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
- An Apple TV running tvOS 9.0 or 9.0.1
- A USB-C cable
- Xcode
- A Mac
- A free Apple ID account with sideloading privileges
- Pangu jailbreak tool
- iOS App Signer
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:Â 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:Â Congratulations. You can now SSH into your Apple TV Â 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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What are the benefits towards jailbreaking an apple tv?
At the moment not many, but stuff is coming. And I’m working on a post that explores the possibilities :)
There is no benefit for you just for the hacker, stills all your personal data LOL use at your own risk just saying
Why? What benefits does jailbreaking offer for an AppleTV4 owner?
I was just thinking this…I can access Plex for free. What other use is there for the Apple TV?
Kodi is well worth installing. It comes with lots of great plugins too like exodus.
At the moment, not many consumer facing things. But stuff is coming.
like a phone we are hoping to get cydia on it so we can install different apps and get more out of the ATV4
Jeff, do you know if you can downgrade these? Sadly mine updated yesterday to the newest tvos before I could turn auto updating off.
No, sorry. Best bet is to use our prep tutorial to find a new Apple TV with the old software. http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/14/prepare-apple-tv-jailbreak-tvos-9-0-usb-c-cable/ Sorry!
That’s what I figured. Least for now I’m happy with Kodi running on it and a few other things. Thanks for the reply Jeff!
What about Apple TV 3? Is there any jailbreak available?
Jailbreak successful :)
A question: Is it possible to update ATV if i accidently pressed update?
Jeff, would I be able to SSH into the device using WinSCP on Windows?
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.
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.
Easier to get a Roku 4k as they come unlocked.
Yeah, I just don’t see anything compelling to jailbreak the ATV, changing the wallpaper isn’t a big deal.
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.
Any luck?? Stuck on the same problem. Won’t boot and would neither be recognized by my mac. HELP!
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
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.
How do we manually update to a new version if we’re stuck on a boot loop? I can’t even ssh into mine.
HELP!! My ATV4 won’t boot after this! Blank Screen and won’t even connect/show on my mac – Please help
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….
Look at the instructions at the bottom of the post.
how do i get my ip address of my apple tv if it won’t boot?
You would have done that before you even jailbroke. You can also retrieve it from your router logs.
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?
Have reboot loop, but ssh connection is refused. Any ideas?
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!
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?
I am asking myself the same question now…
ssh root@apple-tv.local
Step 2: wget http://nitosoft.com/ATV4/fixBoot.sh
Step 3: chmod +x fixBoot.sh
Step 4: ./fixBoot.sh
all this work for me
yes its a issue … i have the same problem … do you have any solution?
yes i have the same problem … do you have any solution?
black screen fixed … but via usb not recognized … any solution??
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!
Im having same issue!! I cant ssh into the apple tv 4. Its saying connection refused. Anyone have a fix for this?
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?
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.
i would also like to know this. ive had this happen to several apple tv’s after jailbreaking.
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.
Have you been able to ssh into all the ATVs that have bootloop? Which ssh client? I get connection refusal with putty and openssh.
This does not allow SFTP yet, does it?
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
how do you get the usb back on?
Jailbreak no problem, no black screen, but the apple tv now not recognized via usb on mac or any device, any solution??
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!
Jailbreak done, no black screen, but apple tv not recognized via usb, any solution?
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!
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.
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
I’m having trouble with the ssh part , not sure if the IP address is Wong
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?
On the last step i get this error cannot create directory `/etc/rc.d/’: File exists
Any idea