Apple TV 4 turns on by itself

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Level 1

4 points

Apple TV 4 turns on by itself

I recently bought the new 4th-gen Apple TV and set my TV to use HDMI-CEC so that my Apple TV remote can power on both my Apple TV and TV at the same time.

HDMI-CEC works, I can successfully power on/off both at the same time. My problem is that my Apple TV will randomly turn itself and the TV on while I'm sleeping and wake me up.

There is absolutely no-one awake in the house while it happens. If I turn it off afterwards, it will turn itself on again around 15 minutes later. My temporary solution is to either unplug my Apple TV or to disabled HDMI-CEC. Both obviously aren't ideal solutions and I'd like HDMI-CEC to work without those annoying false positives.

While this happened, the Apple TV remote was laying flat on a table, so it couldn't possibly have been buttons or the touchpad being accidentally pressed. I also don't own any other Apple TV-compatible remote like the old IR silver remote. It happened multiple nights, often very late (like 3AM), so I doubt it's someone pranking me with an IR remote through my window or something like that.

I can't really tell if it's due to some sort of interference or if my Apple TV / remote is defective.

My hypotheses are:

A neighbour might own an IR Apple TV remote and accidentally trigger my Apple TV. Seems pretty unlikely given IR can't really blast through walls.
A neighbour might own some Apple device and trigger something like AirPlay to my Apple TV which turns it on (although I don't see music/video when it turns on, it's usually just the menu).
My Apple TV or its software might be defective and turn itself on when it shouldn't.
My Siri remote might be defective and send signals to the Apple TV when it shouldn't.
There might be some sort of interference in my house that the Apple TV incorrectly interprets as either an IR, Bluetooth or AirPlay signal.

There seems to be so much different explanations that I don't know where to start to try to fix the issue.

I was wondering if anybody else was having this problem.

Apple TV (4th generation), tvOS 9.0.1

Posted on Nov 15, 2015 10:50 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Diana.McCall

Level 7

21,255 points

Feb 10, 2017 9:47 AM in response to 23david23

Hi. The remote uses Bluetooth, so it is possible. Try step 4 in this Set up your Apple TV (4th generation) - Apple Support to ensure that each remote is paired with only one ATV.

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Answer 2

Feb 10, 2017 8:43 AM in response to p_giguere1

I haven't solved this problem yet but I wonder if it has to do with the other Apple TV I have at the other end of the house. I got my first ATV 4 last summer (2016). The 2nd one was given to me by AT&T in December for paying 3 months in advance for their new streaming service. Anyway, when I go to bed, I turn on the ATV 4 in the bedroom for an hour of viewing before going to sleep. I'll change channels and look at the TV guide, etc. Then I'll notice that the ATV 4 in the living room is on. I can hear it. Kinda freaks me out. I'll go out and turn it off, return to bed and change channels or continue viewing whatever I was watching... then I'll notice the other TV is on again after 20 or so minutes. When I finally turn off the bedroom ATV 4, the one in the living room stops turning on by itself. Not sure exactly what's going on but it seems to be an interaction between the bedroom remote and the ATV in the living room. But is that possible??

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Answer 3

jcotati

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2015 8:01 AM in response to p_giguere1

I have the same problem.

My guess it has nothing to do with the remote, or a neighbors, waking the Apple TV from Sleep mode.

Apple TV and the TV turn on with the screen saver (photo slideshow) running, then when I push a button on the remote an icon appears 'apple remote connected' at the top right hand corner. Assume this mean the remote woke up and was detected by the Apple TV? That is why I am leaning towards the Apple TV waking itself up.

It's annoying.

Adding a couple more observations:

1. The problem did not appear in the first week. Realized that during that time was turning the TV off which also turned the Apple TV off instead of putting it to sleep using the Apple remote. Will check if this is a clue.

2. Should also consider there may be an issue with the interface of the TV interacting with the Apple TV. My TV is a Sony Bravia.

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Answer 4

Jun 16, 2017 4:55 PM in response to 23david23

Mine was doing the same. Battery was low on the remote; once I charged it - it stopped turning on unexpectedly.

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Answer 5

Jun 16, 2017 5:00 PM in response to 23david23

Charged my remote and it stopped.

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