One thing you need to know about the Apple TV is that it comes preinstalled with a lot of useful apps. Some of them include MLB.TV, YouTube, WatchESPN, HBO GO, but also PBS, Hulu, Netflix, and more. However, maybe these apps are not enough for you and you’d like to add more apps to it. If that’s the case though, then how to add apps to apple tv? Well, about that and more we’re going to tell you more below. One more thing to keep in mind: adding apps to apple tv also depends on the Apple TV model you have.

4th Gen Apple TV: Yes

Okay, so you have a 4th Gen Apple TV and you would like to add apps to apple tv. Can you do that? Fortunately, the answer is yes! The 4th Gen Apple TV was introduced in late 2015 and as Tim Cook said at the time, the TV was built around the idea that applications are the future of TV.

When it comes to installing the apps on your device, it’s as simple as installing them on your iPad or iPhone. It’s true that the operating system is a bit different and this means the installation process also differs. However, it’s not a big difference. Here’s a short guide on how you can download apps on apple tv and install them.

1. Search for the app you want to install, highlight it and then view the detail screen for it by clicking the touchpad.
2. At this screen, you’ll need to click the Install button. If the app is paid, you’ll see a price instead of the Install button. Begin the installation by highlighting the button and clicking the touchpad.
3. To proceed with the installation, you may need to enter your Apple ID password. Do this by using the onscreen keyboard and the remote control.
4. Once the installation is launched, you’ll notice an icon appearing in the button that shows how long until the installer completes.
5. When the app is finally downloaded and installed, the button’s label will change to Open. You can open the application by selecting it or returning to your Apple TV’s home screen.

3rd Gen Apple TV and Earlier: Channels are added regularly by Apple

Can you download apps on apple tv 3rd gen? Unfortunately, the answer is no, but luckily Apple does add them on a regular basis. For instance, when the Apple TV was launched, it featured less than 10 channels of online content. Currently, there are dozens of them and what’s surprising is that Apple continues to add a lot of them as new ones appear.

It’s important to note that there isn’t a fixed schedule for new channels to be added to the Apple TV and users also have no control over whether they’re installed or not. So if you just turned on your Apple TV and noticed a new icon on the home screen, then this means that you can access new content. There are also cases when new applications are bundled together with certain updates to the Apple TV’s software. These days though, channels are added to your Apple TV as they’re ready.

3rd Gen Apple TV and earlier: No

If you want to know how to get apps on apple tv 3rd generation, well, you cannot actually do that. While it’s true that the operating system for the Apple TV 3rd Gen and earlier is similar to the one the iPad and the iPhone use, it has limited features. Most importantly, you won’t be able to download apps and install them. Fortunately, new apps do get added to it.

Adding apps via Jailbreak

Without a doubt, there are many people who aren’t happy with the idea that Apple is the only one that decides what apps make the cut and which apps do not. Therefore, if you’d like to install apps that Apple currently doesn’t allow, then you may want to jailbreak your device. Jailbreaking is a process that makes certain changes to the device’s core software in order to remove certain restrictions imposed by Apple (usually on installing software).

If you would like to actually jailbreak your device, then you can do so by using special software. Some examples include Pangu, iJailbreakPro (this is a paid tool), and Seas0nPass (free tool). Jailbreaking may not be possible on all Apple TVs (firmware version is very important as well), so be sure to keep that in mind before deciding to jailbreak your device.

Once the jailbreaking process is over, you can proceed to install tools such as XMBC or Plex so you can access content that Apple currently restricts. At this point you may be wondering “can you add apps to apple tv?”. Sure, you can install a lot more apps than before, but the apps need to be compatible with your Apple TV.

Now that you know how to get new apps on apple tv, you can start checking the most popular ones and see how you like using them with your Apple TV. Have fun!

The post How to Add or Install Apps on your Apple TV appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

AirPlay requirements

One thing you need to know about AirPlay is that you can use it on basically any device that Apple currently sells. This important and incredible feature was introduced with iTunes 10 for the Mac. Later on, Apple decided to also add it to the iOS with version 4.2 on the iPad and version 4 on the iPhone.

To run AirPlay, you need to have the following:

1. At least iOS 4.2
2. A 2011 Mac or newer
3. An Apple Watch
4. At least an iPhone 3GS
5. Any iPad model
6. At least a second Gen iPod touch

Unfortunately, you cannot use AirPlay on the original iPod touch, iPhone, and on the iPhone 3G.

AirPlay for Photos, videos, and music

With AirPlay, you can stream video, music, and photos from your iOS device to Wi-Fi connected stereo components, speakers, and computers. However, they all need to be AirPlay compatible to begin with.

While that’s not possible for all components, a lot of manufacturers have begun to release products that support AirPlay.

If you do have a pair of speakers though that doesn’t support AirPlay, you can still use AirPlay with them. How? Well, with an AirPort Express of course! This is a small Wi-Fi base station that you can easily use with AirPlay. All you have to do to use your speakers with AirPlay is connect AirPort express to the Wi-Fi network and then use the appropriate cables to connect the speakers to it. Once you do that, you’ll be able to stream music to your speakers.

If you have a 2nd Gen Apple TV, you should know that it works in the same way with your home theater system or your big screen TV.

Just keep in mind that you need to make sure all devices use AirPlay and share the same Wi-Fi network. For example, you cannot use your iPhone at work in order to stream music to your car.

AirPrint: AirPlay for printing

Did you know that AirPlay also makes it easy for you to print content from your iPhone or any other compatible iOS device to Wi-Fi connected printers that support this technology? You may actually have a printer that doesn’t support AirPrint and if that’s the case, then don’t worry about it. You can easily connect it to an AirPort express (as you did with the speakers) and make it compatible.

AirPlay Mirroring

Generally speaking, AirPlay Mirroring is used in order to display content from devices with smaller screens to bigger screen devices (such as your HDTV). Thanks to AirPlay, you can show the video, game, website or any other content you’re currently watching to your friends, family, coworkers, and more. You can do this via Wi-Fi, but the good news is that you can also achieve it via wire mirroring.

Using this method, you’ll need a cable that connects the iOS device to the TV (basically, an HDMI cable). For this type of mirroring you do not need to have an Apple TV. As for the devices that support AirPlay Mirroring, they include:

1. 2nd Gen Apple TV or newer.
2. Mac.
3. iPad 2 and newer.
4. iPhone 4s and newer.

How to enable AirPlay and stream music/movies on the iPhone

To do this, the first thing you need to do is download 5KPlayer and then launch it. By doing so, you’ll enable iPhone to PC/Mac AirPlay that is otherwise not possible by using independent AirPlay.

Thanks to this connection, you’ll be able to turn your iPhone into an AirPlay sender to PC/Mac to enjoy your favorite music or video content.

Instructions:

1. Connect the iPhone and the PC/Mac so you can activate AirPlay. Prior to turning on AirPlay, you need to ensure that your PC/Mac and iPhone are on the same Wi-Fi network.
2. If your iOS version is 8, 9 or newer, you need to launch the control center and then enable AirPlay from there.
3. Thanks to the AirPlay server 5KPlayer, you can enable AirPlay to your PC or Mac so you can then stream videos from your personal computer to your Apple TV.

To turn on AirPlay on your Mac, be sure to take the following steps:

1. Download 5KPlayer on your Mac and install it.
2. Tap the AirPlay icon to activate AirPlay. A user guide will appear if you click the AirPlay icon in the main interface. Please note that if 5KPlayer acts as a receiver on the Mac, the process ends here.

AirPlay supported files

AirPlay supports a lot of files, including MP3, AAC, M4A, MOV, M4V, and MP4. If you want to stream files of a different format, then you’ll need to cover them to one of the supported file formats before you can play them.

AirPlay is by far one of the best features Apple has introduced to its devices, making it a great way to share content with friends, family, and coworkers in a few simple taps. Now that you know how useful it is, how about you give it a try and let us know how you like it?

The post What is Airplay Mirroring and why should you care? appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Although according to the official instructions, a paid developer account is required to perform the jailbreak, there is a way to do so for free.

Here’s a complete, step-by-step tutorial on how to jailbreak Apple TV 4 using the Pangu jailbreak tool on your Mac computer.

How to Jailbreak Apple TV 4

Requirements：

• An Apple TV 4 running tvOS 9.0 or 9.0.1
• A Mac
• A USB-C to USB-A cable
• Xcode
• A free Apple ID account with sideloading privileges (see below)
• Pangu tool 1.0
• iOS App Signer

Step 1: Disable Automatic Updates on your Apple TV (Settings > System > Software Updates; turn off Automatically Update).

Step 2: Dowload and extract both Pangu tool andi OS App Signer zip files.

Step 3: Login to Xcode with an Apple ID with sideloading privileges (get it for free by visiting the Apple developer center and agreeing to the terms; to login to Xcode, go to Xcode > Preferences > Accounts and click the ‘+’ sign).

Step 4: Go to File > New > Project > tvOS > Application > Single View Application > Next.

Step: Fill out the following fields

• Product Name: AppleTVJailbreak
• Organization: <Your name>
• Organization Identifier: com.jailbreak.appletv

Click Next > Create. Your new Xcode project will open.

Step 5: Connect your Apple TV to your Mac using the USB-C cable. Wait for Xcode to finish processing symbol files.

Step 6: Change the selected build device to the Apple TV by clicking the button at the top left to the right of the play button.

Step 7: Click Fix issue to create a provisioning profile for the device.

Step 8: When asked to add an Apple ID, click Add and sign in with your Apple ID.

Step 9: Click Fix Issue once again and select your account from the list of accounts. Xcode will automatically fix your code signing issues.

Step 10: Launch iOS App Signer, click Browse and select the atvipa.app file from the Payload folder in the extracted Pangu archive. Click Open.

Step 11: Choose your Apple ID from the list of Signing Certificates and make sure Provisioning Profile is set to tvOS Team Provisioning Profile: com.YourName.AppleTVJailbreak.

Step 12: Click Start and then Save to save the atvipa.ipa file to your desktop.

Step 13: Select Devices from the Window menu in Xcode.

Step 14: Click the + button under Installed apps, and select the atvipa.ipa from your desktop.

Step 15: A Pangu app will appear on your Apple TV. Launch the app to initiate and complete the jailbreak.

That’s it. Congrats! You have successfully managed to jailbreak Apple TV 4.

You can now SSH into it  using the Apple TV’s Wi-Fi IP address.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post How to jailbreak Apple TV 4 with Pangu for free [Mac tutorial] appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Apple sells iOS devices that come in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, but what about the Apple TV 4? Why only 32GB and 64GB? Apple figures most Apple TV customers will just stream content via DLNA/UPnP or use home sharing for content we purchased on iTunes. So the internal storage is to just store apps and data.

I don’t think Apple would imagine that people may want to download media to the Apple TV hard drive so that we can use the Apple TV in the car, like i did (check out: Apple TV 4 in The Car detailed) or bring their Apple TV to a friend’s house.

However, there is an app that allows you to do just that. Save your collection of movies, tv shows and music right on the Apple TV hard drive itself.

In my video (below) i give you an overview of all the media apps i use on my Apple TV and if you skip to 7:05 you will see the app that allows you to download media to the Apple TV for offline use.

I don’t want to mention the name of the app in the article. So Apple, you will just have to watch the video to find out! But please don’t pull it from the App Store.

Also check out:

• Infuse 4 for Apple TV 4: first look (video)
• Plex on Apple TV 4 explained (video)

You can find more videos on my YouTube channel AskUncleDave.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post How to save media files to your Apple TV 4 ‘hard drive’ for offline viewing (video) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

The new Apple TV doesn’t feature a web browser and the developers are not allowed to create third-party browsers for tvOS. At least not officially. Forking an exisiting GitHub project posted by Steven Troughton-Smith’s, a Dutch developer jvanakker has built a native tvOS browser for Apple TV 4.

tvOSBrowser allows you to navigate pages with the Siri Remote. You can switch between cursor & scroll mode by tapping on the center of the touch area. Click the touchpad to click. Menu will navigate back. The Play/Pause button will let you input URLs.

Here’s a video showing this simplistic browser in action:

tvOSBrowser uses a private API (UIWebView), so it wouldn’t be approved on the tvOS App Store. But it can be downloaded by anyone from here.

Earlier this week the new Apple TV was hacked to enable app folders.

Related articles:

• MAME emulator running on Apple TV 4
• AirParrot 2: the ultimate companion app for Apple TV 4
• Official Plex app for Apple TV released
• How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Apple TV 4 hacked to run a web browser appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Steve Troughton-Smith, a well-known iOS developer and hacker, discovered that HeadBoard, the tvOS UI, has “pretty complete” folder support inside. According to him, folders in tvOS work just like those in iOS – you drop an app on another app to create a folder. The folder takes the most likely category name from the apps inside but it’s also possible to give it a different name.

By “abusing lldb.“, Troughton-Smith was able to hack the tvOS and create his own folders. They can contain up to 9 apps. Pressing the play/pause button on the remote delates an app from a folder.

According to the hacker, this discovery could mean we’d see folder support before tvOS is 10.0. The current public version of tvOS is 9.0.

Related articles:

• MAME emulator running on Apple TV 4
• AirParrot 2: the ultimate companion app for Apple TV 4
• Official Plex app for Apple TV released
• How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Apple TV 4 hacked to enable app folders appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

The long-awaited 4th generation Apple TV is finally available and we give you a chance to get one without spending a dime. Partnering with younity, we are giving away FIVE brand new Apple TV 4s!

younity is a simple, easy and free app that enables your computer to work like a home media server, giving you access to all your media files on your computer from your iPhone or iPad.

Thanks to younity, you can access all your computers at once on your Apple TV, stream your content to your friend’s Apple TV, use your Apple TV for all your media, even if it is not in iTunes, and much, much more.

Click here to learn more about younity.

Enter below for your chance to win a brand new Apple TV.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Giveaway: win a brand new Apple TV 4 appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Admit it, you’re not necessarily a fan of all Apple’s products. Some are life changers for sure – you’ll have to pry my iPhone out of my cold, dead hands. Others are maybe more, ‘meh’. iTunes falls into that latter category for a lot of people. While it was groundbreaking back in the day, these days it is more of an unkempt warehouse for Apple to cram things into. So how do you maintain your love for your Apple TV, while hating iTunes and not using it?

The big problem is that your Apple TV requires you to fully incorporate all your media (music, photos and video) into your iTunes catalog, if you want to connect that media to your Apple TV. This is easy if you’re buying all your stuff in iTunes. But if you’re like a lot of people, your media comes from a lot of different places – ripped CDs/DVDs, downloads from Amazon, friends, etc. Not all this is quickly or cleanly imported into iTunes, ignoring that many of us just don’t remember to do it all the time.

younity makes it easy to use your Apple TV for all your media, even if it is not in iTunes. When you install younity on your computer, it indexes your hard drive for all your video, music and photos. When it discovers all of it, it reads the file metadata (stuff like the artist name, album, song, movie title, etc.). If your content is in iTunes, younity will have all your library categorization, like your playlists; but for all your media not in iTunes, younity will automatically organize it into the same type of sections for Artist, Album, Songs, etc.

younity turns your computer into a personal media server, so you can stream all your video, music and photos to your iPhone or iPad without having to sync. This means you can carry all your digital content around with you, without taking up any storage on your mobile devices. When you want to access something, younity streams it from your computer to your mobile device.

Of course, younity also uses AirPlay, which means that you can stream everything on any of your computers directly to your Apple TV – with or without using iTunes. You can still browse your music library by Artist, Album, Playlist, etc., because younity will read all your media’s metadata and recreate those lists for you – no importing required.

You can also use younity to access all your computers at once , instead of one at a time, to stream any of your content to your Apple TV.

Click here to learn more about younity.

Throughout our series on hacking your Apple TV with younity we’re giving away FIVE Apple TV 4s! Enter below until 10/31 for your chance to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

younity is a simple easy and free app that enables your computer to work like a home media server, giving you access to all your media files on your computer from your iPhone or iPad.

The post How to love your Apple TV and hate iTunes, successfully (and Apple TV 4 giveaway!) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

At one point or another, we’ve all been visiting family or friends and wish we could watch a movie stored back on our home computer while we’re at their house. Or listen to a favorite playlist at someone else’s backyard party, or show off our latest GoPro video on a friend’s big screen.

While the Apple TV lets you stream video, music, and photos from your computer to your TV, what about when you want to stream stuff from your computer to someone else’s Apple TV?

This has previously been impossible because the Apple TV only connects to a computer on the same WiFi network – if your computer was back at home (on another network), it was off limits.

With younity you can take all your media with you to stream to any Apple TV, or even share your media with friends for them to stream on-demand when you’re not around. younity turns every computer you install it on into a personal media server, similar to Plex. It’s easy to set up and free.

How to install younity:

1. Install younity on each computer you want to access and let it index that content (about 5-30 minutes, depending on how much stuff you have).
2. Install the iOS app on your iPhone or iPad.

If you install younity on more than one computer, it will unify all of your files into a single list within the younity iOS app.

Not only does younity let you connect to all your computers at once, it lets you stream all your video, music and photos to your iPhone or iPad no matter where you are in the world. This means that the next time you’re at your friend’s house you can easily stream anything you have at home to their Apple TV using AirPlay.

How to stream a video to your friend’s Apple TV:

1. Start playing avideo in younity
2. Pull up the Apple menu from the bottom of your iPhone. If an Airplay-enabled device is nearby then the AirPlay option will appear.
3. Click on AirPlay
4. Select the device you want to connect to, and your video will stream.

You can also share videos, photos, and music with friends or family through the younity app. Just find what you want to share and choose your friend’s email address of Facebook account and they’ll be allowed to stream your content from your computer to their mobile device or Apple TV.

Whether it’s taking your media with you or sharing it with friends for them to watch on their TV, younity is a simple, unlimited and free way to always have access to your stuff.

Click here to learn more about younity.

Throughout our series on hacking your Apple TV with younity we’re giving away FIVE Apple TV 4s! Enter below until 10/31 for your chance to win.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

younity is a simple easy and free app that enables your computer to work like a home media server, giving you access to all your media files on your computer from your iPhone or iPad.

The post How to stream your content to your friend’s Apple TV (and Apple TV 4 giveaway!) appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

iOS developer Kevin Smith got a popular MAME emulator working on the 4th gen. Apple TV. In the video posted on YouTube he shows off a Les Bird’s code-based tvOS app running on a brand new Apple TV.

Here’s how he describes the proces of rewriting an iOS universal app – iMAME4all, to run on tvOS beta 2:

I created a target for tvOS and set about getting the code to compile for arm64 (Mandatory for AppleTV), fixed a varierty of compiler and linker errors. Removed code which was incompatible with tvOS frameworks and simplified code to work on tvOS. Added a basic icon compatible with tvOS. I added some tweaks to the source to allow the pause button to exit the game and supporting the resolution for the 1080p display.

The original work is based on iMAME4all which is a iOS universal app, port of MAME 0.37b5 emulator by Nicola Salmoria for all iOS devices (iPad HD, iPhone 4G , iPod touch and older) based on GP2X, WIZ MAME4ALL 2.5 by Franxis.

Kevin used the SteelSeries Stratus XL controller paired to the Apple TV via the Bluetooth settings.

According to him, most games were running well, though there were some sound issues with some of them, which he suspects are arm64-related.

He said he’ll work on the source a little more and endeavour to release the source code around the time the Apple TV launches to the public (late October) but we should not expect to see MAME on the Apple TV App Store any time soon as Apple doesn’t allow emulators of any kind.

The new Apple TV will be available at the end of October starting at $149 for a 32GB model and $199 for a 64GB model.

More on the 4th gen. Apple TV:

• tvOS not coming to Apple TV 2 and Apple TV 3
• How Apple is fixing what’s wrong with console gaming today
• Guitar Hero, Skylanders, and Geometry Wars coming to the new Apple TV this fall

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post MAME emulator running on Apple TV 4 appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.