iTunes or AppleTV disconnects from Home Sharing

Try the following. On your Mac, click System Preferences > Security&Privacy > Firewall > Advanced > Deselect Log out after xx minutes of activity. This will stop iTunes switching off while watching Apple TV. If the number of minutes in the prior selection equals the time at which the connection is lost, this is probably your problem.

Same here. I can't seem to get Home Sharing to work at all on a 3rd Gen Apple TV and a Macbook Pro running El Capitan and iTunes 12.3. Its always been flakey for me but now its completely unusable.

Intermittent problems are often a result of interference. Interference can be caused by other networks in the neighbourhood or from household electrical items.

You can download and install iStumbler (NetStumbler for windows users) to help you see which channels are used by neighbouring networks so that you can avoid them, but iStumbler will not see household items.

Refer to your router manual for instructions on changing your wifi channel or adjusting your multicast rate.

There are other types of problems that can affect networks, but this is by far the most common, hence worth mentioning first. Networks that have inherent issues can be seen to work differently with different versions of the same software. You might also try moving the Apple TV away from other electrical equipment.

The following article(s) may help you.

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections

Recommended Wi-Fi settings

Sources of Interference

Wifi Diagnostic Software (for Mac users)

You may also find some help on this page, where I’ve collected some of the more unusual solutions to network issues.

Shut off all system sounds.

I've been trying to identify the pattern to this for weeks - this latest change worked well last night. NOT conclusive, but promising. Things like alarms on incoming email, screen saver, calendar events, etc. ... turn the sound off for everything that could show up randomly..

Interference with ITunes has been observed in the past when video or audio is not working properly on the source computer. Even though you're streaming, the computer capabilities do affect function.

The system sounds alone did not fix it.

Definitely improved - I was able to watch a 2 hour rented movie I streamed from the ITunes on my computer. But after that, I could not start another. After further testing, it appears that any time I use home sharing, it only works once for that session.

Symptom variations:

• Home sharing starts, but drops after a few minutes
• Home sharing works, but restart of AppleTV will not restart home sharing
• Home sharing used by one device – won’t start on another.

In all cases, it can be restored by going back to the computer, close and re-open ITunes. But the core problem will occur again in a few minutes.

One or more of the following fixed it for me:

• Disable IP6
• Disable notifications for things that can happen randomly (e.g. incoming email)
• Disable all system sounds (e.g. screen lock)
• Disable screen lock and screen power off (i.e. Run onscreen in foreground at all times)
• Firewall – make sure all instances of Bonjour and ITunes are enabled for ALL networks. (default is only public)
• Firewall – as above, but also allow edge-traversal – a term that applies to NAT routed networks.

I suspect the firewall is the final answer.

I was having a problem of my apple tv not recognizing my itunes library right after I upgraded to el capitan. Everything had worked ok before the upgrade. Now when I want to view my videos or photos from my itunes library on my apple tv, I turn my firewall off on my imac, and everything works the way it used to. Not sure if it will help you, but worth a try.

Confirmed - firewall was the answer. In Windows, there are multiple "profiles", each represents the variations of network you may be in. (public, private, or enterprise). The install of ITunes only enabled the firewall exception for Public. And that is not typical for a home computer. I enabled it for all, and presto!

Odd though, this is not new in Windows. Either the staff at Apple have forgotten, or something changed in home sharing that requires it. Anyway, I added this to a comment on the Apple support site that asks if their ATV instructions are of help. I don't know where to send it otherwise.

I have the exact same problem, resolved the same way; restart iTunes on the server. My Apple TV 4th gen drops home sharing daily. It is definitely not interference as the other 2 Apple TVs 3rd gen do not have this issue; in different location or the same location as the 4th gen. Please Apple provide a solution to this constant annoyance.

I have the same problem since the early months of 2016. My Apple TV 4th gen drops home sharing daily which is pulling files from new Windows 10 Pro system. I had the same issue on my old laptop which was running Windows 7 Pro regarding the 4th gen drops. Very minimal (once a month) home sharing drops with two other Apple TVs 3rd gens in other rooms in the house. This is a constant annoyance which has forced me to abandon use of Apple TV 4th gen till a fix is implemented.

Lopez_Apple_House wrote:

..... This is a constant annoyance which has forced me to abandon use of Apple TV 4th gen till a fix is implemented.

Nothing at all wrong with the Apple TV 4 in that particular aspect, it's an issue with the rest of your network and/or equipment.

Same issue here. Prior iterations of iTunes, OS X, Airport Extreme and Apple TV always worked without issue.

The current combo of latest OS X, latest iTunes and ATV 4 results in an almost daily need to restart iTunes and restart a given Apple TV so that the two can interoperate together.

I've tried all suggestions on this list with no success.

Very frustrating as every time I sit down to watch something from iTunes on an ATV, I need to go to the Mac, restart iTunes, restart the ATV and then can finally enjoy.