Apple TV
The Apple TV integration allows you to control an Apple TV (any generation).
There is currently support for the following entities within the Apple TV device:
Configuration
To add the Apple TV integration to your Home Assistant instance, use this My button:
Apple TV can be auto-discovered by Home Assistant. If an instance was found, it will be shown as Discovered. You can then set it up right away.
Manual configuration steps
If it wasn’t discovered automatically, don’t worry! You can set up a manual integration entry:
-
Browse to your Home Assistant instance.
-
In the bottom right corner, select the
Add Integration button. -
From the list, select Apple TV.
-
Follow the instructions on screen to complete the setup.
Media player
The Apple TV media player platform will create a Media Player entity for each Apple TV discovered on your network. This entity will display the active app and playback controls.
Launching apps
You can launch apps using the media_player.select_source
action, or using the
“Apps” folder in the media browser.
Using the media_player.play_media
action, you can also use Deep Links
to
launch specific content in applications.
Examples of some Deep Links
for popular applications:
App | URL |
---|---|
YouTube | youtube://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ |
Netflix | https://www.netflix.com/title/80234304 |
Disney+ | https://www.disneyplus.com/series/the-beatles-get-back/7DcWEeWVqrkE |
Apple TV+ | https://tv.apple.com/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx |
The simplest way to find useful Deep Links
is to use the “Share” feature in iOS
or macOS versions of the App. Share sheets will often have a “Copy” or
“Copy link” feature. For apps that have a web-accessible version, links copied
from the browser usually work too. Such links may not work if a developer
maintains separate iOS and tvOS apps. More methods of discovering links
supported by apps can be found in the
pyatv documentation
Examples:
# Open the Netflix app at a specific title
action: media_player.play_media
data:
media_content_type: url
media_content_id: https://www.netflix.com/title/80234304
target:
entity_id: media_player.living_room_apple_tv
# Open a specific YouTube video:
action: media_player.play_media
data:
media_content_type: url
media_content_id: youtube://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
target:
entity_id: media_player.living_room_apple_tv
Remote
The Apple TV remote platform will automatically create a Remote entity for each Apple TV configured on your Home Assistant instance. These entities allow you to turn the device on/off and to send control commands.
The following commands are currently available:
wakeup
suspend
home
top_menu
menu
select
play
pause
up
down
left
right
volume_up
volume_down
previous
next
skip_backward
skip_forward
NOTE: Not all commands are supported by all Apple TV versions.
Action send_command
Service data attribute |
Optional | Description |
---|---|---|
entity_id |
no |
entity_id of the Apple TV |
command |
no | Command, or list of commands to be sent |
num_repeats |
yes | Number of times to repeat the commands |
delay_secs |
yes | Interval in seconds between one send and another This is a float value e.g. 1, 1.2 etc. |
hold_secs |
yes | Number of seconds to hold the button. This is a float value but please use 0 for not hold and 1 for holding the button |
Examples
Create a script to invoke the Netflix application based on the application icon being in a fixed place on the home screen:
lounge_appletv_netflix:
alias: "Select Netflix"
sequence:
- action: remote.send_command
target:
entity_id: remote.lounge_appletv
data:
delay_secs: 1.5
command:
- top_menu
- home
- right
- select
Script using the quick action menu to send your Apple TV to sleep and turn off the Media Player:
apple_tv_sleep:
alias: "Make the Apple TV sleep"
sequence:
- action: remote.send_command
target:
entity_id: remote.lounge_appletv
data:
hold_secs: 1
delay_secs: 1
command:
- home
- action: remote.send_command
target:
entity_id: remote.lounge_appletv
data:
delay_secs: 1
command:
- select
- action: media_player.turn_off
target:
entity_id: media_player.lounge_appletv
Send 3 left
commands with delay between each:
action: remote.send_command
target:
entity_id: remote.apple_tv
data:
num_repeats: 3
delay_secs: 2.5
command:
- left
FAQ
My Apple TV does not turn on/off when I press on/off in the frontend
That is correct; it only toggles the power state in Home Assistant. See the example above to use the quick action menu. This can be used on Apple TVs running tvOS 14.0 or later.
Is it possible to see if a device is on without interacting with it
No
When adding a new device, a PIN code is requested, but none is shown on the screen
This can happen when pairing the AirPlay protocol in case the access settings are wrong. On your Apple TV, navigate to Settings, find the AirPlay menu and make sure that the access setting is set to “Everyone on the same network” and try again.
The buttons (play, pause, etc.) do not work
The tvOS apps themselves decide what commands they support and when they support
them. Likely, the app you are using does not support the action you are trying
to perform. Before writing an issue about this, verify if the same action is possible with the
Remote app in iOS. If that is the case, please write a bug in
pyatv
Setting volume doesn’t work on my Apple TV
Volume control functionality depends on how the Apple TV is set up. All volume controls should work if the Apple TV is connected to a HomePod or HomePod stereo pair. If the Apple TV is connected to TV speakers and with volume control over HDMI CEC (Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Volume Control) only volume up/down controls will work. If volume control is over IR then volume cannot be controlled remotely through the Apple TV, but you can integrate your TV or soundbar directly.
I’m trying to play a stream via AirPlay, but it doesn’t work
The Apple TV is quite picky when it comes to which formats it plays. The best bet is MP4. If it doesn’t work, it’s likely because of the media format.
Debugging
If you have any problems and intend to write an issue, make sure you have the relevant logs included. For this integration, you can enable them like this:
logger:
logs:
pyatv: debug
homeassistant.components.apple_tv: debug
By providing logs directly when creating the issue, you will likely get help much faster.