iOS device. But this is how to pair it. A bit obscure, but pairing my phone to the ATV4 seemed to be the step that resolved the issue.

I had the same issue with my wife’s new phone. (A 13 pro max) tried every solution offered here with no luck.

Because I have multiple Apple TV’s and still

have one physical remote, I was finally able to fix it by performing a factory Reset on the Apple TV. This required then pairing my physical remote with it, and reinstalling apps, but no changes were required on her phone. At that point it just worked.

One quirk is that I performed the initial setup using my phone. That meant that my iCloud account had a generically named “Apple TV” registered along with the “Living Room” device. I just removed it from the iCloud/Apple ID settings page on my phone.

Solved…!!!!

On your Apple TV go to:

Settings >Remotes and Devices>Remote App and Devices.

Remove all devices that have been previously connected to this Apple TV and start connecting them again using the remote app on your iPhone.

you shouldn’t have a connecting problem after doing those steps.

Good Luck,

Mohamed Darwish

For me, I had my other Apple TV's apart of a home and the one I was having the issue with was acting as a hub for another home. I removed home information from all devices and recreated a single home with all devices. Now I can control them all with the IPhone remote app.

Thanks jeelke. I did try all scenarios, removing my phone from apple TV, reconnecting via bluetooth as you said but no success.

Mine is fixed now by signing out my apple ID on my Apple TV, removing apple TV from my apple ID on my phone and then signing in my ID on my Apple TV. Remote app in control centre is working now!

I have been same problem for a while. Just downloaded new iOS and it showed up for a second then disappeared again. BUT I think I got it fixed. I changed the name of the apple tV (from master bedroom to a ‘bed’ ) and now it works. Other steps I took were to ‘forget’ my iPhone in the settings->remotes menu on apple tv. Then brought the phone close to re-pair and add it to home in the apple TV set up. Even then it still didn’t work until I changed the name. Give that a try. Hopes this helps.

i only had one Apple TV that the remote would not connect to. I changed the name of that TV only, then went through the set up a remote process to re- pair the phone to the Apple TV again.

I had the same issue. It would not connect and could not enter code. I attempted to mirror phone to tv and it allowed me to enter code. Works as remote app again now.

Turn Bluetooth off and then on again on the phone. This worked for me. I could see my tv name on the remote app where it said choose a tv, but it just wouldn’t connect.

Iphone 5se 2016 would not remote ATV4. 3-4 calls at Apple support and updates to iOS and TVOS to get the same version seem to be not required after all.

Above post helped!

The following assumes that remote has already been added to control center.

So I :

Signed out of iCloud on ATV4 by doing the following to / within the ATV4:

( Settings>Users and Accounts>then picked the problem User>iCloud>Sign Out.

Then on Malfunctioning iphone, the ATV4 was removed from the list at the bottom of the Apple ID page by the following steps: >Settings, at the top of the page choose the cell with your your AppleID showing, then scroll down the page that comes up until you see the ATV4 listed and choose “Remove from Account”.

1. Now, still on the iPhone, swipe up to get the control center screen, tap the remote icon and wait for the 6 digit security code to show on the iPhone and enter it onto the TV screen using the ATV4 dedicated remote. Wait a few seconds.
2. BINGO - the iPhone’s remote control for ATV4 now works !
3. It seems to be “the old log out then log back in trick” to fix it.

I also wasn’t able to connect my phone to my Apple TV and I couldn’t figure out why because it was logged into the same Wi-Fi network. Seemed that my phone needed to verify my iCloud account and then it started working. Hope this helps someone!

Change the name of the Apple TV and repair. That fixed it for me.

1. Make sure both devices are logged into with the same account.

2. Go to the home app on iOS and delete any homes setup.

3. Reboot both devices. You should now be able to manage which devices will have control from the AppleTV settings.

4. If you wish to use the Home App to manage your devices make sure every user is added to the home you create.