I am replacing my old silver type remote with a new one and was curious if it would just start working out of the box with a battery or does it need to be paired to the Apple TV.
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Apple TV Remote Replacement
- Thread starter MacBookpro2011
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if it's the Silver type with the circle button on the top. Those remotes use IR, and you shouldn't need to pair it
If it doesn't work, you may need to unpair the aTV from the old remote, hold menu and right for 6 seconds while pointing the remote at the TV, you should see the unpair message on the screen.
You really don't need to re-pair the remote unless you have another appleTV in visible range.
If it's a siri remote, those are a one-to-one bluetooth pair, so you will have to pair it before it will work.
get the remote close to the aTV, and hold menu and Vol+ for a few seconds.
the aTV will forget the old remote, and only connect to the new one.
******
and a bit more in-depth info about pairing the IR remotes. if you're into that kind of thing.
IR remote pairing works a bit differently than bluetooth
Each IR remote has an ID code (0 thru 254) and it sends that code with each command "menu-143" so each button on the remote really has 255 commands that it can send.
When you pair an IR remote with a receiving device, it just sets up that receiver to ignore any command with a different ID code. If your receiver is unpaired, it listens to any code.
So if you have 2 aTVs (say living and bedrooms) and are using the silver remotes with both, But you have paired the remote and the aTV in the bedroom.
The bedroom remote will work in both the living room and the bedroom. since the living room aTV is unpaired.
but the living remote will only work in the living, since the bedroom aTV is listening for that one remote.
you do stand a 1 in 255 chance of having a paired receiver pay attention to a remote that it wasn't paired with.
The remote does randomly pick a new code every time you pair it.
Pairing on the IR remote is mostly pointless now, unless you have a second apple device with an IR receiver close.
It was much more useful when every Mac also came with an IR receiver.
If it doesn't work, you may need to unpair the aTV from the old remote, hold menu and right for 6 seconds while pointing the remote at the TV, you should see the unpair message on the screen.
You really don't need to re-pair the remote unless you have another appleTV in visible range.
If it's a siri remote, those are a one-to-one bluetooth pair, so you will have to pair it before it will work.
get the remote close to the aTV, and hold menu and Vol+ for a few seconds.
the aTV will forget the old remote, and only connect to the new one.
******
and a bit more in-depth info about pairing the IR remotes. if you're into that kind of thing.
IR remote pairing works a bit differently than bluetooth
Each IR remote has an ID code (0 thru 254) and it sends that code with each command "menu-143" so each button on the remote really has 255 commands that it can send.
When you pair an IR remote with a receiving device, it just sets up that receiver to ignore any command with a different ID code. If your receiver is unpaired, it listens to any code.
So if you have 2 aTVs (say living and bedrooms) and are using the silver remotes with both, But you have paired the remote and the aTV in the bedroom.
The bedroom remote will work in both the living room and the bedroom. since the living room aTV is unpaired.
but the living remote will only work in the living, since the bedroom aTV is listening for that one remote.
you do stand a 1 in 255 chance of having a paired receiver pay attention to a remote that it wasn't paired with.
The remote does randomly pick a new code every time you pair it.
Pairing on the IR remote is mostly pointless now, unless you have a second apple device with an IR receiver close.
It was much more useful when every Mac also came with an IR receiver.
