CouchMate · Support

Your home on Apple TV.

Help with Apple Home, CouchMate Core, Home Assistant and your local network connection.

Pairing guide

Connected in just a few steps.

Connect CouchMate securely to your own CouchMate Core and Home Assistant instance. The pairing code expires automatically.

What you need

02 Local network

CouchMate needs local network permission on Apple TV.

03 Home Assistant

Keep the Home Assistant interface open on your phone or computer.

Step by step

How pairing works

Select an image to open the full-size view.

  1. 01

    Open the connection screen

    Open CouchMate on Apple TV and choose “Connect to Home Assistant”.

    CouchMate home screen with the Connect to Home Assistant button
  2. 02

    Select your instance

    Select the discovered Home Assistant instance. Alternatively, enter its address manually, for example homeassistant.local:8123.

    Selection of a Home Assistant instance on the local network
  3. 03

    Display the code

    After you start pairing, CouchMate displays a temporary code. Keep this screen open on the TV.

    CouchMate pairing screen with a demonstration code
  4. 04

    Configure CouchMate Core

    In Home Assistant, open Settings → Devices & services, select CouchMate Core and then Configure. Choose “Allow Apple TV”.

    CouchMate Core configuration menu with Allow Apple TV
  5. 05

    Approve the request

    Select the pending request and compare its code with the one on your TV. Confirm with OK. CouchMate then connects automatically.

    Home Assistant dialog for approving Apple TV pairing

After pairing

Select devices and features

Open CouchMate in the Home Assistant sidebar. The configurator guides you through selecting a room, device and the features you need.

  1. 01

    Select a room

    Select the room whose devices you want to use with CouchMate. An indicator shows when features have already been selected in a room.

    CouchMate configurator with an anonymized room selection
  2. 02

    Select a device

    Open the device you want. The tiles only show devices from the room you selected previously.

    CouchMate configurator with anonymized devices in a room
  3. 03

    Choose features

    Select only the features that CouchMate should receive. “Use entire device” includes all current and future features of this device.

    CouchMate configurator with an anonymized feature selection

Direct contact

Please include your Apple TV model, tvOS version, CouchMate and CouchMate Core versions, the affected connection method and the exact error message. Never send access tokens, pairing codes or other credentials.

support@mate.build

Frequently asked questions

CouchMate Core or Home Assistant is not found
Make sure Apple TV and Home Assistant are reachable on the network and that CouchMate has local network access in tvOS Settings. You can also enter the full address of your instance manually.
Pairing with CouchMate Core fails
Open CouchMate Core in Home Assistant, start pairing again and approve the request there. Disconnect a failed connection in CouchMate before pairing the Apple TV again. Only enter credentials inside the app.
Apple Home shows no homes or devices
Enable Apple Home in CouchMate and allow access in tvOS. The Apple Account used on Apple TV must have access to the relevant home. You can revoke access at any time in Apple TV Settings.
A camera does not show a preview
CouchMate only displays camera snapshots made available by Apple Home for that device. Check reachability, HomeKit permissions and whether the camera supports snapshots. Images remain in Apple TV memory.
How do I delete the saved connection?
Choose “Disconnect” in CouchMate. This removes the server address, client ID and access token from the local tvOS Keychain. Apple Home access is managed separately by tvOS.

Privacy

CouchMate contains no advertising, analytics or tracking services. For more information, read the CouchMate Privacy Policy.