apple tv is stuck in a loop of asking to verify my location and ID

If you are using two-factor authentication on an older device…

You should be able to append the code to your password and enter that (i.e. if your password is ABC and your code is 123, enter ABC123), however if this doesn't work it may be that you are running out of time using your authentication code and you may want to delay getting your code until the last minute or temporarily disable the 2 step verification/2 factor authentication, although it shouldn’t be necessary.

Get a verification code and sign in with two-factor authentication

The following was posted by another user…

1. From an iPhone or iPad, go into "Settings" => click on the top bar with your name and "Apple ID, iCloud, iTunes & App Store".
2. While still on iPhone or iPad, tap on "Password & Security", then tap on "Get Verification Code", LEAVE the supplied verification code visible.
3. Go to the iTunes login on your AppleTV settings and start logging in.
4. When it asks for your password, enter your password and add the verification code to the end of your password BUT DO NOT HIT SUBMIT YET !!!
5. Go back to your iPhone/iPad and tap on "OK" on the verification code to make it go away.
6. Now go back to your AppleTV and submit the password.

"No need to disable it, it works perfectly well when done properly"

I suppose I may be dumb enough to enter the verification code wrong four times in a row (despite having the wit to enter my password etc. four times to get to that point), but I'd like to think I'm smart enough to type it in correctly at least 25% of the time.

While the procedure from a consumer perspective is straightforward, what Apple is trying to do here software wise is not a simple process (believe me I know), and it would be no surprise if just occasionally some combination of factors conspires to create an exceptional set of conditions that hadn't been tested adequately.

The fact three people (possibly more) have reported this issue recently would suggest more than just incompetence on our part. I'm guessing it has something to do with my recent iPad OS update - but who knows.

"Most likely a simple failure to follow instructions"

Yikes. The instructions are:

1. Enter User ID and Password.....

2. Enter verification number.

...and in my case unfortunately...

3. Go back to step 1

Not exactly complicated :-)

The only ways to screw up are to take too long to enter the data or to enter the wrong data. In my case neither of these situations applies. If I had continued to follow instructions I'd still sitting typing in my user ID, password and verification number for the umpteenth time.

I'm not suggesting for a minute that it doesn't work for you, I'm sure it does - and probably works fine for the vast majority of others. It just doesn't work for me. Perhaps because I have some weird combination of software releases or hardware; or perhaps because of some bizarre localization or encoding issue; or perhaps because of network issues in my region. Who knows - multi-factor authentication is a hugely complex process to get right.

Anyway, I can see you can't be persuaded that there's an issue so I'll leave you to your devotions. Thank you for your suggestions. I'm sure you're a great help to many.

Can't believe that worked.

To confirm this crazy UI, this is what I had to do this on my AppleTV. Since you have to enter the password *before* you get a code, go through the sign in process once to get a code. Then, go through a second time and append the code to the end of the password.

So, if the code you got was "111 111" after the first round, and your password is "password", the second time you go through enter "password111111" in the password field after you enter your apple username.

I had the same problem with the endless loop. I tried appending the code to my password, but that did not work.

I found the fix that worked for me on another thread: before going through the two-factor sign-in process on my AppleTV, I had to sign out of my iTunes account on my AppleTV. (I was still signed in from before I adopted the two-factor authentication process.)

Once I signed out, I then signed back in by entering ONLY my password on the password screen and then entered the six-digit verification code on its separate screen. Worked on the first try. Not sure what generation my AppleTV is.

I read that for some older generations or for those running older software, there is no separate verification code screen. In that case, I suppose one would have to go the route of appending the six-digit verification code to one’s password screen.

Keep in mind the six-digit verification code expires quickly after you press the “ok” button beneath it on your phone, iPad, or whatever other device you generate it on.

Hope this helps someone. Good luck and sorry for the long post.

I ran into the same issue today when we were trying to rent a movie. Thanks all that had the helpful posts in this thread, I didn't know what was going wrong!

I was initially able to get it working for the rental by turning off two factor authentication through https://appleid.apple.com/account/manage (it's on option in security settings) as mentioned by @petenixey in this post (appleTV keeps asking for appleID, password and authentication code circularly) . During the playing of the movie I had turned two factor authentication back on and the loop started again when we paused/played the movie so I had to turn two factor authentication back off.

When the movie was done I followed @NYCperson999's advice and signed off on the appleTV (Settings > iTunes Store > AppleIDs> Sign Out). Then I turned two factor authentication back on and signed in to the appleTV. After I entered the password I was prompted for the code and it took it! So far that's had it.

Although it's not what I did directly, it seems like you may just need to log off and log back in to the appleTV for it to be able to use the two factor authentication properly.

Alternately disable two factor authentication from https://appleid.apple.com/#!&page=signin

Oddly enough my iPad wouldn't let me turn off two factor authentication. Seems a shame to disable a security feature, but since it doesn't work what choice is there?

And my Apple TV supports two factor authentication - it just doesn't work - nothing to do with timeout (unless the timeout is 10 seconds).

Although in our case, we simply bought the movie we wanted to see from someone else.

Hello everybody,

I have the same issue aswell. Located in germany and sitting for the second evening and tried to login.

But I am sticking also in a loop. In most cases the women are smarter then the men, but this time my wife

sits beside me and she is also helpless. No way to get Apple TV work.

I agree with br14, it is not our fought.

best regards form germany,

Oliver and his wife

Unfortunately it just may be the case that Apple is not updating its first generation of Apple TV devices.

I'm using multifactor authentication on multiple devices and software packages - from Duo to Chrome Authenticator, LastPass and Apple. However, this Apple TV - and I may have one of the older units - just simply won't work. I was able to use multifactor authentication to get inside the Apple Store on the Apple TV, but I was not able to rent a video successfully, no matter how quick I was entering the 6-digit code after the password.

Only fix to rent a video was to turn multifactor authentication off.

I went round and round the loop at least 6 times before I found the above instructions. I got the verification code first from my iPhone, then appended it to the end of my iTunes password on Apple TV. I may be mistaken, but I think that I did hit submit, then went back to tap OK on the iPhone.

It worked first time.

Totally agree. This is just the dumbest user experience design! How the **** are you meant to work out you need to apend the code to your password. Fantastic way to ensure users don’t purchase any apple content - keep it up!

With all due respect "Winston", the problem is not logging into the last two generation Apple TV it is a problem with the older Apple TV. If you will look at your "helpful" track record" your not getting many numbers on your track record. I have both older Apple TV's and newer ones, I have had more problems with the newer unit that I have with the older unit "having to unplug the unit and plug it back in to fix the problems of not communicating with my computer, so I don't want to spend money getting a unit that is in my opinion "crap". I just want my 4 older generation 3 Apple TV's to work.

Hey Oliver,

I have the same issue on two different Apple TV's but someone explained it to me and it worked, but I don't know why.

Go through the sign in process all the way through the two factor authentication then back to step one (don't hit okay after the 6 digit number pops up on your phone)

Now click submit for your email and when it comes to the password enter your normal password and then enter the 6 digit authentication number after your Password. The two factor authentication won't pop up and it just works. I had to buy something before I could watch anything from my library but its all good now. Now you can hit ok and clear the code from your phone.

This was the only guidance that helped after nearly an hour of trying the various other advice. I have an older Apple TV - I don't know which generation, and I hadn't used it for many, many months. I prefer Roku for most streaming. I found that signing out of icloud through settings on the Apple TV didn't do it, but I then also signed out of itunes through settings on the Apple TV and that worked - and I did have to use a verification code.

This is a ridiculous flaw to have to deal with. I suspect that Apple just doesn't pay attention to it's older devices as far as updating its software. I'm grateful for the advice I can (sometimes) get on these forums.

Br14 is spot on. While this is an older post I am having the same issue. Following the process, code comes up on my phone and I enter my ID’s password along with the code and the process repeats. This is just poor engineering. I’m using my prime subscription directly in my Samsung tv because it works so easily. I want to use the Apple TV as I have so much already purchased there but this is just so frustrating. I have two Apple TVs and they always need another login or validation. Meanwhile the facial regontion on my IPhone X is simply amazing and the polar opposite of this mental torture device called the Apple Tv