Sony Bravia TV remote stopped working with Apple TV

I was having a similar issue with my Sony Bravia Television remote no longer controlling my Apple TV all of a sudden but I have found a temporary solution that’s worked for myself. The Sony remote can work via both Bluetooth or IR. To fix I followed these steps on the Tv itself. Settings - Remotes and Accessories- Bluetooth Settings - Toggle Bluetooth to Off. This will force the Sony TV remote to Use IR and allows it to be picked up by the Apple TV. You may have to relearn the remote in the Apple TVs settings but It worked straight away for me.

Only slight issue is that now when you try to control the TV itself e.g. change brightness settings it is also controlling the screen of the Apple TV as inputs at the same time. However not an issue most of the time.

Hopefully Apple Fix the issue so that I can use my Sony remote to control the TV the way it used to but this solution will suffice for now.

Hopefully this is helpful.

I am not sure if this is still an issue for you. I had this issue. I took all my HDMI connections out of the back of the tv and then (with the tv powered on) pointed the remote and held the green power button down until the tv restarted. After the tv cycled back on, I reconnected my devices and the Bravia remote started controlling the apple tv again.

Using the remote app on my iPhone, i navigated to settings on the apple TV device. I chose “remotes” and “learn” and followed instructions to teach the Sony remote. Now it works again.

The only way it works is to pull out your Apple TV from back of the TV and place it in front of the TV and do the "learn remote" pointing your Sony or infact any other remote to AppleTV Device. It works perfectly fine until Apple releases the fix in the next version.

***FIX*** Folks, For me, I removed all connections from the back of the tv. With the tv on I took the remote and did a hard cycle(hold power until sony logo comes back up) then plugged in my devices and it resolved the issue.

not sure if it will work for everyone but hey, it did for me. I have 3 system with ATV. All are working.

FYI, downloaded 17.5 onto my ATV and it fixed my problem with the Sony remote, looks like the CEC issue from 17.4 is fixed.

Okay so this is strange…

Tried the method of turning off the Bluetooth and the learn remote. Went okay until selecting final option, then I got a blank screen and nothing wanted to work. I will add the tv and Apple TV are interconnected via a Denon amp.

After several pushes at back button on Sony remote I got the tv start up screen. Apple TV still not able to be accessed. Decided to just turn blue Bluetooth back on and stay with 2 remote setup.

Things still not going well and apple tv not responding correctly.

pulled power cord on the lot.

Turned it back on and Sony remote now working as normal, everything back the way it was. Don't know how or why but just going to run with it.

[Edited by Moderator]

I just managed to fix mine. Went to Apple TV, Remotes and devices, Learn remote, then went through the process of pairing my Sony Bravia remote with the Apple TV. Everything working fine now.

Update - I found threads on other websites where people were discussing this issue from just this week - some said after the most recent software push 17.4. People were reporting the same thing on other brand TV remotes...Samsung, Panasonic you name it. Some of them sent a bug report to Apple. So I'm sure it'll get fixed. Good thing is it's not just us with the Sony remotes - kind of relieving, because was starting to wonder about my TV.

I’m going through the same issue. Out of the blue it wasn’t working. I reprogrammed the Sony remote and realized one thing interesting. The remote can not control the apple device unless it’s directly pointed to the device. My apple device is behind the screen and it appears the Sony remotes IR signal isn’t able to penetrate the screen. I will make an attempt contact apple support to see if there’s a work around for this issue.

I have the same issue. I managed to pair again the remote only after I stoped the bluetooth on my Sony TV and now it works but only if I used it with IR. When I go back on bluetooth it doesn’t work 🫣

can confirm

you can still use the learning remote option if you disable the bluetooth on the Sony TV

but this will cause the TV and Apple device to receive the button press at the same time, which is far from ideal

I had the same issue, starting March 20, after updating my ATV to 17.4 ; the sony bravia remote is no longer connect to the ATV, must used 2 remote instead of 1, quite annoying. Do everything recommend on web, factory reset, learning remote, still can't.

I wonder when Apple Support will fixed this issue, and why the supporting team never comment anything on any thread, are they noticed?

I ordered one of the new, smaller OE Sony remotes that solved the "Learn Remote" problem on one of my TVs, and a forced reset of the other, plus a reset of the AppleTV4 allowed a once connected remote to reconnect. This is a struggle that does not have to exist, in my opinion.