- Well, Apple doesn't allow VPN apps
to be installed directly on their Apple TV platform.
There are three popular methods
to change your perceived location on the streaming device.
The problem is, despite all the how to videos
that you can find on YouTube,
one of these methods simply does not work anymore,
and that's despite testing it
with six different services that I'm subscribed to.
So anyway, I'm gonna share with you
each of these three methods and then show you
how I personally use it
on my new second-generation Apple TV 4K.
(upbeat instrumental music)
Welcome to All Things Secured, my name's Josh
and since I live in Asia right now,
the only way that my family and I
are able to watch our favorite shows,
movies and sports on Apple TV is by tricking the device
into thinking that we're in a different location.
Now ethically, I don't have a problem with this at all
since I'm a paying subscriber to any service I'm using,
be that Netflix, YouTube TV, Disney+ or others.
Also nothing that I'm about to show you
will require any hacking of your Apple TV
or anything else that would void the warranty.
We're simply faking our location.
You can use the chapter markers on this video
to jump to a specific section,
but I'm gonna start by sharing the only method
that has reliably worked for me,
and then two other methods that you can try if you want to.
If you've used a commercial VPN before,
you know that most of the time
you install an app on your device
and then connect that device to a VPN server
through the app or some sort of settings configuration.
Unfortunately, no such app exists for your Apple TV
so you have to move up that data chain just a little bit
and configure the same VPN connection
on your WiFi router instead.
By doing this, now all the devices
that connect to that WiFi box are routed
through whatever VPN server you configured it for.
So, if I've set up a Los Angeles server
on my home WiFi router, now any device
including gaming consoles, Internet of Things devices,
and even my Apple TV are connecting to the internet
through that Los Angeles server.
Before you get too excited about this method though,
let me give you a quick warning.
If you're using the WiFi router
that your internet service provider gave you,
this probably isn't going to work.
You're gonna need to spend a little bit of money
to upgrade to an additional router
that allows you to configure a VPN connection.
And if you need some help picking out
a good VPN router that does this,
I've listed a few in the description below this video.
The setup process is slightly different for each router,
but in general, we can break it down into three steps.
First, you need to log into your router
and the instructions to do that
are usually printed on the back
or the bottom of the router itself.
For my ASUS router, I simply make sure
that I'm connected to the router via WiFi or ethernet cable,
and then type in router.asus.com into my browser.
But once you've logged in,
you need to find where you can set up a VPN configuration.
And honestly, it shouldn't be too hard to find.
If you don't see it anywhere,
there's a chance that your router doesn't support VPNs
and your options are to either buy a new router
or to do what's known as flashing the router,
which is basically adding a new operating system
to the device.
Now, I'm not gonna show you how to do that here
and I only recommend it
if you know exactly what you're doing.
Step two, now that we're inside the router
is to grab the configuration files from your VPN.
Now, I'm using Express VPN for this example,
and they've worked great for me out here in Asia.
If you'd like to give them a try,
you can visit VPNSetupGuide.com, which is an affiliate link
that also helps to support this channel, so thank you.
Any VPN you use though, will have some kind of setup page
where you can find manual VPN configuration files.
You'll likely wanna use open VPN,
which will require you to download a .ovpn file.
As you can see here on Express VPN,
I click on Manual Configuration,
I choose the server from the country
that I wanna trick my Apple TV in to thinking that I'm in
which in this case is the United States,
and then I download that file that it gives me.
Step three is to add this to my router.
Back in my router's VPN settings,
I'm gonna add a configuration
and make sure that I'm doing open VPN.
I'll then set it up,
I'll give it a name that helps me know which location it is,
I'm gonna have to copy and paste the username and password
from the Express VPN website or whatever VPN you're using,
and then I'll upload that .ovpn file that I downloaded
for the server that I want.
You can create a number of different locations
as you see that I've done on my router.
So, if one doesn't work well
or if it just happens to be slow for some reason,
I can change an easily go to a different server.
Now that setup is complete,
I simply turn on a VPN connection
either directly through my computer
or with ASUS, I can actually download an app
on my phone or iPad to make it faster,
and then make sure that my Apple TV is connected
to that particular WiFi router, and I'm good to go.
I stream sports, movies, and even YouTube TV
using this configuration.
The only downside to this router method
is the actual cost of the router itself.
If you don't wanna spend the money on a new router,
you can try one of the next two methods
I'm about to share with you.
The second method is the mirror method.
Let's say you're using an iPad or iPhone,
and you have a VPN app already installed on there.
If you connect to the VPN
and then pull down from the top right corner of your device,
you'll see this double box icon
that might even have the text Screen Mirroring next to it.
If you don't see it, make sure
you're connected to the same WiFi network as your Apple TV.
Now here's the rub.
If I open up a dedicated app on my mobile device
for a streaming service, for example, the Netflix app,
or the Disney+ app,
and then I try to mirror my screen onto the Apple TV,
it doesn't seem to work for me.
Apple seems to recognize that I'm using an app
and then it tries to run the streaming
through that same app on the Apple TV
that isn't using a VPN,
and so I ended up getting some kind of error message.
What does work, at least more often for me,
is to sign in to these streaming services
through a mobile browser
while I'm connected to a VPN on my device.
Now, when I play through the browser on my iPhone or iPad
and then mirror that onto my Apple TV,
it actually mirrors what's happening on my device
instead of trying to run it through its own connection.
The benefit here is that I can actually watch it on my TV.
The downside is that the quality often isn't amazing.
A side note here before I move on to the last method
is that if all else fails,
you can always just connect your VPN enabled computer
or iPad directly to your TV,
to stream whatever you wanna watch.
I mean, that completely negates
the purpose of having an Apple TV I realize,
but I also know that
if you're using this video to troubleshoot
and you just wanna start watching your show right now,
this might be your best option.
Finally, the one method that has caused me
the most frustration.
You might've seen that your VPN service
offers a feature known as Smart DNS,
or there are actually some stand-alone Smart DNS services.
Smart DNS is different from a VPN because
it only redirects your Apple TV's domain name server queries
and not all of the internet traffic.
And since you're not encrypting all of your traffic,
it's supposed to be a lot faster for streaming or gaming
or other things, that is if you can actually get it to work.
I've spent the last week testing out Smart DNS services
from Express VPN, CyberGhost, NordVPN, Surfshark and others,
and not a single one has worked for me,
not for Disney+, not for Netflix,
not for anything that I wanna stream.
The problem is the sheer number of fail points here.
You have to register your IP address or wait,
you might need to register
for a Dynamic DNS hostname instead,
and if that doesn't work,
you might have to disable IPv6 on your router,
and if that doesn't work,
you have to contact your internet service provider
and ask them to turn off IPv6.
I promise you, I did everything I could
and I never got Smart DNS
to work with any of the services I subscribe to.
That's not to say it's impossible.
I'm sure there might be something that I did wrong
and you could get it working,
but I wanna encourage you that if it doesn't work for you,
you're not alone.
If I were you, I would focus instead
on adding a VPN to a WiFi router
or mirroring my mobile device to the Apple TV.
You'll have a higher chance of success,
and you won't go through all the frustration that I had to.
Which method worked best for you?
Leave a comment with any tips for others
who are doing the same thing, give this video a like,
and if you need a new VPN for this process,
jump on over to VPNSetupGuide.com.
Thanks for watching.