Something other than Apple TV remote?

Hello, I have an Apple tv 4K and it has been great for Zwift (the only reason I bought it). BUT, if you own one of these you know the remote stinks!

So, here’s my question: before I buy an Xbox controller (or some other controller that is compatible) would that work to control the Apple tv and get rid of the need for the remote? OR does the Apple TV require that a remote is paired at all times?

Maybe a Bluetooth keyboard would be better? Or connected via USB? Anyone have experience with that?

I am thinking of getting the Wahoo Dircon to eliminate the need for Bluetooth connection and it could free up 1 Bluetooth slot (the other 2 would be the HRM and the remote).

Anyway my biggest point is the Apple TV remote stinks and I want a different solution - any ideas?

Thanks.

Dustin

In case you have an iPhone or iPad, you can use the Apple TV Remote widget to control the ATV instead of the physical remote. It’s still not brilliant, but one of the big advantages is that you can get a keyboard to deploy on the iPhone or iPad screen in order to enter characters quickly, instead of having to navigate character-by-character using the ATV grid. Worth trying out before investing in another device.

Hi Dustin I purchased the new Siri remote for my last gen ATV 4K certainly an improvement on the previous remote version but navigation can still be cumbersome if for example you want to change bikes during a race. I am hoping Zwift will improve the navigation using ATV with the new UI which should be released in the next several weeks to IOS.

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Literally nothing to suggest it’ll be any better. For a start the workouts menu hasn’t changed.

Ok, thank you, everyone. Yeah the workouts menu has made very frustrated.

I’ll check out the apple support article too. Thank you all, again.

Dustin

This is in the New Home Screen FAQ :

I sincerely hope that means proper implementation of the remote.

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What would that look like for you? It will probably be easier to click around in four directions, because route selection etc is no longer a sub-menu as such (where as I understand it the clicks didn’t work). But every other sub-menu is currently unchanged anyway. For now at least, there’s no real difference to how it is at present, where some menus work fine, and others like workout selection are very annoying for some people.

As you say, at least being able to use the directional buttons on the latest mouse (silver). That would be a huge improvement. Hopefully at the same time that would make swipes easier too, for those with the black mouse.

Yes, it would need the new UI to go further than we’ve seen so far, and to integrate many more screens, to get the best from it.

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For the moment it feels like exactly many other half-finished Zwift features that are rolled out to the users shortly before focus moves onto the next thing at the expense of core functionality, stability and performance.

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Which version of the remote are you using?

I was dubious at first but spent the money for the Gen2 Siri Remote. It’s significantly better than the Gen 1, with virtually no overshooting scrolled lists. (and they now support the buttons for getting to lists)

Once you’re actually riding, you can ignore the Siri remote and use the Companion App for virtually everything.

If you’re trying to break the ATV 2 device limitation, find a North Pole Engineering CABLE (Convert ANT+ to BLE) pod. (unfortunately, unavailable directly due to supply chain problems - maybe available on the used market)

I’ve owned two for different reasons and they’re flawless on an AppleTV, combining multiple sensors into a single BLE channel. Caveat: your sources need to be ANT+ (your Kickr is, maybe your HRM too?).