I'm trying to set up my old ATV3 and restored and updated with my mac to 8.4.4. I have no remote, it's gone. I am able to Bluetooth tap to pair once out of maybe 10 times after rebooting the tv/iphone however once I enter my appleID credentials I get stuck at the Data & Privacy screen which requires a remote button press to move on. I have connected my TV via Ethernet however it always gets stuck on this screen and my iPhone 13 cannot find the tv with the remote. I installed my old remote app from 2019 on my ihpone but it's blocked because of the control manager integration on IOS now. I am basically stuck on this and cannot set it up because I have no remote and it's not finding the device with my iPhone remote app.
What do we do from here?
discussions.apple.com
It looks like there is still a loophole in the install that has not been patched since 2019 and an easy software fix should prevent the requirement of purchasing a remote. Use the Iphone remote via Bluetooth since it's already connected via Bluetooth to set up the apple tv. This thing is about to meet a 5lb sledge hammer 
What do we do from here?
Answer: ATV stuck on “Data & Privacy” scr… - Apple Community