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MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
3,895
381
UK
Can someone help on this. I have my WiFi network at home with Apple TVs etc on. It's WPA2 etc.

Tonight we were watching normal TV, not Apple TV which is in a different input. All of a sudden my TV switched TV, and had the screen with a code showing and "??? iPhone" ie the screen that sits the code when you try to connect your iPhone to your Apple TV.

Recognised the name as a neighbour on the "??? Phone" so must have been a neighbour trying to connect?

But couldn't they only connect if they were on my WiFi network? Which I presume they are not!!

If this only happens if they were on my WiFi network then they must have connected to my WiFi and got the password?

Can someone confirm as I'm a little concerned that my WiFi is compromised, I will change the password tomorrow anyway.

Thanks
 
Check your airplay settings. Settings > Airplay > Airplay > Allow Access (On).

If you have Everyone or Same Network, by default anyone in bluetooth range might see and be able to airplay to your ATV. With the Same Network you can disable the nearby but your guests won't be able to share. People sharing this Home would apply to the Home Sharing settings.

Perhaps a neighbor is within 30 feet and bluetooth enables seeing your ATV. But, you might want to change WiFi passwords just in case. Also, if you have Guest WiFi enabled, either turn it off when you don't have guests, or make sure it is isolated from your network if your router allows you to set that. I am to sure about cable company supplied routers, but many have a guest WiFi available for other subscribers, not sure if these isolate your network, but it is probably better to disable that if you can.
 
Don't have a guest network on, but you say about airplay and Bluetooth. Wouldn't they have to be on my WiFi network though? That's what I'm most worried about.

I've changed my WiFi password. Now have to do all my devices, Nest, cameras etc now as well....
 
Don't have a guest network on, but you say about airplay and Bluetooth. Wouldn't they have to be on my WiFi network though? That's what I'm most worried about.

I've changed my WiFi password. Now have to do all my devices, Nest, cameras etc now as well....

I had the same thing happen with a HIDDEN WiFi network and a random password no one possibly could have guessed. So it's likely the Bluetooth thing - I doubt your WiFI network is compromised.
 
Wouldn't they have to be on my WiFi network though?
No. Apple enabled bluetooth connections for Airplay a few years ago so that nearby users don't need to be on the same WiFi.
I've changed my WiFi password. Now have to do all my devices, Nest, cameras etc now as well....
Yup, painful but it might help if someone is getting on your WiFi.

You might try using the passcode or People Sharing The Home option. The later requires everyone wanting to Airplay having home Sharing enabled on their device, tied to one of your AppleiDs. The passcode can be a pain, it seems to prompt for it every so often and if your "guest" tries connecting, you will have a passcode prompt display on your screen, though the "guest" won't actually connect unless looking through your windows.
 
Thanks, had a painful morning changing the password for the Nest protects, wow thought they'd be easy but were not.

So in airplay options I've now set it to "only on my network" which I presume to mean you must be on the home WiFi, it was set to everyone.

Then there's another option in airplay, confusingly, saying "nearby devices"
 
Then there's another option in airplay, confusingly, saying "nearby devices"
That should be where the Bluetooth LTE beacons come into play.
Still, airplaying video is only possible if there is a wifi connection between the devices. Which can be set up P2P, without joining access point's network.
If I understood the above referenced piece correctly, airplaying music should be possible over bluetooth, but I have never tried it.
At the bottom line - the confusing message you saw, means absolutely not, that your WPA2 wi-fi has been compromised.
 
So hopefully I've set it up better now to stop someone trying to connect. As last night, watching a program and it switched inputs to my Apple TV with the code, very annoying.

By setting it to "devices on network" hopefully this will stop this happening.

Thanks
 
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