AppleTV OS 15 Compatibility?

Is there compatibility with TVOS 15 (beta) currently? If so, is there anything different needed about how we set it up with Roomie?

I have not heard of any issues in this area.

On iOS15 beta 3, my iPhone connected and communicated perfectly (like it always has) to my ATV4k (first gen).

Once upgraded to TVOS 15, all ability to communicate with it stopped. I also can detect the device, but cannot control it whatsoever.

I have a second ATV4k that can still be controlled just fine as it’s on TVOS 14.7.

I’m not expecting any solution or anything as I’m working with beta software, but I am hoping that letting you know about this, you might be able to keep an eye out for others having any issues.

I have 3 ATVs, but the one with beta OS15 doesn’t work either.

I would note that this happens every Summer with betas so we don't usually spend time on it until September. Would be a huge waste of time to pay attention to it early because the tvOS betas are often broken in ways that become irrelevant the next build. But as usual we spend most of the Summer on major feature development so any minor fixes for things like this would appear in beta fairly quickly but would not likely be released in a point release. Our TestFlight beta program continues on as always. The beta topics on this forum are also live but require me to grant access on request via PM.

I would love to be part of the test program if possible. What should I do to apply for access?

Thanks

Having now spent significant time on this, I would note that everyone should plan to delay slightly their upgrade to tvOS 15. Major surprise changes under the hood in tvOS have broken literally everything on the market related to tvOS control. As often occurs, WWDC is not the last word so surprise changes like this can happen at the last minute. Indeed, further changes might change even this. The nature of the changes in this case is quite dramatic, so this will not be a quick fix.

The good news is we have a fairly clear path to a new solution, but it is safe to say nothing that exists today will work for AppleTV control on tvOS 15. I'm hopeful we will have a solution around the GM of tvOS 15, but time is way too tight to ensure that at this point.

Consider returning back to tvOS 14 for now any AppleTVs that have already been updated. You can safely assume we will add support for tvOS 15 and any delay past GM will be minimized.

tvOS 15 support is now part of the current Roomie 7 betas. To join beta, use the "Submit Bug" button in the app and ask to join. Include your forum name as well.

Based on the GM release of iOS/tvOS and the current state of Roomie beta, what should we expect next week?

Do you recommend holding off on either iOS or tvOS upgrades pending additional development time?

Seems to be working fine in beta. We have already sent the GM to Apple. But this is the busy period, it could take an hour or it could take 30 days. There is no way to know. At a basic level, you would want to hold off updating tvOS until you knew you were running Roomie 7, and that is in Apple's hands to release in a timely fashion. We did make it so that we avoided anything that requires iOS 15 (such as building with Xcode 13) so that Apple doesn't dump us into the queue of "waiting for iOS 15 to ship" apps.

We have last minute spots open for those wishing to test against tvOS 15 in beta. Please use the following TestFlight link:

[link removed, this release is going live on the App Store]

Make a backup beforehand just to be safe. Email any issues to [email removed] if you don't have beta forum access here. Please avoid the TestFlight reporting mechanism as it doesn't go directly to us and often we are unable to reply to that so can't diagnose anything.

Hello, are you going to post here when version 7 is available and it is ok to update to tvOS 15? Thank you.

I accidentally switched ATV auto update and got TV OS 15 and as expected lost control…just installed RR 7.0 beta and wow back on track.

RR team : you guys rock, keep you the great work !

Roomie 7 is now going live on all platforms. This process generally takes up to a day worldwide. The website needs many updates, but we felt the tvOS 15 support was more important so we've released this prior to updating website and setup guide. See the announcement and what's new information for further details.

https://www.roomieremote.com/70whatsnew

We are aware that some small number of users don't have tvOS 15 support working in V7. We're continuing to try to nail that down and expect it to resolve in the coming weeks as we also add additional features back to the new control method. Feel free to ping support (use "Submit Bug" inside the app) if you are already running V7 and unable to control tvOS 15 just so we continue to have visibility on exactly for whom or why it is not working in some cases.

Just upgraded my ATV’s to voice commands with Siri for opening apps last month after years of using cursor commands. I have 12 ATV 4k’s. I only updated to tvOS 15 on the 7 that are not associated with Roomie. I tested one out and Roomie v7 is controlling it properly. However as stated, voice commands using Siri and ATV have been lost with the upgrade. I have not updated to tvOS 15 for ATV’s that I built voice commands for through Roomie. I would advise the same for anyone here until notified that voice commands are working in v7.

We have quite a few TVs, a mix of HDs, 4K 1st gen, and 4K 2nd gen split across my and my wife's accounts (we have separate media servers even though we are on the Apple Family Plan - don't ask). Roomie Remote works perfectly fine controlling my TVs on tvOS15, but won't control hers. Successfully submits the pin - then nothing. No matter the controlling device or which of her TVs, it just won't work with hers.

Got to be something account related.

I installed IOS 15 on my IPads and iPhone which already had the Roomie V7 app installed. The Roomie V7 app will not stay open on any of my IOS devices. The Roomie app crashes as soon as I open it 95 percent of the time. Sometimes the app will stay open until I try to start an activity, then it closes. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I’m running large config with multiple IOS devices and haven’t had any issues after a day of iOS 15 and Roomie v7.

Thanks. I may have figured out what was causing Roomie to constantly crash. Somehow a second Home was added to my configuration on the Homes tab. The app stayed open long enough for me to delete the unknown home and the app isn’t crashing anymore. I hope that was the problem because I really like the Roomie app.

Done a bit more playing this morning and something is definitely not playing nicely crossing my VLANs/subnets. My main LAN is untagged as is my main/trusted WIFi network. Main WiFi is where I connect our trusted devices. VLAN 20 is my IoT network (it also has a dedicated SSID) and this is where my ATV devices are located. My Primary controller was on my main WIFi (changed to IoT WiFi during my tests) and has been since I set it up 18 months ago. With my Roomie clients all on my main WiFi, I am able to auto discover the Apple TV Companions but when I try to control, I get a momentary pop up with a pairing pin on the ATV that quickly disappears and no corresponding pop up on my Roomie client.

First, I moved my iPhone to my IoT SSID from the main WIFi. Then I went to the Devices tab and pressed + and selected the same ATV Companion that I had already setup. I clicked Test and when the remote screen came up I got the pairing pin prompt as well as a pairing pin on the ATV which stayed up for entry. After successfully pairing, I am able to control the ATV.

Next, I tried using my Primary controller, but the results were unchanged. I then moved the Primary controller to the IoT SSID and had the same pairing/control success as with my iPhone.

When I put either device back on the main SSID, the behavior reverted to the original state (brief pin, unable to pair).

So something is amiss with my network that is causing this to not behave correctly. My firewall settings drop the IoT network from reaching my main LAN but allows established/related connections. I also have a rule that allows traffic from the IoT network to my Primary controller's IP address on the main LAN (IP changes when it connects to the IoT SSID).

Would you consider allowing Apple TV Companion connections to be relayed through the Primary controller? I can have the Primary controller live on the IoT network but my clients need to be on the main LAN. If control works from the Primary controller and it could relay from clients that would put this in a usable state for me.

https://youtu.be/vz3u6E3Fxi8 - this YouTube incorporates many of the principles for my network segregation and firewall rules as an illustration.

Leaving this information here for those asking about how to use the new app launch feature we added:

We didn’t have time to make that user-friendly. Basically you need to manually send the command .APP LIST from a test activity. Then open the user-visible log (pinch the screen), scroll up to the list of apps, and record the bundle ID for the app you want to launch. It will be something like com.netflix or that kind of thing. Then enter that into the parameter for the .APP LAUNCH command.

Do you have a general idea for when the .voice command stuff will be up and running for tvOS 15?

Thanks

What I can say is that I'm 100% certain that any ATV4 feature from tvOS 14 will be back and more. The current method is somewhat temporary as we restructure things.

@Will_Price I've tried using the .APP LIST functionality a number of times and every time the list of apps is truncated in the user-visible log after listing 3 apps. Also, the .APP LAUNCH command doesn't appear to have a field for me to input the app bundle ID. Am I doing something wrong?

Do a Force Code Set Update and that will fix the .APP LAUNCH.

Force code set fixed the .app launch text input field but when I create a button and assign it .app list, press that button in the activity and go to the logs I don’t even see a list of applications. I have to pause the logs as it continues to scroll and never find any list of apps. Perhaps I’m not doing something correctly??

Has anyone come up with a workaround for the tvos15/Roomie 7 incompatibility that reportedly a few people are experiencing?

I’ve got 4 ATV’s and only one is working correctly. All setup the same. Tried removing the devices and adding them back but I cannot get the screen to appear that’s calls for entering of 4 digits.

I realize there are things still being worked on so this isn’t a support issue. Just looking for any other people that have found a workaround or solution.

There are two issues. 90% of people are experiencing 0 issues. Of those experiencing an issue with tvOS 15, most of the rest have an incorrect Allow Access setting on the Apple TV. Make sure you have the following set exactly as shown or to "Everyone". For those last few that continue to experience an issue after fixing that, we're aware of it and [the fix is in 7.0.2 now available].

[screenshot]

Greetings,

So, I was among those having an issue with IP control after updating my theater room setup to 7/tvOS 15. The setup in my living room had not yet been updated on either end and continued to work. My wife accidently allowed the ATV in the living to install the tvOS 15 update. With that I decided to see if the living room ATV would work in the theater room so I swapped them.

It turned out that it worked. After reading Will's above post yesterday I checked the settings on the ATV that was now in the living room and sure enough I needed to make the settings referenced in his post. I then updated the controller in the living room to V7 and that solved the issue.

I post this for those that are still having issues and want to encourage you to double check the settings outlined here. I do miss having feedback when streaming from the ATV and look forward to having that back.

Regards,

RalphP,

Thanks for the update. I also made the setting changes Will referenced on my ATV’s and was hopeful it would also solve my tvOS/Roomie issues, however I must be in the 10% as I still get no response from any of my 3 ATV’s. Hopefully the upcoming update will solve this as I greatly miss the Roomie ATV integration…

Same here. I will be anxiously waiting for it. 3 out of 4 Apple TV’s don’t work and all are setup the same as far as I can see. Using a Eero mesh router system otherwise I can’t figure out what else could be setting my system apart from others.

Add me to the list of AppleTVs not working. Updated 3 ATV to 15 and 2 out of 3 don't work anymore with Roomie. The ones which don't work already had access set to everyone. I am afraid to update my other 5 ATVs to 15, can't afford to lose control.

Not sure if this will be helpful, but I also have one of the 10% problematic AppleTV 4K units that wouldn't respond in the new Roomie Remote 7.0.1 app. I went to the extreme and deleted the ATV device and did a reset within the Roomie app (make sure you have a good backup). That removed the Primary controller and my Home. When i re-added my Home and set my iPad as the primary device and re-added the ATV, the request for remote pairing immediately showed up. All is working well again. FWIW.

Will, any idea on live feedback returning? I have had it since tvOS 15

Sorry, haven’t had it since upgrading to tvOS 15. Thanks

I already addressed all such questions above. I know it's a long thread at this point, but please read it all before asking new questions here.

Will and team. I have to say I was a bit irritated with tvOS 15 support UNTIL I read this thread. After understanding what has happened I can only say I am 100% satisfied with paying my subscription to Roomie Remote. Fantastic job getting this up and running in time! All my Apple TVs are working fine. My only issue right now is super low speed scrubbing but I will live with it knowing you guys are probably on the case.

V7.1 is releasing now.

The initial 7.0 release contained a whole new method for ATV control built from scratch. It's a method called Companion, but does not (currently) support Siri voice, media feedback, or keyboard.

The new 7.1 release contains yet a third method! We had planned from mid-Summer to build this in two stages as we did.

While this method was much more difficult to build requiring far more effort, it was able to take advantage of our many years of ATV control refinements such as gesture support, long presses, Siri voice, and media feedback. For now, keyboard support goes through the system notifications you already get – so you type into control center built into iOS. Not sure yet if it is worth bringing that back into the app, we'll see how people like it this way.

This was not how we expected to spend 4 months, but it was worthwhile and I'm now pretty happy with ATV control.

Thank you Will for all your hard work, just updated and everything seems to be working great!

Is it ok do remove the old pairing codes in Apple TV as I see a new entry for “Unknown Device” ?

Apple TV Tips based on support tickets:

• Activity Designs are based on devices. If you change a device and have customized an Activity Design, you may need to Reset Design to match it to the updated Apple TV.
• The .APPLICATION LAUNCH command is specific to the Apple TV Companion device type. All old devices have been upgraded to the Apple TV Airplay device type, so if you want that 7.0.X style of device, you need to add it from 7.1.1+. You may have both devices and use whichever you prefer.
• Stuff in the pairing remotes list is totally up to you. Feel free to delete whatever is in the list and it will just pair again.

Have you found a solution for your issue yet because I am having the same exact issue with mine controlling the Apple TV on the IOT network.

The new method in 7.1 solved my issues.

Ok. I realized the 7.1 method is to add the Apple TV Air Play option. I did that and now I can control it. My issue now is that the new Apple TV is still not showing in the list of Primary Controllers. As soon as I switch back to IOT vlan, it appears in the list.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Yes, I had to delete the devices and re-add using the AirPlay method. I do not use a ATV as a controller so I am unsure on that piece.