The Apple TV app and the code on other makers’ TVs

Apple’s case is a study in an address that changed its name without changing its page. Apple’s current documentation tells viewers to open link.apple.com; for years the screen said activate.apple.com. Read live on the same day, both show one page: Enter Code, one field, Continue.

That continuity is deliberate. A short address printed on millions of screens is a promise, and Apple has kept the old one alive rather than break it.

What happens on each side

The Apple TV app exists in two quite different situations. On Apple’s own Apple TV box, and on iPhones, iPads and Macs, the app is signed in with the Apple Account already on the device and no code page appears. On televisions and boxes Apple did not make — Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio sets, Roku and Fire TV players, Google TV, the games consoles, some provider boxes — the app has no Apple Account to lean on, so it prints a square code and the address link.apple.com with a code beneath it.

The page at link.apple.com is as spare as any in this guide: a heading reading Enter Code, a single line asking for the code displayed on the device, one field and a Continue button, with an Apple copyright line at the foot. The Apple Account sign-in follows: e-mail address or phone number, password, and the two-factor prompt that appears on a trusted iPhone, iPad or Mac. That last step is worth knowing about, because it means the sign-in can require a second Apple device to be nearby.

The account being connected is an Apple Account — the name Apple has used since 2024 for what was the Apple ID. An Apple TV+ subscription, a channel bought through Apple, or a purchased film all belong to that account and are billed there. The code page never mentions money.

Once the code is accepted, the app on the TV changes on its own; the phone has spoken only to Apple. The television then appears among the account’s devices and can be removed from the Apple TV app’s settings on any Apple device.

Easily confused with

• Addresses that place apple in an unfamiliar spot or add words (apple-link.example, linkapple.example, appletv-activate.example). Apple’s page is a subdomain of apple.com: the registrable name is apple.com, whatever sits before it.
• Pages that ask for a card to verify the Apple Account alongside the code. Apple’s page asks for a code and a sign-in; billing details are changed only in the account settings on an Apple device or at Apple’s account site.
• Confusing the Apple TV app’s code with a code from the Apple TV box. The box shows no link address; a screen claiming otherwise is not describing Apple hardware.

Range

Devices on which this code sign-in appears, as named on the service’s own pages: