Can you use an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard with the Apple TV 4th Gen?

johanalf wrote:

Apple TV 4 is a big disappointment. No keyboard to type searches, No Siri (yet for sweden) and no siri for apple music search yet, no optical out, c'mon Apple, ATV3 is far better in terms of usability, just miss Apple Music but with ATV4 it's actually a pain searching anyway, better off using your iPad/iPhone and AirPlay it.

Submit your feedback to Apple here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Meanwhile, if you're not happy with the device, you're still within the return period.

Thank you I thought I was losing the plot! ive been trying in vain obviouly to pair my keyboard that has worked with my previous Apple TV's to the new one that i bought yeaterday to no avail. When i came across this post i thought "Huzzah its not me"

This is Over simplified nonsense. There are a dozen passwords to put in. Then how do you search in ANY App without having to use a keyboard? I don't want to use Siri for everything, especially odd and foreign words she doesn't recognize! I can't even pause a show with my Apple Watch!

Do you not have netflix, hulu, HBO Go, Showtime Anywhere or any other third party service??? If not then maybe the absurdly un-secure "never" option works for you but not for those of us who use everything else the Apple TV offers. Keyboard support is definitely needed - I am actually really shocked they chose not to include support, seems like a fireable oversight to me.

This is clearly a half baked product. ATV4 doesn't even support Apple devices (iPad or iPhone) running IOS 9.1. I've been able to briefly enter my AppleID during setup where you can specify configure with a device. Having my iPad literally sitting on ATV, I was prompted (on the iPad) to activate it. I have then been able to key in my AppleID password. After that, forget it. The device cannot connect anymore to the ATV4. Spoke with Apple support over the phone and after the usual ATV4 restart, iPad restart, ATV4 reset, I've got a "this is strange". Then I hung up and asked for a call back 30 min later, while I was grinding through the tedious task of entering all my password with the stupid remote. On the call back another representative gladly informed me that he found the problem:

ATV4 won't support keyboard over bluetooth (not even my Logitech ultrathin) nor my iPhone 5s or my iPad Air. Support for iPhone and iPad over bluetooth should come at a later date (read in a future fix).

Siri doesn't not work either, in french Canadian. Bravo Apple. I'd say they pushed too hard to get it out the door before Christmas.

.....

I am reading here. The fact that so many dumbasses use one password for all their accounts is beyond idiotic. The inability to not connect a keyboard or your iphone is ridiculous...

Apple you guys suck on this one - super big time!

Well put review of the ATV4. 2 1/2 stars is exactly what it deserves.

http://www.zdnet.com/product/apple-tv-2015/

Very disappointed in the lack of Remote App and keyboard support.

I have provided feedback to Apple for both. Please all do so. This will help Apple to give it priority.

As Jeremy Horwitz also noted in March, one of the biggest omissions from the current Apple TV is system-wide search support. For example, a user cannot search for “James Bond” and see results across the iTunes Store, Netflix, the Crackle app, and the Apple Music library. Apple is said to be planning to fix that with the next-generation Apple TV software, but we are told that the company may wait to integrate the new search features until the Apple TV is populated with third-party applications.

Well folks, here is the latest update on my half baked Apple product. I'm wrapping it up and I'll bring it back to the nearest Apple Store. I rented a movie, that I downloaded on my Mac so I don't have to enter my password all over again on the ATV4 but guess what, I can't watch it on the stupid ATV4. I never ever had trouble with that on my ATV2. So I decided to rent another movie. Same thing. Tonight I initilized the dumb thing completely. Had to re-enter all my password all over again. Same result. I get a wonderful pop up on my Mac that read like "cannot fulfill your request right now...try later".

I'm beyond that kind of things. I switched to Apple a couple of years ago and the main reason is because I didn't want to QA things for dumb software/hardware companies. This is my job 5 days a week. I don't want to make a career out of it once I'm home.

What a shame... I received it this morning, tried several times to pair a keyboard. Now it is in package with a return sticker. This is the first apple product that i have to return because of big disappointment. Sorry Apple you can do it a lot better next time!

And now, the icing on the cake.

Take the ATV4 in your hands and look at the back. See the USB port? Now try to find a cable in the box that fits it....

Also. Rent a movie in iTunes and download it on your PC or MAC. You can rent it directly on the ATV4 but then again who wants to enter its AppleID password with a stupid remote each time you rent. Now on the ATV4 try to go on your iTune library, under location, and try to watch your movie. You won't be able to. ATV4 can't pull the movie from your PC/MAC. You have to push it from your PC/MAC. Very useful isn't it? Let's say you want to activate the subtitles or stop the movie. All you can do from the ATV4 is pause. This was working fine on my ATV2.

The USB port on the ATV is for service not for general use.

IF you want to stream (which is how the ATV was designed) it streams from Apple. Or if you want to download you would access through home sharing since the file now resides on your home storage.

To get subtitles, swipe up during a movie and select them (if available on the file)

I beg your pardon? Spent 3 hours with Apple care support yesterday and they asked me to connect the ATV to my MAC with that specific port. They had to go to their lab to figure out that a cable for this port was not supplied by Apple thus I could not connect the ATV.

The ATV4 stream perfectly fine from your Mac or your PC, as long as the TV serie or the movie belongs to you (if you bought it). If you rent and download it on your MAC or PC, it won't try it out. I did. The ATV2 doesn't have that limitation. Again I spent 3 hours with Apple over the phone and they could not figure it out. I swapped my ATV4 for my old ATV2 and voila!

To get the subtitles when you push a movie from your MAC to your ATV via Airplay, you have to go on the MAC or the PC. You cannot activate them on the ATV. All you can do is pause the stream or restart it.