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Roomie TV Setup on Apple TV with Single App Mode
- Begin with either a normal Apple TV setup on your Apple ID or a fresh Apple TV out of the box. In all cases, make sure to use the Ethernet model of Apple TV (model A2843). Make sure the Apple TV is not already in a supervised mode. (You would know if it were.) Update to the latest version of tvOS which is 18.1 at the time of this document.
- Install the latest version of Apple Configurator 2 on your Mac. Your Mac must also be using the latest macOS. For this document, macOS Sequoia 15.1 and Apple Configurator 2.17 were used.
- On Apple TV, go to ‘Settings->Remotes and Devices->Remote App and Devices’. Leave this screen showing.
- On your Mac in Apple Configurator, open “Paired Devices” from the menu. Your Apple TV will appear. Select it and pair with the appropriate code. For some reason, this process often seems to fail, but the important part succeeds. The Internet is rife with reports of this, so we will just call this “normal” for this Apple feature. The Apple TV will now show up in the main window of Apple Configurator. Select it, right click and select “Prepare”. The subsequent screens are a nuisance and answers largely irrelevant. Just select Manual Configuration and “Allow devices to pair with other computers”. No organization, you can just enter your name. For the Setup Assistant screen, leave all boxes unchecked.
- At this point, you will encounter an error that this Apple TV is already setup so you will need to reset it completely. Proceed with that. Now push your Apple Remote further away so you don’t accidentally use it. If you used a fresh, unconfigured Apple TV in step 1, you may not get this error in which case you could skip to step 7.
- When the Apple TV has reset and reached the initial Hello screen, delete your existing pairing from Apple Configurator and pair again. This process can be finicky. You may need to restart your Mac to get it to recognize the device again. Remember do not touch the physical Apple Remote during this process. The first Hello screen itself is the pairing screen you want. Once you re-complete pairing (it may seem to fail once again as above), right click the Apple TV in the main Apple Configurator window and “Prepare” once more with the same answers above.
- At this point the Apple TV will reset and reach the actual Apple TV springboard. Proceed to Settings, sign in with your Apple ID, set it to Sleep Never, and whatever other minor settings are important to you. Make sure to wait a few minutes until HomeKit synchronizes if you want HomeKit control. The “Room” field can be verified under Apple TV’s HomeKit panel when it is done.
- Install Roomie TV on the Apple TV and make sure it is setup and working, you’ve agreed to whatever permissions were needed at launch, and completed the Sign in With Apple process. Also, pair it with Roomie Remote so that you can control the Apple TV properly.
- Right click the Apple TV in Apple Configurator and under “Advanced” select “Start Single App Mode”. Select Roomie TV as the single app.
- The Apple TV is now locked to Roomie TV. Removing it from Single App Mode requires the exact same procedure, selecting the Apple TV in Apple Configurator, and then Advanced->Stop Single App Mode. You will need to exit manually like that when you wish to perform a software update on either Roomie TV or the Apple TV. All automatic software updates, notifications, and other things that could interrupt the function of the Primary Controller are perfectly blocked while in Single App Mode.
- Single App Mode is resistant to power loss and crashing. The app will automatically re-launch when power is restored. If the app experiences a problem, it will re-launch.
- Apple Configurator sometimes gets out of sync with the Apple TV. Restart your Mac if run into any problems with discovering the Apple TV. Don’t delete the pairing as a resolution step or you may need to restart these steps from the beginning.