Apple TV turns itself on

A bluetooth and/or wifi device (iPhone or iPad probably) is re-connecting to the network at 5 AM, by automatic re-enabling of bluetooth and wifi, and re-connecting to networked devices to which it was paired, waking the Apple TV from sleep. That makes it network related, even if the Apple TV and the network are the same as before.

You can test this my turning off bluetooth and wifi on the iPhone in Settings (not in Control Center!), or use Airplane Mode at night.

I have a model 1469 (3rd generation, software version 7.2.2 (8015)) which started turning itself on randomly after a required software refresh (as we moved back from the US to Canada). One of the posted replies twigged me to check if Bluetooth was enabled and active on the AppleTV, which it was - to my ZAGG keyboard (also turned on) - which I had used during the setup/login steps. Once both of these were set to "off", the problem disappeared.

I can only surmise that the active Bluetooth functionality was "waking" the device. Hope this helps some of the users affected.

Altering the CEC settings is the workaround... or solution, depending on how you look at it.

There are the CEC settings on the Apple TV, but the TV should also have CEC settings.

I remember having this problem a long time ago and I went in to my TV's settings and changed it so that HDMI connected devices wouldn't power on the TV. You probably won't see anything in the TV settings called CEC because every TV manufacturer calls it something different (Sony calls it Bravia Sync [i think] ... I'm not at home so I can't confirm)

I didn't care if the Apple TV was turning on at random times... but I didn't want the TV doing the same.

As far as I was concerned, problem solved.

I turned off background app refresh and it just works. No more turning on by itself.

To turn off background app refresh, Settings -> General -> Backgound App Refresh

All my configurations below had the same problem.

1. ATV 4K with Samsung 4K

2. ATV 4K with LG OLED 4K

3. ATV 4th gen with Sony Bravia

Try turning off Background App Refresh. I was having the same issue, then realized my ATV was turning on when I used Netflix on another device on the same network.

After I put the Apple TV Remote app to the Control Center on one phone it started to happen to me too. I removed it and things seems to be ok now (at least for a week)

Apple is aware of the issue. The bug is fixed in the new FW which should arrive very soon. I am using the beta as I said earlier in the thread and my Apple TV 4K hasn't turned itself on ever since installing it.

I've installed the latest beta 11.3 and it appears the problem is fixed. At least, my ATV 4K hasn't turn itself on for the last 48 hours.

There goes the "network-related issue" thesis...

It is network related, the Apple TV is being brought out of sleep because it detects activity. Issues can come at any time. If you see just above there were suggestions provided and yes there will always be reports but it is from a small group relative to the millions of users.

Something is going on within your network that the Apple TV is picking up on and causing it to turn on

Bolony. The problem is that we cannot turn off AppleTV, only put it to sleep. The network constantly checks connections, as it should. This wakes up ATV.

I'm having the same problem. I noticed it's been happening ever since I connected my Mac laptop to my Apple TV to stream my iTunes library. Now the Apple TV just turns on whenever it wants. It will also turn the TV on if I powered it off. The screen always comes up with a 4 digit security code for the two-factor authentication that now connects my Apple devices. However, it is really annoying. I can be watching live TV via my regular cable (HDMI 1 input) and all of a sudden the TV switches to the Apple TV and I haven't done a thing (Apple TV is on HDMI 2 input). This is incredibly frustrating. I, too, have a Sony TV and connect to the Apple TV via my 5G WiFi connection. I would love to get this to stop without having to disconnect the whole thing.

What troubleshooting have you done to verify your network. Other devices working doesn't rule that out.

Did you get a diagnostic report? What were the results? Is the Apple TV on WiFi? Have you tried Ethernet? Have you tested on another network?

There will always be reports but it is from a select group, it is working fine here and for the majority

Same problem here. It randomly turns itself on. Frustratingly, it started doing this more and more often. Today it woke me up in the morning and just now in the evening it turned on again. I have another ATV4 on the network and was thinking that its remote could be doing that, but now there's no one at home and it turned itself on again. Very strange and annoying.

BTW, I have a LG TV, so it's not a brand problem.

Why do you think this is network-related? It was working perfectly fine for 4 months. I use Apple Time Capsules around the house (1 of the newest ones, one 4th gen and an Airport express).

What troubleshooting do you recommend?

I've searched about this online and it appears a lot of people are experiencing the same problem, but there are not any solutions posted. I've sent feedback to Apple and hope they will fix it soon.