Apple TV warning

I decided to try Apple TV 4K, since the developers here are so fond of that universe. I would have never guess that what purports to be a high-end product allows exactly ONE remote TOTAL to be used. We have always had a remote at each seating location in our viewing room, normally four, and had no problem doing that with every other platform (Fire TV, Android, etc), but incredibly Apple thinks one is enough! Be forewarned.

More than one remote? How do you decide who’s king?

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Umm, I have three remotes controlling mine. Please research before making such broad statements. I use the original, a sofabaton and a Harmony.

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u can pair any BT device such as a generic remote or keyboard to it fine.

I have not tried multiple Siri remotes though....i will at some point, cause the buttons on my remote, only 4 months old, are now crunchy.

It also supports most any IR remotes.

You also can use any iphone to control it.

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Sorry, I meant identical stock remotes, so there is no learning curve when changing seating areas.

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So the 4 of you need not stand up from the seat so you all need a remote? All. 4. Of. You. Need. A. Remote?!?!?!

Sometimes reading some of you guys out of this world requirements to watch the idiot box is hilarious.

But who I’m I to judge? Not judging, just don’t get it. You do you I guess.

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I would just ask the person holding the remote to change the channel.

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umm.. you do know you can use any IOS device as a remote as well? I would have to think about the last time I used the actual remote. 99% of the time I just use my phone to control apple tv.

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Leave the single remote next to the TV, then make your kid get up to change the channel. Just like the old days.

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back in the day you could jingle your keys and it would change the channel.

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We simply emit ultrasonic clicky sounds. Doesn’t everyone do that?

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I was that kid back in the '60s.:grinning:

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In our family one person tosses the remote to the person who wants control

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Check out the Dull Men's Club on Facebook

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Sorry but this is very niche usage. We watch tv, we don’t run a senate.

Exactly, this household clearly has no sense of order or decorum! I make my family wrestle for the remote, sadly my wife always wins.

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Now that we have had our snark ration, at least you now know that, unlike FireTV and AndroidTV, Apple TV only supports one (standard) remote, so if care you are now informed. The mean girls chorus may resume.

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Sorry, no meanness intended. I can't resist being a smart-ass. I have seen a few old posts that suggest if you unpair them, then you can use multiple in one room, but I suspect that may have been before they used Bluetooth. I am able to have multiple remotes by having the one Apple TV remote plus the TV's IR remote that passes commands through HDMI. Presumably you can have as many of those as you want -- but no Siri on those of course. Other than Siri, I actually get more functionality with the IR remote, but your mileage may vary. Not all TV's pass through all the same commands.

While I can't test this since I'm a single remote control guy, I did find an Apple Communities post where it's discussed using more than one Apple TV remote with the Apple TV. From what I gather in the thread, it looks like if a remote is "paired" with the Apple TV, it locks it to that one remote so that other remotes can't inadvertently control the Apple TV, but if you unpair the remote so that there are no remotes paired, multiple remotes will work. Again, I can't test and verify since I only have one remote, but hopefully, the postings are true and this works for you.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2526228

I also read that, and tried that, but as soon as you press a key on a non-registered remote it pops up a screen message to bring it closer to be registered. If they are trying that hard to prevent what I want to do I will just use other hardware.

I also found that it wouldn't power on/off my BenQ TW-850 projector, which the Shield does just fine, so no further time investment was warranted. I can't wait to see the comments on that. . .