How to Fix Apple TV 2 Netflix Bug
I’ve spent the past few days tearing my hair out over a bug with the Netflix app on the Apple TV 2 version 4.4.3. Solution: rolled back/reverted/downgraded to the previous firmware version.
The specific bug I was experiencing was that after signing into the Netflix app I was presented with only two menu options: ‘Search’ and ‘Sign Out’. The search function wouldn’t work, so my only option was to sign out. The Netflix thumbnails on the home screen of the Apple TV were still being loaded normally and if I got my password wrong I couldn’t sign in, so the Apple TV was contacting Netflix servers OK as far as I could tell.
I tried resetting all the settings, changing regions, changing my account email address, ‘deactivating all devices’ via the Netflix website, restoring the Apple TV in iTunes, changing my network settings and refreshing my router. Nothing worked.
I wasn’t sure that it was a bug with the latest Apple TV firmware because I upgraded on 17 November and the bug only surfaced now. But my last resort was to try to find an older version of the firmware and restore to that.
You can find all past versions of the firmware here at iClarified.com. I downloaded the previous version 4.4.2.
In order to restore to this version you must connect the Apple TV to your computer only by a Micro USB cable. Select it in the iTunes sidebar. Option-click the ‘Restore’ button on the device page and browse to the .ipsw file that you’ve just downloaded.
After doing that everything is back to normal, just one version behind.
Update, January 10:
It turns out it was a problem with the DNS service I was using provided by Unblock-US.com. I have since switched to OverPlay.net which works just fine with the latest Apple TV update and the latest version of the iOS Netflix app. They also provide a VPN service which is a handy extra.
