Fake Apple TV (atv-core) 📺

English Version | 中文版本

Turn the Apple TV Remote that's already built into your iPhone into a controller for Android TV and Mac. Pull down Control Center, pick your device, and start navigating — no jailbreak, no third-party app, no extra hardware.

iPhone: Find the Remote and Start Using

Swipe down from the top-right corner to open Control Center, tap "Apple TV Remote", select the device running the receiver, pair it, and you're ready to swipe and click.

Find the Remote	Use the Remote
Swipe down from top-right to open Control Center, tap the circled remote icon (If missing, go to Settings → Control Center to add it)	Touchpad on top for swipes / cursor navigation Buttons below for Select, Back, Play/Pause, Volume, etc.

📖 Full walkthrough & demo: Blog Post

Download

Prebuilt binaries are attached to the latest release:

Prefer to build it yourself? See Build from source.

Compatibility

Tested on :

• iOS / iPadOS: to be listed
• macOS: to be listed
• Android TV devices: to be listed

Limitations

• Android TV needs network ADB. Android blocks ordinary apps from injecting D-pad / Select keys into other apps, so key injection relies on a local ADB channel. The Accessibility Service is only a fallback and handles global actions (Back / Home). Full setup: Android TV prerequisites.
• Pairing uses a fixed PIN. When the iPhone asks for a pairing code, enter 1111.
• The macOS app is signed with a self-signed certificate, so Gatekeeper will warn on first launch. See macOS prerequisites.

Quick start

1. Install the DMG (Mac) or APK (Android TV) from Download.
2. Put your iPhone and the target on the same Wi-Fi (AP isolation off).
3. Grant permissions — Accessibility on macOS; network ADB + the on-screen "Always allow" prompt on Android TV. Details below.
4. Open Control Center to find the Remote:
   • Swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open Control Center, then tap the circled Apple TV Remote icon.
   • (If the icon is not in Control Center, go to iOS Settings → Control Center and add "Apple TV Remote" from "More Controls").
   • Select your target device from the top dropdown, and enter PIN 1111 when prompted.

macOS

After installing, macOS Gatekeeper will flag the self-signed app. Clear it once:

# Option A (recommended): trust the bundled certificate
./scripts/import_certificate.sh Corvo_Development.p12

# Option B: strip the quarantine attribute
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/AppleTVRemote.app

Then grant System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → AppleTVRemote (or your terminal if running the CLI). Launch the app and use the menu bar icon.

Windows

Download and extract AppleTVRemote-windows-x86_64.zip (or run AppleTVRemote-windows-x86_64.exe directly). It runs silently in the background with a system tray icon (no terminal window needed). The web console (http://127.0.0.1:8765) opens automatically on first launch for switching trackpad mode and adjusting sensitivity. On first launch, allow private-network access in the Windows Firewall prompt so your iPhone can discover the device.

Supported: System tray icon with right-click menu (start/stop service, switch trackpad mode, launch at startup, view logs, quit), D-pad / select / back (Esc), mouse cursor & click, play/pause (double-click = next, triple-click = previous), volume / mute, power button turns the monitor off/on.

Android TV

1. Enable developer options: Settings → About → tap Build Number 7 times.
2. Enable USB Debugging and Network Debugging: Settings → System → Developer Options.
3. Install and launch the APK. On first run, an Android security dialog appears — with the TV remote, check "Always allow from this computer" and tap Allow. (Rejecting it causes an Unauthorized error and no input.)
4. (Optional fallback) Enable the Accessibility Service: main dashboard → ACCESSIBILITY SETTINGS → find Apple TV Remote Receiver → turn it On.

Why ADB? Android prevents regular apps from injecting global D-pad / Select keys into third-party streaming apps. The bundled dadb driver connects to 127.0.0.1:5555 and dispatches Linux keycodes directly (measured <8 ms over local loopback). The Accessibility Service can't do this on its own — it only serves as a fallback and for global Back / Home actions.

Key & gesture mapping

Build from source

# macOS — build the standalone DMG
./scripts/build_dmg.sh
# → build/AppleTVRemote-arm64.dmg ; drag to /Applications

# Android TV — build and install the APK
./scripts/build_android.sh
adb install -r android-tv/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
adb shell am start -n com.corvofeng.fakeatv/.MainActivity

Developer docs & internals

Android emulator bridge

For testing in an Android Studio Android TV AVD (physical devices can't discover the emulator's isolated NAT subnet, 10.0.2.15):

# 1. Launch an Android TV AVD (API 30+), verify with: adb devices
# 2. Install the receiver
./scripts/build_android.sh
adb -s emulator-5554 install -r android-tv/app/build/outputs/apk/debug/app-debug.apk
adb -s emulator-5554 shell am start -n com.corvofeng.fakeatv/.MainActivity

# 3. Start the bridge daemon
python3 scripts/bridge_emulator.py start        # or: start -f (foreground, live logs)
python3 scripts/bridge_emulator.py status       # port-forward & mDNS state
python3 scripts/bridge_emulator.py logs -f      # tail logs
python3 scripts/bridge_emulator.py stop         # stop daemon

Then pair from iPhone → Control Center → Apple TV Remote → Android TV Emulator → PIN 1111.

The bridge forwards ports 49152/49153/49154 via adb forward and proxies the Bonjour records (_mediaremotetv._tcp, _companion-link._tcp) onto the physical Wi-Fi, so the iPhone connects to the host and is transparently routed to the emulator.

macOS Web Inspector (port 8765)

With the daemon or menu bar app running, open http://127.0.0.1:8765:

• Live touch-vector canvas: finger coordinates, gesture phases (Began/Moved/Ended), velocity vectors, direction detection.
• On-page virtual remote to trigger Mac/TV responses without holding the phone.
• Ballistics presets: 0.5x Precise, 1.0x Standard, 1.5x Fast, 2.2x Ultra-Wide.
• Connected-device metadata and live volume telemetry.

macOS host diagnostics (port 8766)

Open http://127.0.0.1:8766 to inspect process health, port bindings, and live protocol handshakes:

• Session tracing: Companion client connections, SRP auth, MRP encrypted channel init.
• Process telemetry: Core API (8765), Web debug (8766), MediaRemote (49152), background PID, log filter, restart controls.

Touchpad gestures & focus accumulation

The Companion Link protocol streams high-frequency delta coordinates. atv-core turns them into grid focus shifts (Android TV) or accelerated cursor motion (macOS):

1. Delta accumulator — aggregates micro-displacements to suppress jitter and accidental touches.
2. Direction deadzone — resolves horizontal vs. vertical intent and filters diagonal noise.
3. Platform dispatch — Android TV emits KEYCODE_DPAD_*; macOS computes velocity-based ballistics and emits CGEvent motion.

Driver dispatch hierarchy

• Android — Primary: dadb loopback to 127.0.0.1:5555 for direct keycode dispatch. Fallback: Accessibility Service for global window actions.
• macOS — Accessibility API (CGEvent) for cursor/keystrokes; CoreAudio / MediaRemote for hardware volume and media HUD.

Android TV dashboard & configuration

Main dashboard	Input injection mode	Menu key binding

• Driver health for /dev/input/event*, local dadb (127.0.0.1:5555), and AtvAccessibilityService.
• Injection strategy: Local ADB Only, Accessibility Only, ADB Preferred (Accessibility fallback), or Hardware Preferred.
• Menu key rebinding: remap Play/Pause, Home, or Mute to KEYCODE_MENU for legacy TV apps.

Accessibility setup screens:

Service list	Confirmation dialog	Ready

Troubleshooting & FAQ

Device doesn't appear in Control Center?

1. Confirm iPhone and target are on the same Wi-Fi subnet (disable AP isolation / guest mode).
2. On macOS, run dns-sd -B _mediaremotetv._tcp to verify Bonjour advertisement.
3. For the emulator, check the bridge: python3 scripts/bridge_emulator.py status.

Keys don't respond on TV / ADB connection error?

1. Verify "Network ADB" and "USB Debugging" are on in Developer Options.
2. Relaunch the app and watch for the RSA fingerprint dialog — check "Always allow" and tap Allow.
3. If no prompt appears, run adb connect <TV_IP>:5555 from a computer to trigger initial trust.

Can't find Accessibility settings on Android TV? Some TV skins hide the menu. Use the "ACCESSIBILITY SETTINGS" dialog in the app, or run:

adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.corvofeng.fakeatv/.AtvAccessibilityService
adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

macOS says the app is damaged / from an unidentified developer?

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/AppleTVRemote.app
# or trust the bundled certificate:
./scripts/import_certificate.sh Corvo_Development.p12

License

MIT. Intended for educational and local device interoperability research.