Airplay dropping after ~2 minutes

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Level 1

15 points

Airplay dropping after ~2 minutes

Recently, airplay from my iOS devices to an apple tv ha s started dropping after about 2 minutes of play time. It happens with both youtube and vimeo and both my phone and my wife's phone. My setup is:

Apple TV 4th gen w/ tvOS 10.2.2

iPhones with 10.3.3

Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X 1.9.7 hotfix 2 (also tried 1.9.1.1 with same results)

2x Ubiquiti Unifi AC Pro

2x LinkSys LGS116P switch

It doesn't happen 100% of the time but once it starts happening, it happens quite consistently (which makes it easier to try different things). I've tried rebooting the router, the APs, the phones, the apple tv, and the switches without any improvement. I've also tried removing one of the APs but that didn't help either. I've captured packets on the ERX when it happens and it looks like a the apple tv sends up a bunch of resets (see attached, 10.0.1.77 is the apple tv)?

It doesn't happen when playing videos directly from the apple tv, only when airplaying from a phone to the apple tv. It's definitely annoying and it didn't happen a month or two ago.

Has anyone else experienced airplay dropping after about 2 minutes before? Any suggestions on what I can try?

thanks!

Apple TV, tvOS 10.2.2, 4th gen

Posted on Sep 3, 2017 1:07 AM

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Answer 1

cameronring Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 3, 2017 9:58 AM in response to Diana.McCall

Thanks for the quick response! First, in case it's helpful, the youtube app says "Connected to Airplay" when it's working and then "Something went wrong. Tap to retry" when it stops:

Makes sense that the phone would have a connection to the AppleTV and if interrupted , could create problems. The challenge is I don't see anything on my phone to indicate that it dropped from the wifi. No ping dropouts with a 50ms ping, nothing in the logs for the Unifi controller, and nothing in the packet capture (that stands out to me as phone dropping off). I also tried 2.4 GHz instead of 5 GHz wifi (as well as trying different channels and channel widths) without it make any difference. Separately, I live a bit out of the way and the only wifi networks are my own so wifi interference should be at a minimum.

Definitely a mystery that's driving me nuts!

thanks,

cam

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Answer 2

cameronring Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 3, 2017 2:33 PM in response to vazandrew

I preferred wired connections to wireless so all of my devices that can be connected via ethernet are, including the AppleTV. Unfortunately, not an option for my iPhone 🙂

Ubiquiti has an RF scanning tool (It's been more helpful to me in the past than iStumbler):

From the scan, interference looks really limited and playing with different channel widths (smaller should be a bit less performant but more stable) doesn't seem to help (neither does using 2.4 GHz instead of 5 GHz).

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Answer 3

Sep 25, 2017 4:56 PM in response to vazandrew

I have this exact same issue.. both connected via a home network AND a directly from my IOS 11 device and the AppleTV via WiFi/Bluetooth. Same disconnect after 2 and a half minutes. In the EXACT same environments, I had absolutely NO problems with IOS 10, and still don't with my other IOS 10 devices. My problem began immediately after upgrading to IOS 11.

I've moved the pair of devices to multiple locations and tested both network and direct (wireless) connections with the exact same results and it is NOT related to radio interference.. unless IOS 11 causes said interference... ;-) Side by side with an IOS 10 device without any dropped connections from the IOS 10 device and a dropped connection every time on the IOS 11 device.

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Answer 4

Nov 14, 2017 9:01 AM in response to Msboni

Hi. Please report this to Apple at this link: Feedback - Apple TV - Apple.

But realize that it's not a universal problem. My iPad Air with iOS 11.1.1 AirPlays flawlessly to Apple TV with tvOS 11.1. So something in your iOS configuration may be the cause.

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Answer 5

Sep 27, 2017 12:52 PM in response to cameronring

Same here

iPhone 7 Plus, ios 11.0.1, AppleTV 4 tvOS 11.0

Update ios 11.0.1 does not fix the problem
Airplay stopping only occours if i stream from an app like netflix, amazon, safari, youtube
it stops after more or less exactly 2 minutes
After Showing the AppleTV Menu for a second, airplay reconnects and the stream continues (except for the Netflix app - it shows error-code 30103)
Airplay does not stop if i turn on "Screen Mirroring" and stream from the same apps
none of my other devices (e.g. Iphone 6, iOS 11) has this problem
problem first time occurred on iOS 11

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Answer 6

Sep 3, 2017 3:57 AM in response to cameronring

Hi. When you use basic AirPlay (phone player goes dark and "This video is playing on Apple TV"), Apple TV uses a return connection to the phone to update the player status. Is there any chance the phone is dropping off WiFi? Losing connection to the phone would cause Apple TV to quit playing.

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Answer 7

vazandrew

Level 8

40,492 points

Sep 3, 2017 11:17 AM in response to cameronring

Interference isn't only from other networks. Other WiFi devices, appliances, and placement can also be factors. Have you tried Ethernet?

To see a current status of the network get a report from istumbler, netstumbler or similar. Look for signal strength, noise and if there were other networks it would also show that as well.

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Answer 8

cameronring Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 3, 2017 3:31 PM in response to vazandrew

Yes, router has latest firmware. I just did a test with only the following on the network:

EdgeRouter X w/ fw 1.9.7

TPLink RE450 in AP mode

Apple TV w/ tvOS 10.2.2

iPhone w/ iOS 10.3.3

with no other devices on the network (no other switches, APs, hardwired clients, or wireless clients). I wanted to try a different wifi AP just to see if the Unifi APs were causing the issue so I used a TPLink RE450 I usually used for range extending but configured it to just be an AP hardwired to the EdgeRouter X. It was setup with a different SSID so no other devices are on the network.

Unfortunately, the drops are still happening 😟

Did you mean bring my Apple TV to Apple or my iPhone? I bought the Apple TV a few years ago... would they still be able to help me?

thanks,

cam

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Answer 9

cameronring Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 26, 2017 4:07 PM in response to vazandrew

Yes, I remember you saying that. I'm just a bit skeptical of committing my time when it seems unlikely, at least from my perspective, to work out productively. Do you have experience with Genius Bar folks helping troubleshoot issues with items out of warranty? Thinking about the possible outcomes, if they confirm that it isn't working, I assume the only recourse would be to buy a new device. If they can't reproduce the issue (although it's close, it doesn't happen 100% of the time for me), they're won't be anything they can do for me.

Since I've already gone back forth with Apple on the bug report, I think that's probably my best bet but I'm open to reconsidering.

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Answer 10

vazandrew

Level 8

40,492 points

Sep 26, 2017 5:07 PM in response to cameronring

Yes, I’ve helped a lot of people and those who have requested testing have been helped, not all were within warranty. If they couldn’t reproduce then that would mean it’s somethibg within your environment.

What have Apple communicated with you? I have seen nothing to indicate a bug

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Answer 11

Sep 29, 2017 8:07 AM in response to cameronring

Same problem since upgrading to TVOS11. Exhausted all options to get this working again. the only thing that has changed since it worked fine is the ATV4 OS update. It is definitely the update that has caused the problem.

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Answer 12

Oct 15, 2017 3:19 PM in response to cameronring

I sadly have to correct my last post. iOS 11.0.2 and also 11.0.3 did not fix the problem. But i observe an improvement. After restarting the iPhone it works ok for hours. The next day or later the problem occurs again. This "restart-workaround" did not work on iOS 11 and 11.0.1 for me.

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Answer 13

Oct 16, 2017 10:43 AM in response to cameronring

I was having this issue and realized that when I was playing Music on iTunes, every time a new song came on it was dropping the mirror. If you haven't already tried it, disconnect your Apple TV from iTunes Airplay. It solved the issue for me.

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Answer 14

Oct 19, 2017 1:24 PM in response to cameronring

Exactly the same issue here, tried absolutely everything, and I observe an additional flourish: once the video cuts out, the Apple TV flashes the previously open app and then goes back to a black screen that plays a 2-second-long empty video - the only way I know it’s moving is because the progress bar is displayed on the bottom. I can replay this “video” over and over again or go back to any previous app. What is going on with AirPlay???

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Answer 15

Steve RK

Level 1

11 points

Oct 19, 2017 3:54 PM in response to richfromoakley

The original problem report was iOS 10. I am seeing exactly what richfromoakley is seeing - a similar problem, consistent dropping after about 3 minutes, since I upgraded to iOS 11. I had only rare occasional dropouts under iOS 10. With iOS 11, it is consistent and simply not usable. I am using an iPad with the latest iOS 11 and an Apple TV A1469 with the latest software. Both are on the same 5G wifi in the same room as the router. I see nothing to suggest the wifi connection itself is being interrupted. Rebooting both iPad and Apple TV does not solve the problem. I feel there must be a problem with iOS 11. Very frustrating. Does anyone know if this is under discussion anywhere else? I can’t believe it’s not happening widely.

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