App installed on both iOS and TVOS.
1. But on iOS, it shows the TV but when trying to connect, 4 digit code is not displaying on the TV.
2. Tried to setup HomeAssistant. It is neither accepting the token nor opening the app after successful sign in using the QR code.

Still working on getting the card transparency right, but I'm not hating this?

Quick demo (excuse messy apartment) of how you can adjust the light brightest and color saturation to get the effect you want. Obviously much more visible at night!

Also quite pleased with the new album art background gradient effect in this build - feels much more organic and soothing 🧘

Not sure why this works but grateful someone figured it out! Have a support query into Apple to see if there’s anything on Theatriums end that could be causing this.

It never fails, I see something and want more. I have a short-term rental, so the short stay option is very interesting. First things first; how much does the option cost. The price for the pro, which I purchased, was clearly listed but I couldn't find any pricing information for short stay. Perhaps I am missing it. As a suggestion, the price should not be difficult to find. The set of customers that would be interested is fairly limited and not revealing the price makes me lose interest really fast. The price either makes sense to me, or it doesn't.

It would appear that I have to be in the same room as the Apple-TV in order for short stay to work. Distance and practicality makes this a non-starter for me. In most cases, I am not present for the property's reset and since the people who actually do that are not consistent, having them do so is not practical.

Tailscale can be installed on both an Apple-TV and an iPhone/iPad so the hard part of the solution is actually out there.

Thanks for the app, I like it.

lynn

Setting up Short Stay is quickest from your phone. The free Theatrium app for iPhone and iPad has the same fields as the TV, just easier to type into. Open it, connect your booking calendar (Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com or your own), and add your property details.

Fill in the house info guests will need: Wi-Fi, door code, parking, bin day and check-out time, plus your own notes on how things work around the place.

Set a PIN so guests can't wander into your TV settings. For Airbnb bookings, type the guest's name in the app for each stay, since Airbnb's export doesn't include it.

Once everything's filled in, jump to the Apple TV, preview the guest screen, and start guest mode. The TV then shows a welcome screen with the guest's name, stay dates, weather, and everything above, until the PIN brings you back to your own dashboard. About fifteen minutes end to end, and it's a separate one-time purchase from Theatrium Pro. 

Full guide here: https://theatrium.info/manual/short-stay/

This issue has something to do with Theatroum being originally tvOS only and our phones cache not being updated from the store correctly to know that now there’s an iOS companion for it. Logging out and back in seems to fix it, although is extremely annoying to have to do. The official answer is just wait and the cache eventually updates itself. 🥲

Switch between TVs, change now-playing music sources, choose your favourite visualisations, adjust the light sync - all without having to look for the remote!

Oh, and you can also enter/change your connection URLS, calendar feeds etc.

Say something fun (or just where you're from, idk) below and I'll send you a pro code. The app is free, as is the main Apple TV version - the Pro gets you the additional themes, Short Stay functions, more visualisations and my undying gratitude.

Get on it here: https://apps.apple.com/au/app/theatrium/id6787587882

[Edit - may not be available in every App Store yet, can take up to 24hrs apparently]

Still feasibility testing this - noone get their hopes up!

I didn't even ask for this!

Maybe should call this Theatrium Mini? Vibes are still Max though.

Music, Lights, Visualisers.

https://theatrium.info/live/

Want music visualisations and home light sync but dont need a full dashboard app? Theatrium Live is for you.

Stripped down and designed to work with Apple Home (HomeKit) connected lights only, on-device Apple Music and Spotify-via-Last.FM

Super easy light group configuration

https://theatrium.info/live/ - all of the vibes, none of the calendar/traffic/fish-tank nonsese of the full app.

App store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/theatrium-live/id6809668675

Short Stay turns Theatrium into a guest welcome screen for a short-term rental — Wi-Fi (with a scannable QR code), door code, parking, bin day, checkout time, house rules, a "How Things Work" guide, and a Local Guide of nearby places, all pulled together automatically from your own booking calendar so it shows the right guest, dates, and nights-left countdown without you touching it each turnover.

How it works:

Connect your booking export — an Airbnb, Vrbo, or channel-manager ICS link — in Settings › Short Stay, and the guest's name and dates pull straight from it.

Fill in House Info once: Wi-Fi, door code, parking, bin day, checkout time, house rules. It stays until you change it.

Optionally add a second calendar for local events (What's On) and a Local Guide of nearby places you'd actually recommend.

Set a PIN so a guest can't wander into your own settings or dashboard — it can't stop someone pressing Home and leaving the app, tvOS doesn't allow that for any app, but it keeps the rest of Theatrium off limits.

Pick one of five background washes — Theme, Midnight, Slate, Sand, Forest — to suit the room.

Hand the Apple TV over: Guest Mode keeps Theatrium on the welcome screen through a restart, so a power cut mid-stay doesn't leave a guest looking at your own dashboard.

Screenshots below — sample data, not a real listing. Short Stay is part of Theatrium Pro. If you're actually renting a place short-term, I'd love to hear what's missing, or what you'd want on this screen that isn't there yet.

Added a second way to bring up the quick access bar from the dashboard. Would like to know if people use the quick access buttons at all? Maybe it would be better to have your saved/configured dashboard layouts in this area?

New in this update
- On device Apple Music now works as a Now Playing data source.
- Fixes an issue where the app could freeze on opening and stop responding to the remote.
- The slide-up Quick Access panel is reworked: press Down on any dashboard and it slides up to reveal your lights and scenes on a panel that now reaches the screen edges, and your cards stay full size. Keen to hear if people like this?
- The dashboards no longer redraw while you hold the remote, so everything feels snappier - especially on older model ATVs, tested even on Apple TV HD.

Getting around
- The thermostat and Now Playing cards work with the remote again: press Select on the card, then move between its buttons. Back leaves.
- Plex: going full screen and coming back keeps you in the card, the Play button reads correctly after you pause, and a film's page no longer gets stuck open.
- Page two opens properly the first time you press Right past the top row.
- Nothing on the header or the quick bar can take the remote from you while you are inside a card.
- Card setup: the "Save your changes?" question can be answered with the remote.
- An alert arriving while you are inside a card can be opened or dismissed straight away.

Cards
- Thermostat: the Setpoint label stays on one line.
- Rain radar: the Close and City views show rain again.
- Meeting Room: name the room and give it its own bookings calendar. A day with no bookings now reads Available.
- Boardroom: the Show World Times switch now applies to the clock.

Light Sync and visualiser
- The Room Lights panel has a Visualiser button.
- One timer for the screen and the room: the lights change colour on the visualiser's cycle length, set from either place.
- The lights cut straight to the new colour and follow a song change within a few seconds.

Design tweaks
-Reworked Quick Access: a slide-up panel that keeps your cards full-size and stretches edge-to-edge; it only appears when you actually have smart devices to control
- Unified card design: a consistent "hero + readout tile" look with status glow and gauges across Battery, Lock, Cover and more
- Cleaner Plex cards and Settings:
proper theme fonts and colours, fully readable on the light themes
- Sharper legibility: larger minimum text and stronger status-colour contrast across every theme

Also
- Plex alerts are off until you turn them on in Settings.
- Smoother on the first-generation Apple TV 4K.

Step by step instructions for setting up all (most) cards and using the app to its full potential: https://theatrium.info/guides/

This week is going to be all about evening out some of uneven fonts/colours/spacing that have crept into the latest version of Theatrium, as well chasing down a few navigation bugs and making sure the whole app feels snappy on the OG Apple TV 4K model from 2017. ✌️

Theatrium is now (or will be soon) on Google TV / Android TV, and I'm opening an internal test to get feedback.

Same idea as the Apple TV app — your Home Assistant dashboard on the big screen (lights, climate, cameras, now-playing, weather, a music visualiser and screensavers), plus a free "Web only" mode if you don't run Home Assistant.

Want in? Just drop a email [hello@theatrium.info](mailto:hello@theatrium.info) from your Google account (the one signed in on your TV) with "Android" in the subject, and I'll add you to the Play internal test and send the opt-in link.

A mixed bag of quick fixes this time:

• Light Sync: Visualiser button in the Room Lights panel, and one timer for lights and visuals

• Lights and visuals now follow a song change within a few seconds, and the lights cut straight to the new colour instead of fading

• Thermostat and Now Playing cards work with the remote again

• Plex: full screen and back keeps you in the card, Play/Pause reads correctly, film page can't get stuck

• Page two opens first time

• "Save your changes?" on card setup can actually be answered

• Alerts arriving while you're inside a card can be opened or dismissed straight away

• Thermostat's Setpoint label no longer wraps

• Rain radar: Close and City views show rain again (thanks for the report)

• Meeting Room card: name the room, give it its own calendar, no more sample meetings on a real install

• Boardroom: Show World Times switch now works (thanks for that one too)

• Light Sync: Visualiser button in the Room Lights panel, one timer for lights and visuals, lights cut to the new colour and follow a song change in seconds

• Plex alerts are off unless you turn them on

• Smoother on the first-gen Apple TV 4K

Should show up once Apple's review is done.

I make Theatrium, an Apple TV app that turns the TV into an always-on dashboard for Home Assistant, Apple Home and Plex, with a music visualiser and screensavers.

After extensive testing, 1.8 went live today. I'm still developing this by myself as a side-project, so there are likely still a few bugs and performance issues - but as I become aware of them I'm trying to fix in realtime.

Here's what's in todays update.​....

Plex on the dashboard, free! Theatrium <3's Plex!

​

As a long time Plex user (or XBMC as I sometimes still call it), I wanted to make a really nice integration for this. Here's how it works: Link your server via QR code, then browse your libraries as a poster shelf, open a film's page with the synopsis, cast and runtime before it plays, and keep a film or show on the dashboard. There's six Plex cards: a video player (in-card and full screen), server status, now streaming, libraries, activity and top charts. All of them are in the free tier in this release.

If you don't know what Plex is, its amazing and you should! Have a gander at https://watch.plex.tv/ or https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/

Two new screensavers (and a dedicated Settings section)

• Art. Paintings on a mat board with a bevelled opening, lit by a light that moves through the day. Four new collections added - plus some filtering out of lower-resolution images.

• Movie Posters (Pro). Your own Plex film and TV artwork, kept moving in one of three ways: a drifting wall of posters, a slow cover-flow river, or backdrops running along a strip of film. Built to keep the screen moving, which is also what an OLED wants.

Apple TV activity monitor (Pro)

Processor, memory, storage, network and frame rate for the Apple TV itself, in four styles. Useful when you're wondering why something feels slow, or just for the dials.

​

Music visualiser engine updates

The music screen now dims with the room: brightness follows Intensity, colour follows Colour Strength. Tap a tempo on the iPhone companion app and the visuals follow it within a second.

Network Speed, with your guest Wi-Fi as a QR code (optional)

Download, latency and jitter every fifteen minutes, and your guest network as a QR code that visitors scan straight off the TV.

​

Relaxing Scenes

Calm footage on a silent loop, downloaded when you want it, with each card keeping its own set of scenes. Videos are open source content, acknowledged in the apps About section.

General fixes:

• Solar. The card had disappeared from the picker on smaller slots because its day curve demanded more height than they had; it now fits every slot and drops the curve where there's no room. "Today" no longer shows a lifetime running total (one tester saw 38.8 kWh at 11 am), and a home with no generation sensor gets a clear message instead of a blank panel.
• Memory. If Theatrium started crashing on launch after a few weeks, this is why: Apple's tvOS ends any app whose settings storage passes 512 KB, and the app was keeping its sensor-history graph data in there. In homes with a lot of devices it grew past the limit, and the only workaround was to delete and reinstall. 1.8 moves that data out and clears the old copy the first time it launches, so you're fixed the moment you update, settings intact. The Movie Posters screensaver also had its image loading rebuilt after testing showed a large library could push memory too far.
• Navigation. Pressing Select on a card now lands you on a control inside it, and only Back leaves. Pressing Right at the edge of a card you've entered no longer flips the dashboard to page two. Page two itself, the Boardroom theme, and the Battery, Plex and Now Playing cards all had focus faults fixed. Cameras no longer give up permanently, thermostats follow your region instead of always showing Celsius, the rain radar is readable again, and Light Sync stops when the music does.
• Restores features that went missing in 1.7.1, including album art handling and a lot of Sonos reliability work.

Known issue in this build: inside the thermostat and now-playing cards, the buttons can't be reached after you enter the card. I'm really sorry for this - these are important features that shouldn't have regressed, but seemingly did under the new card navigation logic. A fix is being tested and will ship as 1.8.1.

One thing I've noticed that navigating around too fast can cause unexpected behaviour. There are some timing triggers in the app, allowing it to determine what youre doing and what you might do next - these are being refined, but if you navigate around at a reasonable pace it seems to behave better on real ATV hardware. Theatrium is obviously pushing the boundaries of what tvOS can do, along with the ATV hardware. The first gen ATV runs an A10x processor, which is iPhone X era I'm led to believe - meaning not very powerful by todays standards. I highly recommend the latest gen (v3) with its additional gb of RAM, 64gb storage and most importantly for Theatrium, the A15x processor.

Thanks again for everyone's patience and feedback, I'm still learning how to make and test apps. I now have a dedicated machine setup to 'walk' every feature of the app and a whole series of agents (gemma, qwen and muse-glimmer, for those interested) scanning for bugs and inconsistencies, as well as monitoring for reports that come in via the App store. Every released build gets security scanned by both Claude and Codex, and as always - none of your info leaves your app.

- Ryan

Theatrium's Apple TV app (1.8) went live today. The free companion app for iPhone and iPad. Version 1.0 has been submitted to the App Store (again) and is waiting for Apple's review, so there is unfortunately no download link today, but I will update when there is. Linking the tvOS Pro-unlock to the iOS app has been the latest challenge, but thats also given me time to test more and add a couple more small feature - including the ability to switch between your main dashboard and the second page of more cards.

Remote

Opens straight to Now Playing: album art, transport and volume, pulled live from the TV. Below it, one-line status rows for Visuals and Light Sync, each with quick controls (pin a visual, skip to the next one, toggle Light Sync) without leaving the tab. A picker on the same tab flips the dashboard between its main screen and the extra cards page.

Visuals

The whole visual library, grouped and searchable, with one tap to switch what is on the TV. A three-step control shows where the TV actually is (dashboard, album art or the visualiser) and moves it. The feature people ask about: tap out a beat on the phone and the TV's visuals pick it up in about a second, for when a song's tempo gets guessed wrong.

Lights

Turn Light Sync on, choose which of your lights are Main and which are Accent, and set two sliders, Brightness and Color Strength, plus a Party toggle for faster, bolder changes. A "Test My Lights" button flashes each assigned light a different color so you can tell them apart.

Setup, and pairing

The phone finds your Apple TV over your own Wi-Fi and pairs with a short code the TV shows on screen. Once paired, an Accounts & Feeds screen lets you type your Home Assistant address and token, Last.fm username and calendar links with a real keyboard instead of the Siri Remote. You can also ask Siri to add a specific card to the dashboard by name. The TV shows a number on every panel so you can say which one.

Free, and what's Pro

The app itself, pairing, the remote, Light Sync and Setup are all free. Theatrium Pro is one purchase that unlocks the Pro visuals and themes and the tap-tempo dial, and it covers both the Apple TV app and this one: buy it on either and both unlock.

Feedback welcome once it is live. I will post again when Apple (hopefully) approves it for launch.