Apple TV + Companion app not working, cannot Zwift anymore

Is anyone else having technical difficulties? I tried to Zwift but my Apple TV won’t find my Bluetooth devices (KICKR Snap, HRM, Cadence) which are connected via the Companion App. The companion App seems to think I am still in Zwift and goes straight to the map. The Apple TV app seems to behave very buggy, I also intermittently have no sound. I reinstalled everything, both the Apple TV App as well as my companion App and tried connecting with Bluetooth directly not only to the Apple TV but also to my iPad to rule it out. None of it works at all. It is like Zwift thinks I am already in a ride or something. (I haven’t Zwifted since yesterday). This is the weirdest and most annoying thing ever. I’ve never experienced something similar (10.000km+ on Zwift) and currently am unable to Zwift at all. :frowning:

Why are you connecting your devices via the Companion? That should only be a last resort. Pair as many of them (especially the trainer) as you can directly to the Apple TV via Bluetooth.

Make sure you haven’t got Zwift running on another device as well (like your iPad) and that your devices aren’t paired with anothet device.

2 Likes

I wasn’t running Zwift anywhere else. Also, I tried to pair directly as a test but it doesn’t work. Something is really broken.

As for why I am using the companion app. I have a KICK Snap which cannot provide cadence so I have 3 signals (KICKR Snap, HRM, Cadence) that need to be sent and the Apple TV can only receive two.

And it is either all or nothing as far as I can tell.

However, I think none of this is related to the problem, there seems to be an issue with the App. People are also reporting sound issues (my sound also doesn’t work intermittently)

I don’t recall anyone posting recently about sound issues on Apple TV (only about picture-in-picture), which is a different issue. I use Apple TV and have no issues, including pairing.

I might be wrong but I don’t think the pairing is all or nothing. I would pair your trainer to the Apple TV and then your HRM via the Companion.

Have you tried rebooting your Apple TV in case something is messed up there? Are you sure that no other BT devices are paired to it? Because something is very wrong there.

Rebooted and upgraded Apple TV
Rebooted Phone
Uninstalled and reinstalled Companion app.

FYI: On the Zwift Riders facebook group there are at-least 3 people reporting audio issues with the Apple TV app since today. (not saying the issue is related to mine, but there are some issues for sure)

Agreed. Companion pairing with Zwift on AppleTV has become unreliable over the last few weeks. I don’t experience your no sound issue, I assume that’s different.
I pair my devices to the ATV directly: a Neo1 and Tickr Fit. The ATV and iPhone 11 Pro running Companion are on the same Wi-Fi network, as they’ve been on and working reliably for ages.
I routinely force quit Zwift when I finish a ride on the ATV.
Something has changed to make Companion pairing - and staying paired - with Zwift on ATV become very unreliable. A friend with a similar configuration (Flux instead of Neo) reports a similar experience.

1 Like

I have the same problems since the last update before it worked very well the Apple TV and companion on iPhone 11. Sometimes I can not connect all the sensors or disconnect when ride.

1 Like

I recently gave up on the companion app with my Tacx Vortex and Apple TV 4K, I was getting frequent dropouts and ERG mode was difficult to engage. I even tried moving the Apple TV and phone locations in order to fix it. Once I stopped using the companion app for pairing everything was 100% more reliable even if it meant I gave up using my external cadence sensor and went with the unbuild Vortex sensor.

I’m still not sure what the issue was but it’s frustrating when you want to do a structured workout and ERG won’t behave.

1 Like

Ah!!! I was having issues with that as well. I was cursing when during a Zwift Academy workout ERG was misbehaving and ruined my workout. :slightly_frowning_face:. But if the companion app is unreliable, then I have no way of using my cadence, HRM and KICKR Snap and I cannot get cadence without the sensor. How annoying. I wish Zwift would actually do something about it and fix this, it used to work fine.

One possible solution is the Cable, made by North Pole Engineering. It consolidates the signals from multiple devices into one Bluetooth signal that can be sent to AppleTV. I use it with my Kickr Snap, Garmin cadence sensor, and Wahoo heart rate monitor. It is relatively inexpensive and was easy to set up. It has worked flawlessly (except for the minor quirk that the first attempt to calibrate the snap fails – says it can’t find the device, but the second always works).

Jurrien, It’s not all or nothing, connect the two most important items directly to apple tv then the third via the companion app. (I do trainer and HRM directly).

If you can’t pair your trainer directly to the apple tv it might be because it is already talking to your phone. I would power your phone & iPad down while you set this up to ensure that isn’t the issue. If apple tv then connects, you need to lose the partnering on your phone otherwise it might mess it up the next time you power up the trainer (i.e. it might start talking to your phone again instead of your apple tv).

I’ve not noticed any issues with my apple tv and have been using it all week,

Today I managed to do a ride with the KICKR Snap and HRM connected to the Apple TV. Strangely enough I still had the sound bug but after a reboot of the Apple TV that was gone also. Actually the power and ERG was silky smooth. I’ll try to do the cadence via the app next time Paul and see if that works. Thanks for the tip!

1 Like

Jurrien, I have the sound problem with AppleTV, too. It occured after the OS-Update to generation 14. After starting the app, the sound functions fails. Sometimes after the first second, sometimes later in the ride.
I have not managed to fix this. I have to quit the app and to restart, hoping that the sound functions for a bit longer. :slightly_frowning_face:

Andy, I also have the intermittent sound failure on Apple TV, mostly when first opening the Zwift app on the Apple TV. Found a simple workaround in another support thread. If sound cuts out, press the Siri/microphone button on the Apple TV remote. For me, it restores sound 100% of the time.

I have been able to pair directly with Apple TV to my TACX Flux 2 trainer in the Zwift app. I cannot seem to get the Companion app to work regardless. I’ve toggled Bluetooth on my phone, BLE in the app (standing on one leg)…etc. It doesn’t want to connect my Companion app.

Okay it didn’t take me long to determine the error of my ways. It turns out that I publish several SSID for Wifi in my house. Once I was on the same network as my Apple TV, I was able to connect all of my devices via the Companion app and do a short ride as a test. Seems to work, but I did not do a long enough ride to gage dropouts and sound, etc. I will do this and update as needed. Note: in order to connect my trainer directly to ATV, I did need to turn off Bluetooth on nearby devices (phone, iPad) to keep from consuming the 2 remaining connections (besides the ATV remote). Hope this helps.

1 Like