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nanyes24 Author

Level 2

264 points

My apple tv won't recognize my apple id

Everytime I try to sign to my iTunes store on my Apple tv it tells me that my apple id or password is incorrect. This is the only apple id I have ever had. I did change my passwor on October 13 after multiple probles with my mobile-me to iCloud transition. I have had my apple tv for over 6 months, so I tried both my previous Apple id password (as well as the new one) but it does not accept either of them and even though I have homesharing "On" it doesn't do me any good.

Also, it will not do the software update to 3.4, it tells me my software is up to date. I reset apple tv yesterday and started from scratch to no avail. No problems with my iMac, Macbook Pro, iPad2 or my iPhone, only with Apple TV. HELP!

Posted on Oct 22, 2011 5:44 PM

Top-ranking reply

Smokin_Shawn

Level 1

4 points

Posted on Apr 28, 2017 2:56 PM

This is the answer for gen 2 ATV. I suspected this and then tried. Worked perfectly.

Open any web browser on any computer and go to appleid.apple.com.
Log in to the Apple ID you want to disable two factor authentication for, you may need to use two factor auth to gain access to the account.
Go to the “Security” section of account settings and choose “Edit”.

Turn off 2 factor authentication. Has a few steps but this fixes it.

View in context

118 replies

cainhu

Level 1

9 points

Feb 10, 2013 2:02 PM in response to ttim3

THANK YOU. Spend half of Sunday afternoon on this issue. Shortcut ".com" was the problem.

BigTag

Level 1

5 points

Mar 21, 2013 1:09 AM in response to nanyes24

I'm having the same problem. Apple TV was working fine until I changed jobs and needed to change apple I'd username. This meant I had to reset Apple TV to set up a new I'd. The new I'd and password aren't recognised.... Hence it worked before, everything checked, doesn't work now. Very fed up....

Apr 14, 2013 1:54 AM in response to nanyes24

To solve this problem I had to update my iTunes credit card on file - then Apple TV would accept my Apple ID. Go to your iTunes account first.

May 17, 2013 6:21 AM in response to nanyes24

Why on earth would Apple not update the message on Apple TV asking one to update their iTunes Home Share pass as well as update ATV saving endless us all endless frustration?

Really. Poor. Usability.

May 19, 2013 12:41 AM in response to shinsundo

I really have no idea why Apple puts so little effort into making AppleTV user-friendly. After a couple of times laboriously inputting user name and password on the very clunky onscreen method, and then having it reject it and make you start over, you get ready to throw it away. Doesn't Apple realize there are competitors coming?

I currently won't even consider buying another Apple TV. Maybe if Amazon or Google does it better...

Pete K.

Level 1

5 points

Jun 3, 2013 7:00 AM in response to welovenaples

Wow, this is terrible on Apple's part. I had the same issue (expired credit card) and iTunes just kept asking me for my password, over and over. Thankfully I searched and found this thread before I went and reset my Apple ID! Thanks Snorkeler!

ShaeV

Level 1

5 points

Jun 20, 2013 10:41 PM in response to nanyes24

Does anyone have an answer to this? I was using my AppleTV this morning and I am about to break this dang thing. My password works everywhere. I even signed into this forum. Well, every accept my appletv.

apfoff

Level 1

4 points

Jun 21, 2013 2:32 PM in response to nanyes24

This is happening to me as well. Very Frustrating.

Jul 3, 2013 6:57 PM in response to nanyes24

I honestly don't understand (as an iOS developer) why Apple doesn't respond or fix this.

Last night, I re-enlisted to stream movies from Netflix.

I went on Tivo to "Pay per view Movies", and then one click down to Netflix.

I was prompted with a 6 digit code, which I had to enter on my computer logged into Netflix.

In 10 seconds, I was streaming a movie from Netflix.

Whereas if I had tried to do it on AppleTV, I would have been faced with the nasty 'enter your Apple ID and password' screen and taken 5 minutes effort before being told "Password or ID not accepted" or such.

Which is why I'm about to turn my AppleTV II into a hockey puck. This is so annoying! Apple seems to not care about making Apple TV be user-friendly. As it stands, Netflix and Tivo are 10x better. I have no inclination to buy another Apple TV box. I cannot recommend it to anyone.

mrlogic

Level 1

13 points

Jul 7, 2013 2:56 PM in response to ShaeV

I had exacrtly the same experience tonight. Apple TV was not recognising my AppleID & Password combination but that same combination worked fine on all my other computers and iOS devices.

I blundered into what appears to be a fix. Basically I went to "Settings/iTunes Store/Location" and changed the location from UK (my actual location) to something else (I chose United States) and then back again to UK.

Then I tried logging in again and my Apple ID / Password combibation were recognised correctly again.

HTH.

rss09

Level 1

0 points

Jul 24, 2013 9:07 AM in response to nanyes24

Any updates on this? I am having the same login problem and I know it's not my password! Grrrrr!!

mrlogic

Level 1

13 points

Jul 24, 2013 9:38 AM in response to rss09

Hi,

Did you try the work-around in the previous post?

nitro999

Level 1

0 points

Jul 28, 2013 10:54 AM in response to nanyes24

I am also having this same problem, an dhave tried all of the workarounds mentioned. This is very frustrating and poor. Has anyone else had this issue today and been able to fix it?

Jul 29, 2013 6:40 PM in response to nitro999

I did have this issue today. Was driving me nuts!

In the end, I did a Factory Restore on my Apple TV, then waited for all of the updates to download. I re-connected to my WiFi Network and voila! All was well!

Aug 1, 2013 9:20 PM in response to nanyes24

I'm having the same problem today. It started when after watching one show last night, our Apple TV 3 said "iTunes unavailable" when we tried to watch something else. I tried fixing that today and eventually did a Factory Restore. It installed 5.3 as part of that, though it may already have been on that build before. The computer and phones were able to reach iTunes, so it was an Apple TV specific issue.

Now that I've done that, it won't accept the Apple ID password! The iMac, both iPhones and the iPad are fine. I've done a couple of things with no success (mostly suggested here):

Typed in the ".com" manually (there's a dash in the user name, but no special characters in the password)
Restarted the router (AT&T Uverse)
Restarted the Apple TV
Changed the location to UK and then back to US.
Disassociated the Apple TV from iTunes (though of course now it won't show up at all)
Sacrificed a chicken.

Any other ideas out there on how to fix this? It's hugely annoying since we buy a lot of content through iTunes! Might have to resort to calling Apple or making a Genius Bar appointment tomorrow. 😟

My apple tv won't recognize my apple id