In our report on Apple TV 6.1 update, we mentioned the new ability to scan for AirPlay devices via Bluetooth, in addition to the normal searching over WiFi. At that time, we couldn’t attach much significance to it, as it only helps to find devices and not to conduct AirPlay Mirroring via Bluetooth. But as more expert eyes are falling on it, this feature is turning out to be a blessing for educational institutions.

Apple generally uses a piece of software called Bonjour to find iOS and Mac devices in the local network. But many times, the firewall of the router or your computer perceives it as a malware and blocks it, causing problems in detecting devices. This was being reported regularly by many schools and offices, where Apple TV is replacing the conventional projectors as visual aids. So the discoverability via Bluetooth helps the not-so-tech-savvy teachers and students to avoid connection problems, just by turning their Bluetooth on and without having to mess with device or network settings.

According to the Derik Okihara who first reported it, the feature only works between Bluetooth 4.0 devices running iOS 7.1 and Apple TV running 6.1. “I tried a Mac with 10.9.2 and it didn’t see the AppleTV as an AirPlay source over bluetooth. That may be coming in a future update.”, he says.

Here is a list of iOS devices that Support Bluetooth 4.0:

iPhone 4S
iPhone 5
iPhone 5C
iPhone 5S
iPod Touch 5th Gen
iPad 3rd Gen
iPad 4th Gen
iPad Air
iPad Mini 1st Gen
iPad Mini 2nd Gen
AppleTV 3rd Gen
AppleTV 3rd Gen Rev A

This is not Apple’s first move to promote Apple TV in schools. Last week, they added Apple TV to its Apple Loyalty Program whereby bulk purchases by educational centers can avail significant discounts. Also Apple introduced an easy sign up process for under-13-year-olds on iTunes. They won’t be able to make purchases or change user settings but use Apple devices with their own Apple ID.

In short, Apple is vigorously working to bring Apple TV to the forefront as a main-stream device, not only in the living room but also to schools and offices. This is the same strategy adopted by them for iPhones, iPads and Macs too and Apple is surely finding it hard to wipe the stamp “Hobby device“, which they themselves inadvertently conferred at Apple TV. Hopefully the Apple TV 4 will help.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Apple TV can now search for AirPlay devices via Bluetooth appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Besides rolling out the Apple TV 6.1 firmware, Apple also updated their Remote app for iOS aiming for better and easier use with Apple TV. The highlight features of Remote 4.2 are:

• Now, you can browse the catalogue of purchased movies and songs on the app and play it via Apple TV. So no more searching iTunes on TV or using that pesky remote with the on-screen keyboard.
• Access iTunes Radio within the Remote app and play directly on your Apple TV – no need for AirPlay anymore.
• Also, the remote works great with the new “easy hide” feature of Apple TV 6.1, as you can use the Options button to bring up the juggle mode and tap Play/Pause button to bring up the hide option.

The features added, though few, are really handy for Apple TV users and make so sense that we wonder why Apple haven’t came up with them earlier. Now we have a solid reason to use the Remote app over the physical remote. The Apple TV experience is evidently getting more and more attention from Apple.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Remote app for iOS now shows purchased items and iTunes Radio for better Apple TV experience appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Much has been said about the cluttering on the Apple TV home screen. And that is truly evident from the hits we received on our post How to arrange and hide channels on Apple TV, which we published after the feature was first introduced in the 5.1 update. Yes, the ability to hide and rearrange icons has been present on your Apple TV for a while, but yesterday Apple rolled out a new 6.1 update to Apple TV devices, which makes it much easier to hide unwanted channels right from the home screen.

So here is how to quickly hide channels on Apple TV 6.1:

Note:  You can rearrange most of the icons on your Apple TV’s main menu but you can’t move or rearrange the icons in the top row (Movies, TV Shows, Music, and Computers).

Step 1: Navigate to the channel you want to hide.

Step 2: Hold down the Select button for a couple of seconds. Now the channel icon begins to do the classic iOS jiggle. If you want, you can rearrange the icon using the arrow buttons now.

Step 3: Press the Play/Pause button to bring up the hide menu. Press on hide and you’re done.

You can undo this by just going to Settings -> Main Menu.

So this wasn’t a major update from Apple. No new features added nor anything fancy here – only making an already present feature more easily accessible. Doesn’t it seem a little odd? Apple pushing out an entire update just to cut a couple of steps in doing an action. That is so un-Apple-y. 

But analysts consider this as a welcome sign. Apple TV users have been asking for a new interface for quite sometime now. And by promoting a related feature, which was earlier used to hide channels from kids (in parental controls), into an essential function, Apple acknowledges that they’re seriously working on a fix.

Hence, analysts now believe that a revamped interface is in the making. This is in accordance with the recent rumors of an iOS-based Apple TV 4 with a revamped interface, a new dedicated Apple TV App Store and support for games.

You can read more about the next Apple TV here.

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post How to easily hide unwanted channel icons on Apple TV after 6.1 update appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.

Here is what’s new in Apple TV 6.1:

• Main menu: Customize your Apple TV by hiding items from the main menu.
• AirPlay: 
  • Adds a security option to require that iOS devices or Macs be verified with a one-time, onscreen code before using AirPlay. Requires iOS 7.1 or later on an iOS device or a Mac with Mac OS X 10.9.2 or later.
  • Adds support to allow an AirPlay device to discover Apple TV over Bluetooth in environments where multicast or Bonjour traffic is blocked on the network or the AirPlay device is on a different subnet.
• Remote app: View your purchased TV shows and movies in the Remote app and tap to play them instantly on Apple TV. Create and play iTunes Radio stations. Requires Remote app version 4.2 or later.
• Stability and performance: includes general performance and stability improvements.

As always:

• if you’re on jailbroken ATV2 – stay away from this update
• if you’re on non-jailbroken ATV2 running 6.0.x – stay away from this update in case the jailbreak for Apple TV 6.0.x comes to reality (unless you have the SHSH blobs saved for 6.0.x)
• if you’re on ATV3 and still believe the Apple TV 3 jailbreak may become reality – don’t update to 6.1

Latest jailbreakable Apple TV firmware is 5.3.

We will soon have a short tutorial on how to easily hide unwanted channels/icons from the Apple TV’s main menu. Stay tuned!

Be sure to follow Apple TV Hacks on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ for all the latest Apple TV-related news.

The post Apple TV software update 6.1 is out appeared first on Apple TV Hacks.