Apple TV made some update and reverted back OH about SIX YEARS?

[tivoboy]

So, two nights ago I noticed that the Apple TV had started in the middle of the night.. the little front white light was on. I thought, no big deal maybe some update?

Today, i switch over to the Apple TV and the entire main page layout has changed and reverted back to APPS and a LAYOUT that hasn’t been in place since pre pandemic.. apps like floppy bird or something, discovery channel (which was deleted at least three years ago) other apps that are now totally defunct and I don’t think even exist anymore.. a sling player app that at a minimum isn’t supported, but was deleted about 2.5 years ago when Sling shut it down.

WHAT happened? I didn’t do anything and neither did anyone else in the house.. could some TVos 18. (Don’t even know the current version) have updated, but it couldn’t restore and it restored from either some LOCAL or cloud based backup? I mean I don’t even think I BACKUP the Apple TV to iCloud.

Any way to figure this out and get back to what it was oh THREE DAYS AGO?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Are you sure someone didn't choose something like "reset" (to factory settings)? That's on the same page as software update and only one wrong click "button" away.

Or could someone have logged out of your login and logged in as their login? I don't know if that will present them with other apps (I didn't think so) but I'm guessing at what could have caused what you describe. When you check who is logged in, is it you?

And if it is you, when you check "software update," does it show that there is an update available?

Are you sure you are seeing the AppleTV UI instead of maybe a TVs smart apps UI?

Could someone have swapped their old AppleTV for your newer one? Check serial/model number to be sure what you have there is still the same one you think should be there. The last 3 or 4 generations all look identical and this guess seems most plausible.

Has perhaps someone come home, brought an AppleTV set up that way and the feature that syncs up all AppleTVs to a "master" one is synching them all to their master? This is sometimes known as "One Home Screen." For example, if you gave what was a master AppleTV to a kid who went off to college but never updated it and they just brought it back, perhaps it being available on your network again has synched up a replacement AppleTV you may have purchased after giving that one away. Again, I'm guessing based on your description.

Could someone be playing a joke on you?

I don't believe AppleTVs retain old screen snapshots and old apps. If none of the above apply, do the outdated apps open? Is it functional or perhaps just an image (again, someone playing a joke)?

Did an old white-haired professor named Emmett Brown give you a fast Uber ride in a Delorean lately? Check CNN or similar to see what date it is where you are.

I've updated mine (tvOS) to latest and no issues like you describe.

 

[tivoboy]

Hey, thanks a lot for the thought out reply… although I think some of it might have been tongue and check and not just the ones which were CLEARLY tongue in check. ;-)

So, nobody has been here, no swap outs, no touching and logging out or loggin in with another user name.

I’ll check software update, not sure if they are on auto or not.. it was NOT on a beta channel.

There is no other master - one of two in the house MIGHT be a master, but the one in the living room is still “normal”..

I doubt anyone is playing a joke, they’d have to jam WIFI, get past the cameras and door alarms.

It COULD have been hacked, although I don’t know how easy that is within the LAN, behind a FW and on another AP (although it IS a TP-LINK AP).

I’ll check the prior updates, but for example there are APP’s MISSING.. things like ParamountTV which was logged into my account, not on the device anymore.. as is peacock, missing. These were apps that weren’t even AROUND five years ago when this snapshot/image seems to be from.

It’s VERY odd. Having had an Apple TV since the FIRST Apple TV i’v never really seen this happen like this.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I've never even heard of something happening like that.

I doubt some kind of hack because "what's the point for the hacker?" There's no money in it. And how would they then get to install old apps on your AppleTV?

Are you in an Apartment/Condo complex and have perhaps shared your network password with a neighbor? Maybe THEIR AppleTV with those apps is logged into your network and "One Home Screen" is adopting their Home Screen on your AppleTV (but I don't know how that would be able to download old apps)? In other words, maybe your AppleTV thinks their AppleTV is master to replicate? "One Home Screen" works by another AppleTV being on the same network.

Best current guess now is thinking someone hit "Reset" (to factory) which is on the same page as "Software Update." That process would purge apps not from Apple but I don't think it would install third party apps from years ago.

It really reads like someone swapped the box itself with the replacement loaded with old apps and "missing apps" as you describe it. For example, if I visited you and brought my AppleTV, while you are out of the room, pull 3 cables from yours and sub in mine. Next time you turn on AppleTV, you'd see my Home Screen, my apps, etc. As you are describing, it would look very different than "normal." If I was hanging onto an OLD AppleTV with "years ago" apps like some you describe and did that, you'd see the older UI and those old apps. However, to do such a swap, someone would have to be there to do it and have some motivation. If theirs is old gen and yours is new, they might think they can get away with swapping boxes but that's quite a poor idea for something that only costs about $100. And unless you run big parties that includes lot of potentially opportunistic strangers, this "who done it?" mystery would be easily solvable.

 

[Ctrlos]

Have you checked what version of tvOS it says its running? Even a hard device reset wouldn't uninstall years worth of tvOS updates. I'm not aware of any piece of consumer electronics that upon a reset reverts back to a downgraded version of the firmware without purposefully putting it on there, eg reinstalling MacOS on a blank or formatted HDD on a really old machine requires a base install of something like High Sierra before upgrading later on

Do you share a house with somebody who might have tried to downgrade the OS in the name of internet piracy or something? Thats normally the only reason anybody would ever do it or indeed the only way it can happen.