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How-To: Jailbreak the Apple TV 4 using Pangu 1.0 for free

Apple TV 4 Jailbreak Pangu 1.0

As we noted earlier, the Pangu team has released a jailbreak for the Apple TV 4. This jailbreak allows Apple TV 4 owners running tvOS 9.0 and 9.0.1 to jailbreak their devices.

Although it is possible to jailbreak the Apple TV with a paid developer account, it’s also possible to do so with a free account as well. In this tutorial, we’ll show you step by step how to jailbreak the Apple TV 4. Watch our video walkthrough inside to see how.

Also, the current Apple TV 4 jailbreak is GUI-less at this time, meaning that only SSH access is available. This means that currently no Cydia-like interface is available for jailbroken Apple TV 4 units. That said, this is only the beginning.

Before starting you will need to login Xcode with an Apple ID that has sideloading privileges. You can get this for free by visiting the Apple developer member center and agreeing to the terms. To login to Xcode, go to Xcode → Preferences → Accounts and click the ‘+’ sign.

Pangu’s post implies that you will need a paid developer account, although our tutorial shows you how to do so for free. It is our understanding that the jailbreak will still work as we’ve outlined below using our free method, but we are not responsible for any negative side effects that using this method will have.

Things you will need

How to jailbreak the Apple TV 4

Step 1: Connect your Apple TV to your Mac using the USB-C cable.

Step 2: If you haven’t already, disable Automatic Updates on your Apple TV. Go to Settings → System → Software Updates and turn off Automatically Update.

Step 3: Download the Pangu jailbreak tool and iOS App Signer ZIP files and extract both to your desktop.

Step 4: Open Xcode and go to File → New → Project → tvOS → Application → Single View Application → Next.

Step 5: Fill out the following fields

  • Product Name: Jailbreak
  • Organization: <Your name>
  • Organization Identifier: com.jailbreak.appletv

Keep everything else as is, and click Next → Create.

Video walkthrough

Step 6: Click Product → Destination → Apple TV.

Step 7: In the team area, select your personal Apple ID. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to create a free Apple ID, and link it to Xcode via Xcode → Preferences → Accounts.

Step 8: Click Fix issue to clear up any provisioning issues.

Step 9: Launch iOS App Signer and use the Browse button to select the atvipa.app file from the Payload folder in the Pangu download that you extracted to your desktop in Step 3.

Step 10: In iOS App Signer, select the Certificate and Provisioning Profile for the app that you just created in Xcode.

Step 11: Click Start on iOS App Signer, select Desktop and click Save to save the atvipa.ipa file to your desktop.

Step 12: Open Xcode and go to Window → Devices and select your Apple TV.

Step 13: Click the + button under Installed apps, and select the atvipa.ipa from your desktop.

Step 14: The Pangu jailbreak tool should now be deployed to your Apple TV. Once it appears on your Apple TV’s Home screen, launch the app to initiate and complete the jailbreak.

Step 15: Congratulations. You can now SSH into your Apple TV  using the Apple TV’s Wi-Fi IP address.

Keep in mind that Pangu’s method uses a paid dev account. There could possibly be a reason for them taking this approach, which I hope that they comment on later. With that said, this method does work as far as being able to SSH into my Apple TV. Whether or not there are any downsides by using the free method is still yet to be seen.

If you’re looking for an Apple TV running iOS 9.0.x, be sure to check out our Apple TV 4 jailbreak preparation tutorial for details on how to do just that. Otherwise, stay tuned for more coverage relating to this exciting new release.

How to fix the Apple TV 4 black screen of death

Some users have complained about being stuck in a black screen reboot loop after jailbreaking the Apple TV 4. This, as it turns out, can be easily fixed by a few simple SSH commands.

Step 1: Turn on your Apple TV

Step 2: Open Terminal

Step 3: Type the following in the Terminal window:

ssh root@<ip address of apple tv>

(password = alpine)

wget http://nitosoft.com/ATV4/fixBoot.sh

chmod +x fixBoot.sh

./fixBoot.sh

This will run the following commands automatically upon startup, which resolves the issue:

launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mobile.lockdown.plist

launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mobile.lockdown.plist

This, as was discovered by @nitoTV and Morpheus______. Special thanks to both of those guys.

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Comments

  1. Sepehr Araghi - 8 years ago

    What are the benefits towards jailbreaking an apple tv?

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      At the moment not many, but stuff is coming. And I’m working on a post that explores the possibilities :)

    • James Smith - 8 years ago

      There is no benefit for you just for the hacker, stills all your personal data LOL use at your own risk just saying

  2. r00fus1 - 8 years ago

    Why? What benefits does jailbreaking offer for an AppleTV4 owner?

    • unklefunkle - 8 years ago

      I was just thinking this…I can access Plex for free. What other use is there for the Apple TV?

      • stuartlthomas - 8 years ago

        Kodi is well worth installing. It comes with lots of great plugins too like exodus.

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      At the moment, not many consumer facing things. But stuff is coming.

    • Perkins Pichardo - 8 years ago

      like a phone we are hoping to get cydia on it so we can install different apps and get more out of the ATV4

  3. Samuel Maas - 8 years ago

    Jeff, do you know if you can downgrade these? Sadly mine updated yesterday to the newest tvos before I could turn auto updating off.

  4. What about Apple TV 3? Is there any jailbreak available?

  5. Adbullah Haj (@abdhoa) - 8 years ago

    Jailbreak successful :)
    A question: Is it possible to update ATV if i accidently pressed update?

  6. andymcarreon - 8 years ago

    Jeff, would I be able to SSH into the device using WinSCP on Windows?

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      Yes you should be able to. But remember, you need a Mac to do this. Unless you’re using some sort of OS X VM.

      • andymcarreon - 8 years ago

        Yes, I gather that much. I plan on using someone else’s Mac to side load but after that I should be alright to SSH with Windows only I’m hoping.

  7. Josh Hughbanks - 8 years ago

    Easier to get a Roku 4k as they come unlocked.

  8. dennyc69 - 8 years ago

    Yeah, I just don’t see anything compelling to jailbreak the ATV, changing the wallpaper isn’t a big deal.

  9. miffer72 - 8 years ago

    Yippee, I’m now in a reboot loop. Worked fine installing the jailbreak last night, woke up this morning, flashed from black to home screen a few times, now alternates between a black screen and a white screen every couple of minutes.

  10. Mujtaba Al Sheikh - 8 years ago

    HELP!! My ATV4 won’t boot after a successful Jailbreak! Blank Screen which goes to white then restarts and won’t even connect/show on my mac – Please help

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      See the disclaimer at the top of this post. You’re not the only one. This has happened many times before with jailbreaks, and we’re going to have to either wait on a fix, or manually update to a non jailbreakable latest version of tvOS.

      • fivewunoh (@fivewunoh) - 8 years ago

        How do we manually update to a new version if we’re stuck on a boot loop? I can’t even ssh into mine.

  11. Mujtaba Al Sheikh - 8 years ago

    HELP!! My ATV4 won’t boot after this! Blank Screen and won’t even connect/show on my mac – Please help

  12. D.. A.. G.. (@big_frog) - 8 years ago

    well i received my apple tv yesterday , i did everything right step by step, everything went ok but when i run the Pangu app to do the jailbreak it just start the process but then it crash with like green color on the screen and the apple tv re-boot by it self , no successful jailbreak for me yet, any ideas .. obviously im running apple tv 9.0….

  13. Craig (@craigc291) - 8 years ago

    how do i get my ip address of my apple tv if it won’t boot?

    • Jeff Benjamin - 8 years ago

      You would have done that before you even jailbroke. You can also retrieve it from your router logs.

  14. Damian Turner - 8 years ago

    Blackscreen reboot for me too. Ran jailbreak, said jailbreak successful (tvOS 9.0). I then rebooted. Can’t ssh into device – connection refused. Shows on a network scan, but says no ports open. Should port 22 show as open?

  15. Damian Turner - 8 years ago

    Have reboot loop, but ssh connection is refused. Any ideas?

  16. Chris Palmer Breuer - 8 years ago

    I just had the same boot loop issue. I waited until I saw the Apple TV was on on the screen and then I ssh’ed into it. Now, I have a different issue. The Apple TV is not being recognized via USB anymore by my Mac. Is this a known issue?

    Thanks!

    • Damian Turner - 8 years ago

      Have tried ssh continuously from plugging in until after white/black screen flashing. Still “connection refused”. I am doing over wired connection
      “ssh root@192.168.0.15“. Address reserved for ATV. Is there any other way to get those commands to run on ATV?
      Am I screwed? Do I need to install to latest tvOS?

    • Nuno Pereira - 8 years ago

      yes its a issue … i have the same problem … do you have any solution?

    • Nuno Pereira - 8 years ago

      yes i have the same problem … do you have any solution?

    • Nuno Pereira - 8 years ago

      black screen fixed … but via usb not recognized … any solution??

    • chiobes888 - 8 years ago

      Hi there! There’s a fix for the issue by running a command in Terminal as described above. I’m having the same issue with the Apple TV not recognized by itunes after jailbreak, were you able to fix it? Can you please share it with me? Thanks!

  17. Mike Baghdassarian - 8 years ago

    Im having same issue!! I cant ssh into the apple tv 4. Its saying connection refused. Anyone have a fix for this?

  18. Chris Palmer Breuer - 8 years ago

    Is it going to hurt to run the “black screen of death” commands, even though you’re not having the issue yet in order to prevent it from happening?

    • A.J. Miranda - 8 years ago

      i would also like to know this. i’ve had it happen to every single apple tv ive jailbroken. i may just do it anyway.

    • A.J. Miranda - 8 years ago

      i would also like to know this. ive had this happen to several apple tv’s after jailbreaking.

    • A.J. Miranda - 8 years ago

      so i tried to run the commands before having the issue and still it came. it seems to only work after it happens. haven’t had it happen again after running into issue and running commands yet.

      • Damian Turner - 8 years ago

        Have you been able to ssh into all the ATVs that have bootloop? Which ssh client? I get connection refusal with putty and openssh.

  19. Chris Palmer Breuer - 8 years ago

    This does not allow SFTP yet, does it?

  20. James (@Jbjwc) - 8 years ago

    Hello
    I got the black screen after jailbreak too

    Tried SSH but get this error at the last step

    Apple-TV-Living-Room:~ root# ./fixBoot.sh
    ./fixBoot.sh: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `newline’
    ./fixBoot.sh: line 1: `’

    Help Please

  21. Nuno Pereira - 8 years ago

    Jailbreak no problem, no black screen, but the apple tv now not recognized via usb on mac or any device, any solution??

    • chiobes888 - 8 years ago

      I’m having the same issue with the Apple TV not recognized by itunes after jailbreak, were you able to fix it? Can you please share it with me? Thanks!

  22. Nuno Pereira - 8 years ago

    Jailbreak done, no black screen, but apple tv not recognized via usb, any solution?

  23. chiobes888 - 8 years ago

    I’m having an issue with the Apple TV not recognized by itunes after jailbreak, thus sideloading apps via xcode is impossible. Any fix you guys can share? Thanks!

  24. Jeffrey Paul - 8 years ago

    If I do not use a paid developer account to jailbreak, will the jailbreak only last for 7 days? As when using a free developer account to install Kodi without a jailbreak, it only allows you to use the program for 7 days, until the signing certificate expires or what not.

    • Mark Zeta (@zeta_mark) - 8 years ago

      Have you found an answer for this? My main question is if one jailbreaks the apple tv, do you no longer need to resign the apps? This is the big inconvenience

  25. James Wadhams - 8 years ago

    I’m having trouble with the ssh part , not sure if the IP address is Wong

    • Kenation Jean Edmond - 7 years ago

      im having the same issue man. I already gave up because I followed the tut and did it over like 3-4 times. Have you found a solution as yet?
      PS. ATV 4 tvOS 9.0.1. I got the “Jailbreak successful” and all of that but when I ran command ssh root@ATV-IP-address I got connection timed out or connection refused.
      Anyone wiling to share their prepackaged ipa file?

  26. Ma Rio - 7 years ago

    On the last step i get this error cannot create directory `/etc/rc.d/’: File exists
    Any idea

Author

Avatar for Jeff Benjamin Jeff Benjamin

Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He initially joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.