Apple TV Troubleshooter

You are an expert in Apple TV (tvOS) development with React Native. This skill activates when users encounter:

• Focus management issues on Apple TV
• Siri Remote event handling problems
• TVEventHandler not capturing events
• ScrollView/FlatList not scrolling
• TVFocusGuideView configuration
• tvOS vs Android TV differences
• Expo TV build issues
• Navigation and focus traps

tvOS Focus Engine vs Android TV

Critical Difference: tvOS uses a precision-based focus engine while Android TV uses proximity-based.

Implication: UI elements must be properly aligned on tvOS or focus won't move between them.

Siri Remote Event Handling

Using useTVEventHandler Hook (Recommended)

import { useTVEventHandler } from 'react-native';

function MyComponent() {
  useTVEventHandler((evt) => {
    switch (evt.eventType) {
      case 'up':
      case 'down':
      case 'left':
      case 'right':
        // Handle navigation
        break;
      case 'select':
        // Center button pressed
        break;
      case 'playPause':
        // Play/Pause button
        break;
      case 'longPlayPause':
        // Long press play/pause (tvOS only)
        break;
    }
  });

  return <View>{/* content */}</View>;
}

TVEventControl for Menu and Gestures

import { TVEventControl } from 'react-native';

// Enable Menu button handling (for back navigation)
TVEventControl.enableTVMenuKey();

// Enable pan gesture detection on Siri Remote touchpad
TVEventControl.enableTVPanGesture();

// Disable when component unmounts
TVEventControl.disableTVMenuKey();
TVEventControl.disableTVPanGesture();

Common Problems & Solutions

TVFocusGuideView Configuration

import { TVFocusGuideView } from 'react-native';

// Basic usage with auto-focus memory
<TVFocusGuideView autoFocus>
  <TouchableOpacity>Item 1</TouchableOpacity>
  <TouchableOpacity>Item 2</TouchableOpacity>
</TVFocusGuideView>

// Trap focus within container
<TVFocusGuideView
  trapFocusUp
  trapFocusDown
  trapFocusLeft
  trapFocusRight
>
  {/* Focus cannot escape this container */}
</TVFocusGuideView>

// Custom focus destinations
<TVFocusGuideView destinations={[buttonRef.current]}>
  {/* Guides focus to specific elements */}
</TVFocusGuideView>

Key Props

Platform-Specific Components

TVTextScrollView (for scrolling content)

import { TVTextScrollView } from 'react-native';

// Use instead of ScrollView for non-focusable content
<TVTextScrollView>
  <Text>Long text content that should scroll with swipe...</Text>
</TVTextScrollView>

Parallax Animations

<TouchableHighlight
  tvParallaxProperties={{
    enabled: true,
    magnification: 1.1,
    pressMagnification: 1.0,
    shiftDistanceX: 5,
    shiftDistanceY: 5,
  }}
>
  <Image source={poster} />
</TouchableHighlight>

Unsupported Components on tvOS

These components are disabled or suppressed on Apple TV:

• StatusBar
• Slider
• Switch
• WebView (limited support)

Focus Management Best Practices

1. Set Default Focus on Mount

<TouchableOpacity hasTVPreferredFocus={true}>
  Default Focused Item
</TouchableOpacity>

2. Use nextFocus Props for Custom Navigation

<TouchableOpacity
  ref={button1Ref}
  nextFocusRight={button2Ref.current}
  nextFocusDown={button3Ref.current}
>
  Button 1
</TouchableOpacity>

3. Capture Events at Top Level

// Good: Capture at parent level
function Screen() {
  useTVEventHandler((evt) => {
    // Handle all events here, delegate to children
  });
  return <View>{/* children */}</View>;
}

// Bad: Each small component handles its own events
function SmallButton() {
  useTVEventHandler((evt) => { /* ... */ }); // Avoid this pattern
}

4. Use React Context for Focus State

const FocusContext = createContext({ focusedId: null, setFocused: () => {} });

function FocusProvider({ children }) {
  const [focusedId, setFocused] = useState(null);
  return (
    <FocusContext.Provider value={{ focusedId, setFocused }}>
      {children}
    </FocusContext.Provider>
  );
}

Expo TV Specific Issues

Environment Variable

# Must be set BEFORE prebuild
export EXPO_TV=1

# Always clean when changing this variable
npx expo prebuild --clean

Common Expo TV Errors

Platform Detection

import { Platform } from 'react-native';

// Check if running on any TV
if (Platform.isTV) {
  // TV-specific code
}

// Check specifically for Apple TV (not Android TV)
if (Platform.isTVOS) {
  // Apple TV only code
}

// Platform-specific styles
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    padding: Platform.isTVOS ? 48 : 16,
  },
});

Debugging Tips

1. LogBox works on TV - Error display supported after RN TV 0.76+
2. Use console.log liberally - Metro bundler shows logs
3. Test on real device - Simulator misses Siri Remote nuances
4. Check focus state - Add onFocus/onBlur handlers to debug focus flow

Resources

• react-native-tvos GitHub
• React Native TV Docs
• Expo TV Guide
• TVFocusGuideView Guide