In house tvOS app of a static image

niacobelli
New Contributor III

Hello,

We are trying to deploy 80 Gen4 Apple TV's and want to use single app mode to display our logo. Are there any resources or guides on how to develop an in house app that would display a white background with our logo in the middle?

I'm not an app developer so anything that I can read to help guide me to my goal would be fantastic.

Thank you,
Nicholas

21 REPLIES 21

mrben
New Contributor III

I would reconsider using Apple TVs for this and instead urge you to look at devices more like the Intel Compute Stick which can run purpose-driven signage software like Rise Vision.

niacobelli
New Contributor III

The apple tvs are used for airplay purposes. I just want to jazz it up a bit and use our company logo instead of the aerial screen saver and to keep the apple tvs locked and unable play around with settings and apps.

cdenesha
Valued Contributor II

Can you deploy the image as a background to Conference Room mode?

niacobelli
New Contributor III

It is possible @cdenesha . But ideally we don't want to login with an icloud account to set up photo sharing and then choose an image. We have about 80 apple tvs that we have deployed so going in and signing it would suck.

The aerial screen saver is fine as it looks pretty. I just wanted to add our company logo to make it look a bit more professional. I'm still researching making an app in xcode. If I figure it out I'll post it here.

eddieandrews
New Contributor

@niacobelli

Yes!

In fact, I did this for our church, which uses this Apple TVs for their media presentation, so that the "background image" is always displayed when it's not in use. I'd be happy to discuss code. (me@eddieandrews.com)

burkeyc
New Contributor

@niacobelli I am looking to do the same thing at my school district we have a handful of apple TVs that I would like to be able to show the district logo until someone air plays to it.

ega
Contributor III

We wrote this and released as freeware to the apple store:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/confboard/id1262036643?mt=8

bram
New Contributor II

Wow this is very cool and relatively simple to setup thanks for this.. would also like to use the managed configuration,.. you mentioned in release notes that it is available from version 1.7 but no sample xml file to push to the devices.. can you give some documentation on how to format this MDM managed configuration..? Would like to push it using Jamf School so assume i can drop the xml for the app settings in when pushing the app to the Apple TV

TPG33k
New Contributor II

We'd also be really interested in the Managed Configuration side of things. Out of interest, where do / could you store the image files?

bram
New Contributor II

I stored the images and the .json file on a web server and entered the url to this .json file in the ATV app settings... works fine for me (you have to go to the atv settings-> app settings -> then select the app to do the settings on every atv) .. however would like to use managed configuration so my MDM can actually push that URL and hopefully the other settings like "ATV name in display" This normally is an XML formatted list of settings your MDM can push to all the devices. It seems available in the version 1.7 however i have no documentation on the format.

nelsoni
Contributor III

You could use this and load one image

https://exhibit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

ega
Contributor III

For folks using ConfBoard (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/confboard/id1262036643?mt=8) we are working on the configuration file format and should be able to get that out in next few weeks. Sorry for the delay we have not had cycles to put into the project until now.

jobscommasteve
New Contributor III

I'm playing around with the sample file on the site and so far so good, but would love an actual write-up!

bram
New Contributor II

OK i will have a look at the exhibit as well.. i am an Dutch Apple employee looking for nice examples for demo in our Amsterdam briefing center to show as examples to our Education an Enterprise customers... Regarding ConfBoard let me know if i can be of any help

sim_brar
New Contributor III

@ega do you have any updates on the configuration file format that you specified above?

tboot60
New Contributor

Hi All, has anyone managed to get Exhibit working. I have set the URL as per the documentation, but the app continually crashes “grey Screen for 30 – 40 seconds then the app closes” any suggestions?

preece46
New Contributor II

@truck3 getting the same grey screen too, any good alternatives?

ega
Contributor III

Just and update here.  We do have updated versions of ConfBoard in the AppStore that can be configured with MDM.
Here are the details with example managed configuration.
http://go.ncsu.edu/confboard
Enjoy!

jobscommasteve
New Contributor III

I'll be giving this a swing next! Could use ConfBoard for one set of Apple TVs, and Exhibit for the other... hmmmm

jobscommasteve
New Contributor III