TVOS 15 to Xcode 13 doesn’t pair

Clicking pair shows a code on the Apple TV. Entering that code displays a progress wheel saying “setting up Apple TV” then instead of the Apple TV being setup “PAIR”shows again allowing you to do the setup over and over without being able to use the Apple TV for development. The device loops on the registration process never allowing it to actually be prepared. This happens on all 4 of my Apple TV 4K Second Generations. I have filed a bug with the feedback assistant. I’m just wondering did anyone find a way to successfully pair / or fix this problem. Without this developing for this platform is nearly impossible. Since the Apple TV’s don’t have a port for direct connection.

I don’t want to factory reset all 4 of my Apple TV’s that all do the same thing. I honestly don’t think that will fix them. This is the exact process I did:

  1. Go to window on Xcode menu bar
  2. Click devices and simulators
  3. Go to Remote App and Devices on Apple TV & select it
  4. In the discovered tap area click my Apple TV
  5. Select Pair
  6. Enter code being displayed on Apple TV
  7. Wait for device to be available for development
  8. Device doesn't display as registered and allows you to do the process over & over

Replies

Bumping this. I'm having the same issues. (reinstalling TVOS, re-pairing the ATV, etc don't work).

After many attempts, I managed to pair the ATV with Xcode. Not sure exactly what I did different finally. Turning Wifi off, then on, unplugging ethernet from the ATV, unplugging the power cable, etc. Rebooted my Mac. Finally working.

Bumping this again. I'm having this exact same problem. I select "Pair" and then type in the code and then all I can do is hit "Pair" again to no avail.

I had the same issue. My Macbook would show up in the list of devices in the ATV settings menu but would not be recognized by Xcode. My ATV is connected with an ethernet cable. For me this worked by a weird combination of the following:

  • Removing my mac from the list of Remote App and Devices in the ATV settings
  • Disconnecting the ethernet cable and connecting to WiFi on ATV
  • Quit/restart Xcode and toggle WiFi on/off on my Macbook a couple of times
  • Tried to pair about 15 times, after toggling WiFi on/off on my Mac it suddenly started working

My Apple TV stopped to pair after upgrading to tvOS 15.6 with Xcode 13.4.1. Previously I was able to manage pairing with troubles. I have old router Asus RT-N66U. So, I tried to connect mac and tv to iPhone's hot spot and it paired just fine. It seems my old router is not so good for pairing. Try to use iPhone's hot spot. Maybe mac's ad-hoc network will work too. After that when Xcode fetched debug symbols for tvOS 15.6 over iPhone connection I connected mac and tv to router's network and pairing continued to work over router's wi-fi.

Simply switching WiFi on/off helps to resolve this strange bug.

Wow... I've had this problem for years now, but sure enough just turning the wifi on my Mac off & on again fixes it, & I can connect wirelessly to the ATV 4K. 🙃

Turning my macbook pro's wifi on/off did the trick for me as well.

I have the same problem, but it started after I successfully paired an ATV (Model A2169, 4K, 2nd Gen) running 15.6 to MBP - I then upgraded the ATV to tvos 16, after which it refuses to pair (just like other posters report), but in my case, resetting the wifi on MBP does not fix the problem. Basically, I cannot pair ATV to MBP after tvos 16 update to the ATV. Any advice from Apple would be appreciated.

(I tried a full reset on the ATV as well; MBP running XCode )

UPDATE: After running through the loop of reconnecting a dozen times and doing another full reset on the ATV, I tried double-clicking the ATV name in the left column, and for some unknown reason it then kicked-off the connection process and it seems to have succeeded. The remaining issue is that TVML app that runs fine in the Apple TV 4k (at 1080, 2nd Gen) simulator is crashing on the ATV running tvos 16.

Swapping to 2.4 GHz helped me as Apple TV kept showing the Pair button after entering the pairing code.

I were stuck for a while trying to pair the thing to the other thing.

At the end, I found this post. In summary, you just have to go to "Settings" > "Remotes and Devices" > "Remote App and Devices" in order to make the Apple TV visible to Xcode. I tried this on an Apple TV 4K and Xcode 14.3 and it instantly appeared It takes quite a long time to "fetch debug symbols", but at least is paired. 🤷

You may give it a try.