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Level 1

36 points

Apple TV name followed by random number when using AirPlay

Hi, I've been having this issue for a while and it's getting on my nerves because I can't seem to find a reason and there's nothing on the internet.

Lately, whenever I use AirPlay, the name of my Apple TV in the drop-down list of devices appears like this:

There's that annoying number between brackets following Apple TV, and I've no idea why it's there. Whenever I try to use AirPlay to stream a movie, I see 188, but when I stream audio I see '2', and some time ago, number 5 appeared; they keep changing. Right now, for instance, there is no number when streaming audio (just 'Apple TV'), but sometimes that annoying number will appear.

I see the number from either my Mac or my iPhone. And just in case it's important, my Mac is connected through ethernet to a Time Capsule, and the Apple TV is wirelessly connected to the TC.

I know it's something rather silly but what bugs me the most is not having the slightest idea of what that number is or why it appears. I want to get rid of it.

Thanks in advance.

AppleTV 2

Posted on Apr 5, 2012 2:12 PM

90 replies

Biups

Level 1

4 points

Dec 20, 2014 1:32 PM in response to Felix-CH

A Simple space after the name works for me

thanks

Dec 25, 2014 6:41 PM in response to eh-jay

Thank you eh-jay.

Your space solution worked like a champ for me! I have 4 AppleTVs and all had a number 2 in brackets beside them, once i renamed and rebooted each one the numbers disappeared. My OCD was going into overdrive looking for a fix to this issue.

Thanks for posting!

Mike

Jan 2, 2015 12:11 AM in response to eh-jay

I went to Settings > General > Name > added the space at the end > saved the new name > exited Settings (back to home screen) > went back into Settings > General > Name > and removed the space. I no longer have the space, and the number after the name is gone.

Jan 14, 2015 12:44 PM in response to rich33thr33

did the same thing richardfromrocky river suggested in his above post and this also resolved the issue the stupid number in brackets after the device name 🙂

Jan 17, 2015 7:13 AM in response to dclayton

That simple change fixed it for me.

southak

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2015 2:45 AM in response to gusjc

I had this issue. For me it was a network issue - I initially connected the ATV to one wireless network, then a second wireless network (after I realised the first network was my work only, internal network) . Then when I turned my iPad on (connected the the second wireless network) it showed up as Apple TV (2)...or whatever I called it, it had the (2) after it. In my case I disconnected my iPad from network 2 and reconnected to network one, then back to network 2. I did the same on the Apple TV (after unplugging it) and that seemed to work.

Seems to be that connecting it to multiple networks registers two ATV's on the network. Hope that helps some people.

Jan 25, 2015 9:29 AM in response to FFS48

How do you change the name of your Apple TV?

Boss252

Level 1

0 points

Jan 28, 2015 8:50 AM in response to gusjc

Those mean that device is the 2nd or 7th device on the network to use that hostname. The addition of a number is a feature of Bonjour networking that Airplay uses to see other Airplay devices. What's causing it on your network are ghosts of your own devices not clearing themselves properly. When the device reconnects to your network or gets a new IP address, it see these ghosts and renames itself to not conflict with the ghost device. Harmless, yet annoying.

Mar 28, 2015 3:33 PM in response to Dhalgren

same issue. sharing issue also strongly suspected. How can it be fixed ?

Apr 1, 2015 8:18 PM in response to christophe v.

My solution, which is working still for the moment, was simply on the Apple TV to go to Settings: Airplay, turn Airplay off, wait a minute, then turn it back on again. The number is now gone when I go to connect from my MBAir. We'll see if it lasts! If this works for others, it's a pretty easy fix.

Apr 10, 2015 9:38 AM in response to soulproprietor

WWon't last; tried that several times. The space behind each name looks to be the "winning" workaround for everyone - including myself

Jun 15, 2015 7:34 PM in response to gusjc

I solved this by going to iCloud.com on my computer, and going to the "Settings" page. Under the "My Devices" heading, you should see your Apple TV listed with the number in parenthesis. Click it, and then choose "Remove Device". Now go to your "Settings" on the Apple TV and rename it to something else (I chose Living Room). Now go to your iCloud Photo's on the Apple TV to make sure that iCloud registers the Apple TV with the new name. You can logout and re-login to iCloud.com and revisit the Settings page to verify that iCloud registered the Apple TV under the new name. Now back on your Apple TV, rename it back to Apple TV.

Presto. I believe that the Apple TV name in parenthesis has something to do with the name it registers in iCloud and removing the device from iCloud before changing the name clears the cache of past devices. This could have been a fluke, although I tried everything else in the world before this fixed the problem for me. Please let me know if this fixes the problem for anyone else as I'm curious to know whether this is the correct solution.

Felix-CH

Level 1

0 points

Jun 15, 2015 11:23 PM in response to kmjansenNCSU

@kmjansenNCSU

My AppleTVs having this silly problem with the random number on the end weren't connected to iCloud. So I can't confirm your solution. In my case it helped to add a "space" on the end of the AppleTVs name.

rafik.me

Level 1

9 points

Jul 31, 2015 2:16 AM in response to gusjc

I solved the issue by deactivating "Back to my mac" in icloud preferences (and renaming the devices one last time). Apparently there is a bug related to this feature...

I had that random number appearing on the name of my apple TV and 2 of my macs, now everything is fine...

koasiu

Level 1

10 points

Oct 16, 2015 1:59 PM in response to gimpsley

Hey Gimpmsley,

I have a similar problem at our school. Did the static IP assignments fix it?

- Koa

Apple TV name followed by random number when using AirPlay