IOS – How to figure out why the Apple TV drops connection when using AirPlay

airplayappletviosNetworkwifi

Hi – I have a really frustrating issue with my Apple TV(s). I have two of them, and several iOS devices, and this issue exists for all combinations.

The issue: I'll be streaming something in Safari, YouTube App, etc. and AirPlay it to my TV. It works fine for awhile, but then all of a sudden, the video will stop playing. On my iOS device, I get a message that says the connection has been dropped (or something along those lines).

Like I said, I have this issue on both Apple TVs. One is hardwired to the router, and one is operating via WiFi. At this point, I have to believe that it's something happening on my network causing packet loss.

My main question is how to troubleshoot this issue. Anyone have any idea where I can get some sort of log from the Apple TV, or perhaps the iOS device? I could go through my router settings and just guess at stuff (which I already did) to try to improve network quality, but I really need to be able to narrow down what the issue is.

Any insight on how to troubleshoot this issue would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Best Answer

There are multiple tools available on your Mac.

  • open Console and look around the time stamp of the event (lost connection) to see what is it reporting.

  • Use Ping to test the connection speed and stability

Apple TV: Go to the Settings menu on Apple TV, select General > Network -note the IP address (you will need it later).

  • Start Network Utility

Ping your Apple TV IP, you might want to run a continuous ping to see if it changes significantly over time.

ping

Read more "how to" here:

Testing TCP port connectivity between computers and devices