Our Apple TV 4K is losing wifi connection randomly, at least once a week. The only thing that fixes it is to physically unplug it. Turning off, resetting router, etc does nothing. All other devices continue to work on wifi, it’s just the Apple TV that loses it. I saw a discussion that this was a common problem back in November, but I haven’t seen any solutions posted.
Apple TV 4K (2nd generation)
Both your Apple TV and your router remember their “state” between reboots, so while rebooting your router does not fix the problem, it is possible changing something on the router may fix your problem. For example, as your Apple TV boots up, it will request an IP address from the router. If another devices attempts to use that same IP address, your Apple TV can become disconnected. Rebooting the router may not force all devices to get a new IP address, so the conflict (and AppleTV issues) will remain. However, when you reboot the AppleTV, it will ask for a new IP address, and be able to connect successfully. So the workaround you found (reboot the Apple TV) may help short term, but the fix might be to look at the router configuration (or other devices) that might be causing conflicts. Two ways to test this might be:
Can you try an Ethernet cable temporarily to see if that fixes it?
Can you create a “guest” network on your router (with a different password) and have the Apple TV log in to that?
Both techniques will (most likely) put your AppleTV in a different IP address range, reducing the likelihood of conflict. If this fixes it, it is probably the easiest fix.
If it doesn’t fix it, it would be helpful to know the model of your router, and maybe a screenshot of the connected devices and firewall rules from that router to be able to narrow down the problem.
Both your Apple TV and your router remember their “state” between reboots, so while rebooting your router does not fix the problem, it is possible changing something on the router may fix your problem. For example, as your Apple TV boots up, it will request an IP address from the router. If another devices attempts to use that same IP address, your Apple TV can become disconnected. Rebooting the router may not force all devices to get a new IP address, so the conflict (and AppleTV issues) will remain. However, when you reboot the AppleTV, it will ask for a new IP address, and be able to connect successfully. So the workaround you found (reboot the Apple TV) may help short term, but the fix might be to look at the router configuration (or other devices) that might be causing conflicts. Two ways to test this might be:
Can you try an Ethernet cable temporarily to see if that fixes it?
Can you create a “guest” network on your router (with a different password) and have the Apple TV log in to that?
Both techniques will (most likely) put your AppleTV in a different IP address range, reducing the likelihood of conflict. If this fixes it, it is probably the easiest fix.
If it doesn’t fix it, it would be helpful to know the model of your router, and maybe a screenshot of the connected devices and firewall rules from that router to be able to narrow down the problem.
Please measure the Wi-Fi signal strength (not to be confused with Signal Speed) to check if the strength is adequate. for where the Apple TV is located. If it is not then your network likely needs to be upgraded. You can use a tool such as iStumbler to measure the strength of the signal in each room of. your home.
Well that would eliminate a bandwidth issue then. One thing to try is to first update the router's firmware, you will need to check its manual for instructions. Then ensure your Apple TV's TV OS is 100% up-to-date. Other than that I'm not sure what to check.
The Apple TV is less than 3 feet away from the router. My husband can livestream video from his office that is 100 feet from the router with no issue.
AppleTV4k on tvOS 17.4 loses wifi and needs unplug to fix
