The issue with seeing your neighbor’s Apple TV or other AirPlay devices can’t really be fixed, unless you know them well enough to tell them about this How To, or show them how to fix theirs, once you’ve fixed yours. As of this writing, Apple has no easy way of allowing only AirPlay devices on your local network to only be seen by you. Hopefully in a future version of iOS, macOS or AirPlay 2, this will be easier to configure. With that said, this post will show you how to keep your Apple TV name available only on your home network. The photo (left) is the Control Center from my iPhone 8 Plus running iOS 11.x. You can see listings for three Apple TVs. My device has the custom name: jo.AppleTV. The other two Apple TVs are generically named. When iOS sees more than one generally named Apple TVs, it adds a (2), (3), (4), depending on how many devices are seen. It can be very confusing.
The issue with seeing your neighbor’s Apple TV or other AirPlay devices can’t really be fixed, unless you know them well enough to tell them about this How To, or show them how to fix theirs, once you’ve fixed yours.
As of this writing, Apple has no easy way of allowing only AirPlay devices on your local network to only be seen by you. Hopefully in a future version of iOS, macOS or AirPlay 2, this will be easier to configure.
With that said, this post will show you how to keep your Apple TV name available only on your home network.
The photo (left) is the Control Center from my iPhone 8 Plus running iOS 11.x. You can see listings for three Apple TVs. My device has the custom name: jo.AppleTV. The other two Apple TVs are generically named. When iOS sees more than one generally named Apple TVs, it adds a (2), (3), (4), depending on how many devices are seen. It can be very confusing.
In this How To I’ll show you how to customize the name of your Apple TV and how to keep the device available only on your local WiFi network; thereby hiding it from anyone NOT on your network. We’ll start by renaming your Apple TV. If you have multiple Apple TVs you can easily give each a unique name via Apple’s list, or by creating your own Custom Name. I would choose a Custom Name over Apple list of names (Living Room, Kitchen, Bedroom, etc) because if a neighbor chooses the same name your back to figuring out which is yours. So a custom name is the best solution; and like anything else “Apple”, makes it much more personal.
How To: Unhide User Library Folder Mac OS 10.9 Mavericks
Start by opening the Mail app on your iOS device.
2) Select you user folder (mine: joes10) or if your User Folder is not in the sidebar, while in the Finder hit ⇧⌘H to open directly to your User Folder.
3) Select menu : View > Show View Options or hit ⌘J
4) Check “Show Library Folder” in the View Options window.
5) Close the window.
6) That’s it! Done!
3) Select name from List. Done!
Power User Tip: I place the HD Library Folder above my Home folder and the User Library Folder below my User Folder. This way I always have access to each folder in the Finder or in any dialog box.
Keep Your Apple TV Local
1) Select: Airplay menu.
2) Select: Airplay menu.
3) Select: Anyone on the Same Network.
To be absolutely safe, on the same screen, you can choose Require Code, and select First Time only. This way when you connect a device, Apple TV will prompt you with a code to enter on that device. The next time you connect with that device, it will have remembered and not ask again. You can also create and require a password every time someone tries to connect, but this is supposed to be about “ease of use”—so the one time Code seems to be enough—at least for me. Your mileage (or security needs) may vary.
Now that I’ve created this, time for me to visit my neighbors and help them out.
