AppleTV iOS Integration

Is there any integration with Apple TV aside from the home bridge extension? Any way I can have a trigger pull up a particular app on the AppleTV?

Unfortunately not. I've looked extensively at controlling Apple TV from Indigo and my HA system in general and it's not very robust if you can get it working at all and you certainly can't tell it to open a particular app. The best you can do is mimic a remote and even that is pretty bad.

TheHarmony Hub plugin from @FlyingDiver does it for me.

Allows complete control and status awareness from and to Indigo, so that for example, some lights change based on the AppleTV being on, and other triggers behave differently when no activity is running.

Problem with that is that it doesn't know what app the ATV is currently running. So you'd need to have a very specific set of IR instructions to navigate to the app.. e.g. Exit Exit Exit Exit (to close any app that's open/close any settings menus, etc) then left left down down down down select. And that's assuming the app hasn't moved position. But that would work.

Of course what would be nice is if apple offered an API to do that.. but i think we'll see pigs fly first.

Hold on.. Apple just announced they're going to open new a UK HQ in Battersea Power Station. Pink Floyd's classic 1977 album "Animals" had a cover depicting a giant pig flying over Battersea Power Station.

Apple TV control API confirmed!!

Since this is nothing I've ever needed to do, may I ask what the use case is for the ability to have Indigo launch a specific ATV app?

The reason is I would like to open a specific app is that I just setup a D-Link Wireless Security Camera with Security Spy and there is a Security Spy app for the Apple TV that allows viewing the live video. What I would like to setup is a trigger in Indigo when the doorbell rings to display the live feed on the Apple TV.

[jay (support)]

That would be awesome. Unfortunately, no Apple provides no APIs for the Apple TV for remote control. What is out there is reverse engineered (or perhaps "leaked" by Apple because it's a BIG customer/partner).

What about something like this...
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-control ... V-from-Mac

Tried it and it works, which makes me think that if keyboard commands can send commands to the apple tv as this app does then it should be a matter of figuring out the right command to send.

You can do that with a Harmony Remote and my HarmonyHub plugin. But that doesn't help, since there's no way to launch specific apps.

The reason is I would like to open a specific app is that I just setup a D-Link Wireless Security Camera with Security Spy and there is a Security Spy app for the Apple TV that allows viewing the live video. What I would like to setup is a trigger in Indigo when the doorbell rings to display the live feed on the Apple TV.

I didn't see that app on a quick search. What is the name of it?

The reason is I would like to open a specific app is that I just setup a D-Link Wireless Security Camera with Security Spy and there is a Security Spy app for the Apple TV that allows viewing the live video. What I would like to setup is a trigger in Indigo when the doorbell rings to display the live feed on the Apple TV.

I didn't see that app on a quick search. What is the name of it?

http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/app.html It's new and shiny!

http://www.bensoftware.com/securityspy/app.html It's new and shiny!

Indeed! LOL

A thought just occurred to me though. With the voice recognition / voice control, theoretically it should be possible to simulate pressing the microphone button on the remote and then pass the name of the app to open to the routine.

I mean I can press the remote and say "Open Security Spy" regardless of what location I am in and the Apple TV will open the app. So if we could figure out how to do the same thing programmatically then we could use the trigger to do that and voila!

Thoughts?

Pink Floyd's classic 1977 album "Animals" had a cover depicting a giant pig flying over Battersea Power Station.

There's an interesting story behind that where the blow up pig broke loose and stopped all air traffic at Heathrow for a day because the guy they were forced by the government to hire to shoot the pig, should it get free, wasn't there because they couldn't get the picture they wanted on the first day and he never bothered to show up on the second day to prevent just this kind of catastrophe. The pig was found about 20 miles away safe and sound in a farmers field.

Do you know why they chose Battersea in the first place? Because it looks like an upside down table, the four stacks are perfectly aligned like table legs.

Unfortunately, no Apple provides no APIs for the Apple TV for remote control. What is out there is reverse engineered

Exactly this. Like I said, I played a lot with making an Apple TV plugin and even the reverse engineered stuff doesn't really work well. I would love to get my hands on the code that Roomie and Harmony used to control the Apple TV. ATV is a big part of my home entertainment, it replaced a dedicated Mac as my Plex gateway and I would LOVE to be able to control it with my home automation, but I spent about 3 days hacking through the reverse engineered code to only get partial results.

What about something like this...
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-control ... V-from-Mac

I tried that as well, wish I could break down their code and see what libraries they are using for that.

There has to be something. I mean if you were to write an app for the TV it has to be able to interact and use the remote (especially games) but is that hidden in a black box inside the OS somewhere as opposed to an API? Its frustrating because like you the AppleTV is the center of my home entertainment system. While I COULD get a camera that has a coaxial interface and THEN use IR to control the TV and change the channel but why when the AppleTV does everything else I need?

Especially with the Plex app, I wish there was a native Indigo app for the AppleTV like there is for the phone.

I haven't given up hope on writing a plugin but I just have back-burnered it for now. I'm committed to finding a way at some point but for now it's just not ready for primetime.