Jailbreak Apple TV 3 with iOS 8

On January 28, 2013, over 7 years ago Apple TV 3 was released and the system was jailbreak proof. Thanks to the recent discovery by @tihmstar it is now possible to jailbreak Apple TV 3 running iOS 8. For the moment the jailbreak itself doesn't offer any apps or features but stay tuned for updates.

There is a big chance that the jailbreak community will use this AppleTV3 Jailbreak to add customizations to the iOS 8. We can expect in near feature releases of apps like NitoTV, iOS emulators, Kodi, or Popcorn Time iOS to watch TV series and movies for free and without revokes.

How to Jailbreak Apple TV 3

@tihmstar provided a solution to jailbreak any Apple TV 3 running the latest version of Software Update 7.4 (iOS 8.4.3). Follow our guide to run the exploit and jailbreak your AppleTV 3. Remember to disable auto-updates. This is an untethered AppleTV3 jailbreak.

Step 1. Run Apple TV.

Step 2. Navigate to Settings → General → Network → Wi-Fi

Step 3. Click on your network.

Step 4. Click on Configure DNS.

Step 5. Click on Manual.

Step 6. Change the DNS to 46.166.144.59 (046.166.144.059).

Step 7. Navigate back to the General section.

Step 8. Select Send Data to Apple and double click on the play button from the remote.

Step 9. Click Add profile and provide the link http://trailers.apple.com/trailers.cer

Step 10. Click Submit.

Step 11. Go back to the Apple TV 3 main screen.

Step 12. Open Trailers app and you should see etasonATV.

Step 13. Click the hashtag #etason to exploit iOS 8.4 and jailbreak Apple TV 3.

Step 14. After your Apple TV 3 reboots go set DNS back to normal.

Step 15. SSH into your ATV and install untether by typing command.

ssh [email protected]
password: alpine

dpkg -i /var/root/untether.deb

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
reboot

After jailbreak, no additional app icon will appear on the main screen. This jailbreak is compatible with AppleTV3,2 (released in 2013, A1469 for Rev A) and AppleTV3,1 (released in 2012, A1427).

Install PlexConnect on Apple TV 3

PlexConnect is the only full-featured app that was created to work on iOS 8.4 (Software Update 7.4) and can be easily installed on jailbroken ATV3.

Step 1. Open terminal (on Windows use PuTTY) and login to Apple TV.

ssh [email protected]
password: alpine

Step 2. Install python and git libraries on ATV3.

apt-get install python
apt-get install git
reboot

Step 3. Install PlexConnect on Apple TV 3.

cd /Applications/
git clone git://github.com/iBaa/PlexConnect.git
cd PlexConnect/support/aTV_jailbreak/
./inst_atv3.sh
reboot

Install nitoTV App Store on Apple TV 3

As mentioned before, the jailbreak itself doesn't offer any apps or tweaks. To install 3rd party applications on your device you can install nitoTV package manager for Apple TV.

Step 1. Check the Apple TV IP from Settings → General → Network → Wi-Fi.

Step 2. Open terminal (on Windows use PuTTY) and enter the command with Apple TV IP address ex.

ssh [email protected]
password: alpine

Step 3. Add the nitoTV App Store Repo to sources.

echo "deb http://apt.awkwardtv.org ./" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list

Step 4. Update source list with command.

apt-get update

Step 5. Install nitoTV App Store.

apt-get install com.nito.nitoTV

Step 6. Finally, refresh the main screen.

killall -9 backboardd

When nitoTV package manager for Apple TV will be installed on your device a new icon will appear on the home screen. Upgrade all packages to the latest version when you open the application.

Install Kodi on Apple TV 3

Kodi 14.2 "Helix" is the last version of Kodi to run on the Apple TV 2, and also on Apple TV 3. Please be informed, that those apps are not officially supported by Apple TV 3 and can not work, or work partially. This is an old iOS and it can happen that the developers will not update the app.

Step 1. Open terminal (on Windows use PuTTY) and enter the command with Apple TV IP address ex.

ssh [email protected]
password: alpine

Step 2. Install wget application.

apt-get install wget

Step 3. Download a new key.

wget -O- http://apt.awkwardtv.org/awkwardtv.pub | apt-key add -

Step 4. Add the first repo if you didn't do it already.

echo "deb http://apt.awkwardtv.org/ stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list

Step 5. Add Kodi Repo to Apple TV sources.

echo "deb http://mirrors.kodi.tv/apt/atv2 ./" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list

Step 6. Update the source list, make some free space with commands, and install Kodi.

apt-get update

rm -rf /Applications/AppleTV.app/DefaultAnimalPhotos

rm -rf /Applications/AppleTV.app/DefaultFlowerPhotos

rm -rf /Applications/AppleTV.app/DefaultNaturePhotos

apt-get install org.xbmc.kodi-atv2

Step 7. If the app didn't install from repo try to do it manually. Download Kodi package for Apple TV 3.

wget --no-check-certificate http://mirrors.kodi.tv/apt/atv2/deb/org.xbmc.kodi-atv2_14.1-0_iphoneos-arm.deb

Step 8. Install downloaded .deb package.

dpkg -i *kodi*.deb

Step 9. Delete the .deb package from the device.

rm *kodi*.deb

Step 10. Reboot the AT3 with command.

reboot

Installing Kodi on Apple TV 3 is only a proof of concept because no addons are working. Kodi Popcorn Time can be installed but will not play any movies or TV-shows. More popular Kodi Exodus addon or IPTV Simple Client is also not working with the older version of the system.

Frequently Asked Questions

Error message #etason comeback on ATV3 12H876

To jailbreak Apple TV 3 it's required to use iOS 8.4.3 (12H876) for Apple TV 3 released on 24th September 2019. If you see this error message it is because you are on iOS 8.4.3 (12H885) with Software Update 7.5 released on 24th March 2020. Downgrade Apple TV 3 to older 7.4 updates.