Apple TV no longer prompting to use iPhone for keyboard

No matter how many times people tell you that all the requirements you claim need to be met are indeed met, you imply he user is doing something wrong because “tvOS 16.x and iOS 16.x work fine with this feature for other users.”

I’ve had this problem for a few years with many devices and updates and resets. Still not working.

I wish I knew what worked for this user. I am in the exact same predicament. Although, for me, the keyboard notification no longer pops up after I updated to IOS 17. Suddenly, no more keyboard.

The Apple TV Keyboard notification on iPhone does not appear until you have highlighted one of the on-screen virtual keyboard letters, to signify a text input field.

The feature depends on two things:

1. both devices have to be connected to the same home network, and have bluetooth active,
2. both devices need to have the same Apple ID account for iCloud services.

Use the iOS or iPadOS keyboard to enter text on Apple TV - Apple Support

If you are sure that you are doing everything right, and it still doesn’t work, then contact the Apple Support staff about that. Contact Apple for support and service (phone numbers) or start your support request online (chat/​email/​callback).

you imply the user is doing something wrong

I imply that it is not the Apple TV hardware and not the Apple TV software. What remains is either settings or corrupted data on one of the devices. That is beyond my ability to troubleshoot remotely. Possibly a full reset will help, but I can’t be certain. I’d rather pass that on to the official support staff, who may have records of similar situations that I’m not privy to.

… and tried to get the keyboard offer back by launching an app that needed a log in. No luck.

I can’t replicate your experience. Please specify the app.

For signing in to apps, often signing in using QR is offered. As an alternative, signing in by entering an email address and password may be offered. Then you would need to select the field first. When selecting that, previous used emails may be listed for selection, and an option for a new account. Only then would you get the virtual keyboard, as well as a prompt on iPhone or iPad. Possibly one of your devices is chosen over the other.

You may choose to use the software remote to have the touch keyboard available when needed, even without getting prompted.

I’ve never voiced a complaint until now.

When a relatively small group of users complain here about any issue, then likely the issue affects much more users. From a statistics point of view, one can assume an arbitrary (but roughly constant) multiplication factor. Maybe a subset of users, but then a significant group shares some common characteristics that affect the issue.

I’ve had this issue for a long time now. It started just by being intermittent, sometimes working and sometimes not, seemingly at random. But it hasn’t worked at all for so long I wondered if it had been retired as a feature.

today I had the time to jump back into the frustration and try some more and found this thread. All the requirements, - network, Bluetooth, appleid, etc. are still in place. (This is one of the common frustrations with troubleshooting support everywhere, not just Apple - when no settings have changed but something stops working, and the first answer is always “your settings are probably wrong.”)

One thing I HAVE changed at some point after this feature stopped working is a new set of WiFi hardware. So I thought I’d investigate that. With my old Apple Time Machine router, the Ethernet and WiFi networks were bridged (probably not the correct use of bridging networks as a technical term, but just trying to get across the functional effect) so that the AppleTV saw the eithernet connection as the same network as the WiFi.

I didn’t really know if that was the case on my new Deco setup, so I thought I’d try to switch from Ethernet to WiFi to be sure there were zero possible diversions from requirements. Interesting results:

• There’s no option to switch from Ethernet to WiFi in the AppleTV settings for some reason, you just have to pull the plug on the Ethernet.
• When I did that, I was completely disconnected from the internet because my new WiFi log in wasn’t remembered.
• Aaaand, here’s where it gets weird: for a split second, a panel on my iPad that referred to the AppleTV keyboard slipped down from the top of the screen! It slipped back up so fast I didn’t get a chance to read it but I did see the reference to AppleTV keyboard, so I’m guessing it was the standard offer to use the iPad keyboard instead. (If not, it was at least something to do with this feature.)

I then joined the same WiFi network as my iPad and iPhone and tried to get the keyboard offer back by launching an app that needed a log in. No luck.

i know you say it works for others… do we know that affirmatively, or are we just inferring it from a lack of voiced complaints? Because I’ve been without it for maybe over a year and never voiced a complaint until now.

iPad Pro 6, 17.5.1

As far as highlighting text, there is no text to highlight. On the Apple TV, when you use the search feature, you get the standard alpha box to use the cursor to move around and push enter on the letter that you need. There is nothing to highlight.

Going to the search tab in any app doesn’t highlight any of the letters yet, you have to navigate one step down first. Only then can the iPhone get a notification.

There is an on-off setting on iPhone for the notification for this to appear or not. Please check that. Also verify that alerts for Lock Screen and Banners are selected, for this notification.

iPhone: Settings﹥Notifications﹥Apple TV Keyboard﹥…

tvOS 16.x and iOS 16.x work fine with this feature for other users.