Will Apple ever add a captive portal browser to Apple TV?

[zorinlynx]

It happened again this weekend; I stayed at a hotel that required a captive portal web page login to get on the WiFi.

I had to spoof my Apple TV's MAC address with my MacBook Pro and log it in. Then it worked... until the next day. When I just got pissed off and tethered it to my phone.

What's the deal? It would be such a simple feature to implement. I'm surprised no one has written an app to do it either; that would also be trivial. Is Apple not approving such apps in the store?

This is a big feature-hole in the Apple TV. It's such a great portable little device to turn any hotel TV into a full-blown media TV, but is lacking this simple thing.

Anyone have any idea why Apple would hold back something so simple?

 

[Juicy Box]

Most hotels have a tech-help line to call for internet connection issues, and you can just give them the MAC address to your ATV to connect to the network.

I stayed at the Doubletree Hilton in Philadelphia over the weekend, and didn't see a number to call. I was going to call the front desk for a tech-help line number, but decided to just use my MBP and share the hotel's wifi over the MBP's Ethernet to the ATV4K.

It was easy, quick, and took less time than a phone call. Although, this isn't as convenient as connecting the ATV directly to the wifi.

As for a tvOS web browser, This has been on my ATV wish list since the launch of the ATV4.

 

[ZeitGeist]

Anyone have any idea why Apple would hold back something so simple?

Most likely because you are the only person traveling with an AppleTV.

 

[Juicy Box]

Most likely because you are the only person traveling with an AppleTV.

I also travel with an ATV, and there are a bunch of forum members that also travel with their ATVs.

Besides, there are many other uses of a browser.

 

[jole26]

I just got back from Copenhagen and once again had this problem. Hotel tech wouldn't do the mac address thing "for security reasons".

I think I'll be buying a cheap Firestick or similar for travelling in the future. Apple need to sort this out.

 

[PilotC150]

I just got back from Copenhagen and once again had this problem. Hotel tech wouldn't do the mac address thing "for security reasons".

I think I'll be buying a cheap Firestick or similar for travelling in the future. Apple need to sort this out.

A Firestick is what I use. The problem I have is too many hotels have TVs without any buttons on them, and remotes that don't have an Input button on them. There's no way to switch to a different input on the TV.

Maybe I need to start bringing a universal remote with me, too.

 

[Juicy Box]

A Firestick is what I use. The problem I have is too many hotels have TVs without any buttons on them, and remotes that don't have an Input button on them. There's no way to switch to a different input on the TV.

Maybe I need to start bringing a universal remote with me, too.

I ran into a similar problem last spring.

The place I stayed in had two TVs, but I couldn't use my ATV on either one, not because the remote didn't have menu or source buttons, but because switching the source was disabled on the TVs.@

I always travel with a small universal remote that I can program to the TVs, but the TVs/Hotels software prevented any change to the TV that wasn't pre-programmed.

I hope this is not a more common thing in the future.