Apple TV

Native Apple TV control for Control4 — running on the Control4 controller itself. No bridge, no Raspberry Pi, no cloud relay.

The DTI Automation Apple TV driver controls an Apple TV directly over the network, using the same connection the Apple TV Remote in iOS Control Centre uses. Everything runs on the controller. There is no Homebridge, no NUC or Raspberry Pi, no helper application to host, and no vendor account beyond the DriverCentral licence itself.

One driver file adds three things to the project: the Apple TV as a Media Player, an App Switcher carrying 25 assignable app tiles, and an Apple TV Search service that types straight into the Apple TV’s on-screen keyboard.

Key Features

• Finds the Apple TV for you. One action lists every Apple TV on the network with its name and address. Pick one and the driver fills in the address, port, name, hardware address and tvOS version, then starts connecting.
• Survives a DHCP change. The driver remembers the hardware address of the Apple TV it is paired to. If the lease changes and the Apple TV comes back on a different IP address, the driver finds the same device again and reconnects — no site visit, no re-pairing, nobody retyping an address.
• Full remote and transport control from Navigator, touchscreens, keypads and programming: navigation, select, menu, home, play/pause, stop, skip, held fast-forward and rewind, channel and page keys, volume, the Siri button, screensaver, sleep and wake.
• 25 app tiles. Assign Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube or anything else the customer has installed to a mini-app tile, and it is one press away in Navigator.
• Opens a title, not just an app. Paste an ordinary web link and the driver rewrites it into the form the app on the Apple TV actually opens — YouTube, Prime Video, Netflix and Hotstar. Anything else is passed through untouched, and when a link cannot be rewritten the driver says why instead of mangling it.
• Reads the installed app list off the Apple TV, refreshed on every connect, so a dealer picks an app from a list instead of hunting for bundle identifiers.
• Search from Navigator. A Search tab with a text field, Submit and Backspace, typed into whatever field the Apple TV currently has focus on — so the customer can search without picking up the Siri Remote.
• Tells you what it is doing. Pairing Status, Connection Status, Power State, Last Launched App, Driver Version, and a plain-English Last Error on the Properties tab. A blank Last Error is the pass. Most problems are readable with logging switched off entirely.
• Pairing is done once, at the device, with the four-digit code on the television. The resulting credential is held in Director’s own protected storage — it is never shown on a Composer tab and the driver has no action that displays or exports it. Clear Pairing is the only way to remove it.
• Silent by default. The driver writes nothing at the shipped settings, and logging turns itself back off after 45 minutes if it is left on.

Supported Devices

• Apple TV 4K — tvOS 16 to 26

The driver does not check, and does not refuse, a model or a tvOS version. What it needs is an Apple TV that offers the standard pairing flow — the one that puts a four-digit code on the television. It reports the connected Apple TV’s name, hardware address and tvOS version on the Properties tab, so you can see exactly which box a driver is attached to without walking to the television.

Requirements

• Control4 OS — 4.0.0 or later (X4). The driver uses networking features Control4 introduced in OS 4.0.
• Network. The controller must be able to reach the Apple TV over IPv4. For automatic discovery, the controller and the Apple TV must be on the same network — discovery traffic is commonly not carried between separate VLANs or guest networks. If they are separated, the address and port can be typed in by hand. A DHCP reservation is tidy but is not required.

Setup

1. Add the driver to the project, then run Actions → Find Apple TVs.
2. Open Properties → Discovered Apple TVs and pick your Apple TV. Its address, port, name, hardware address and tvOS version fill in automatically.
3. Run Actions → Pair with Apple TV — press it once. A four-digit code appears on the television.
4. Run Actions → Enter Pairing Code and type the four digits.
5. Pairing Status reads Paired and the driver connects.

Full dealer documentation — every property, action, programming command, deep-link rule and a troubleshooting table keyed to the exact Last Error text — ships inside the driver on its own Documentation tab in Composer.

Licensing

Sold and licensed through DriverCentral, with a free showroom licence for dealers and automatic updates.

The driver does nothing without a valid licence. Every command is refused and the driver reports the reason, so an unlicensed driver tells you exactly one thing — that it needs a licence, and which action was refused. Licence state is checked live: activating or renewing on drivercentral.io brings the driver up immediately — no driver reload, no controller restart.

A trial licence runs the driver in full, and the driver shows how much of it is left: Trial Remaining on the Properties tab reads, for example, “27 day(s) left in the trial”, switching to hours inside the last two days. On a purchased licence it reads “licensed - not on trial”.

Support

Technical support is available through https://help.drivercentral.io.

Before raising a ticket, have the Driver Version property, the Pairing Status, Connection Status and Last Error values, your controller model and OS version, and the Apple TV model. Those answer most of the first round of questions.

Driver by DTI Automation Pvt. Ltd. Apple TV is a trademark of Apple Inc. This driver is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Apple Inc.