I can test this right now actually. So in the home app for me on the latest iOS and TV OS that was pushed out, it says Not Playing on both Apple TV devices. BUT I have that Home Software Upgrade turned off.
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HomeKit Apple TV shows "Playing" in Home app while it's OFF
- Thread starter sparky672
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Well, I updated it and ensured both Apple TVs were turned off after playing something. Still says "Not Playing" for me in the Home app. I'm wondering if it's an issue with OP's network fr.
This is nothing to do with his network. I guarantee you at some point this issue will surface on your devices. 100% dead cert guaranteed.
Well... I thought 16.4 fixed it because it worked great for two days. So give it a little time before making any conclusions.
My Apple TV is not part of any automation.
While I was away and it was reporting itself as "Playing" while it was OFF, I created an automation to try to force it OFF ... that failed - it continued to report same status as "Playing". In reality, the device was OFF the whole time, but it was still reporting as "Playing".
Like I said, currently my Apple TV is not part of any automation... especially when status is this hosed up.
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• Based on HomeKit "Add Automation" options for an Apple TV...
... the ATV icon toggles "Play" and "Pause"
... under Media there is "Play Audio", "Pause Audio", "Resume Audio", and "Adjust Volume Only"
... then only when "Play" is selected, at the bottom there is a "Turn Off" option (whatever "Off" means in this context)- I mean why is "Turn Off" not an option above instead of "Pause"?
• In Home app on the Home screen, the status for the ATV icon is "Playing", "Not Playing", "Paused", or "Stopped", which seems to have no repeatable or verifiable correlation to the physical reality of simply turning something ON and OFF.
• In the real world, my Apple TV is not used as an audio device, and pressing the "power" button on my remote effectively turns it "ON" or "OFF" along with the television via HDMI connection.
Playing, Not Playing, Paused, Stopped, Resume, On, Off ... so. completely. convoluted.
So if Play/Pause/Resume only applies to Audio... then why is it showing status as Playing/Paused when I am not using the device in this manner? My ATV is not connected to speakers and I do not play audio content. Why does it not simply show On and Off when the ATV streaming device is only used to stream TV content to my TV?
... the ATV icon toggles "Play" and "Pause"
... under Media there is "Play Audio", "Pause Audio", "Resume Audio", and "Adjust Volume Only"
... then only when "Play" is selected, at the bottom there is a "Turn Off" option (whatever "Off" means in this context)- I mean why is "Turn Off" not an option above instead of "Pause"?
• In Home app on the Home screen, the status for the ATV icon is "Playing", "Not Playing", "Paused", or "Stopped", which seems to have no repeatable or verifiable correlation to the physical reality of simply turning something ON and OFF.
• In the real world, my Apple TV is not used as an audio device, and pressing the "power" button on my remote effectively turns it "ON" or "OFF" along with the television via HDMI connection.
Playing, Not Playing, Paused, Stopped, Resume, On, Off ... so. completely. convoluted.
So if Play/Pause/Resume only applies to Audio... then why is it showing status as Playing/Paused when I am not using the device in this manner? My ATV is not connected to speakers and I do not play audio content. Why does it not simply show On and Off when the ATV streaming device is only used to stream TV content to my TV?
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It’s not an automation… Well, I guess technically it is but…
On your Apple TV, go to settings>general>sleep after…
Then you’ll never have to worry about the status again until the day you start using automations, or Apple fixes it, which ever comes first.
Given the context of my original issue, I thought you were asking about it within Home or HomeKit.
No, I do not have my Apple TV set to automatically turn off (or "Pause" or "Stop" or whatever Apple calls it) because as far as I know, it's not physically turning itself on/off while I am not around.
But I get what you're saying, "just set to automatically turn off for peace of mind". I'll leave it as is right now because I'd like to see how it behaves and catch anything it's not supposed to be doing.
Honestly, peace of mind will come from HomeKit behaving more as expected and evolving into a logical interface that "just works".
I just had a serious power outage over here. I only call it "serious" because there were many quick OFF/ON and brownouts before it finally went dark for only an hour. All network and home automation devices survived, and came back online, without any intervention from me. "It just works." Thanks 16.4!
However, now I see my Apple TV is showing a brand new status in the Home app called "Not Playing". I must have missed that one before. Turning on the TV and back off again switched it over to "Paused" where is says "Paused" both when it's off and when it's on. 🤣
"Not Playing", "Paused", "Stopped", and "Off" ...
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![images.jpeg]( "images.jpeg")
However, now I see my Apple TV is showing a brand new status in the Home app called "Not Playing". I must have missed that one before. Turning on the TV and back off again switched it over to "Paused" where is says "Paused" both when it's off and when it's on. 🤣
"Not Playing", "Paused", "Stopped", and "Off" ...
I see the “Not Playing” status all the time and have for a few years. Appears to be a normal status type. Can’t tell ya the difference between them all though.
Since lately I have been noticing "Playing" when it's off, and "Paused" when it's on or off, I honestly forgot about "Not Playing", which I must have seen before.
Is your Guest Room Apple TV connected to a television? Turn it on and see if status changes to "Paused". Then again, I am on 16.4 and you're not yet.
I turned it on and the HomePod Minis and AppleTV showed “Playing.” Turned it all off and now it shows “Paused.” Paused is probably some kind of standby state assuming you’ll be watching again soon.
Must be my network as mine never showing "Playing" this time.
But seriously... "Not Playing" (off) into "Paused" (off) ... does this nomenclature make any sense to anyone?
Then you also got “Stopped”. That’s a status I only started seeing with OS 15 I think.
Yes, click the Apple TV icon in the Home app, which then takes you to another fantastic Apple experience. You see two different statuses at once!
Then click the triangle icon, which normally means "Play", and the status at the top will change to "Stopped". The top status seems to match the Home app icon status.
EDIT: and I just noticed that doing the above procedure has also turned ON my Apple TV and television. So by Apple logic, hitting "Play" triangle turns ON the device, plays nothing, says "Not Playing" while changing Home status from "Paused" to "Stopped".
Um... ok.
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Yes, click the Apple TV icon in the Home app, which then takes you to another fantastic Apple experience. You see two different statuses at once!
Then click the triangle icon, which normally means "Play", and the status at the top will change to "Stopped". The top status seems to match the Home app icon status.
EDIT: and I just noticed that doing the above procedure has also turned ON my Apple TV and television. So by Apple logic, hitting "Play" triangle turns ON the device, plays nothing, says "Not Playing" while changing Home status from "Paused" to "Stopped".
Um... ok.
View attachment 2182166 View attachment 2182168
Just noticed something peculiar. Had a bunch of notifications for cameras going offline. Immediately checked the Home app and saw there was a Hub switch, which I figured was happening. It was at this time that the Home app reported that an AppleTV and the HomePod pair connected to it were “Playing” when in fact they weren’t. Once again, Hooray for Hub switching!
You got ‘em too pal. Matter of fact we all do 🤣.
On a serious notes, when you see the status of the AppleTV showing incorrectly, give yer hub a peep and see if it’s been switched.
Last night while using the YouTube app, ATV status changed to "Playing", so my theory that these statuses only apply to music/audio content is a red herring.
I am sure I am not using my ATV to its full potential, but isn't there really only two states? Playing or Not Playing? All of these other things seem to be broken, useless, or nonsense.
I am sure I am not using my ATV to its full potential, but isn't there really only two states? Playing or Not Playing? All of these other things seem to be broken, useless, or nonsense.
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Considering I haven't seen this issue at all on iOS 16 / tvOS 16, I think I'll be just fine lol.