Broaden Your Streaming Options and Learn How to Setup a VPN on Your Apple TV

The streaming fever is upon us. More like the streaming era, to be fair. Due to the rise of high-speed Internet connection, computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other suitable devices such as the Fire TV, Fire Stick, Roku, Smart TVs, and more, we have everything we need to cut the cord and enjoy our favourites movies and TV shows online.

One of the most efficient, portable, and powerful pieces of equipment to stream videos and Internet content in the market is the Apple TV. It is best described as a digital media player that, together with an HDMI cable and a TV, provides full access to the most desirable things to watch online.

Tiny but powerful: Meet the Apple TV

The Apple TV is a set-top box that, together with an Internet connection and the use a TV, allows users around the world enjoy multimedia libraries and online streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Pop Corn Time, the BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime Video, the iTunes Store, DirecTV, Vue, Play Station, Now TV, and many more. It comes with a remote control or with the chance of managing it with the Apple TV Remote app.

However, as it happens with other streaming devices, the Apple TV only lets you enjoy content that falls under your jurisdiction, i.e., you won’t be able to enter other Netflix regions or foreign services because of geo-blocking restrictions.

VPN technology: Access the content you want

To overcome that issue, you need to setup a VPN on your Apple TV. Virtual Private Networks, or VPN, are online apps that can hide your online identity and location, allowing you to use one of their virtual servers strategically placed in other countries so you can unblock Internet content on them. For example, if you have an Apple TV but you are in Spain, you won’t have the right to access the American Netflix region, Hulu, and other US-based platforms. However, if you spoof your location with a VPN and acquire an American IP number, those services will become available to you.

The VPN technology is offered by plenty of companies around the Internet, so you need to choose wisely. IPBurger comes highly recommended because of its high speeds, secure encryption, and availability of two types of IP addresses: shared and dedicated. The monthly plans aren’t expensive at all, starting from $5 and escalating to $9.58.

How to setup VPN on Apple TV

Unfortunately, this digital media player does not come with native VPN support, so you will need to follow a series of steps if you want to setup VPN on your Apple TV. There are two approaches to achieve your goal:

• Setup the VPN directly on your router
• Setup the VPN on your PC or Mac and use it as a Wi-Fi hotspot

How to setup a VPN on Apple TV using the router method

If you implement the router method, you would be setting up the VPN directly on your routing device, and every gadget connected to it will benefit from the content encryption and data privacy/security that the Virtual Private Network provides. To install VPN, you will require a Tomato or DD-WRT router.

How to configure your Mac or PC to be a virtual router

By doing this, you will use your PC or Mac as a router to provide a VPN connection to your Apple TV. Here are the steps to do it on both operating systems:

How to share a Mac VPN connection with Apple TV

• Turn on your Mac computer.
• Access the System Preferences menu.
• Select “Sharing.”
• There, choose “Internet Sharing,” which will prompt the Internet Sharing options to appear at the right side of your display.
• Then, configure the following settings:
• Share your connection from [the L2TP protocol VPN connection you originated]
• To computers using: select the Wi-Fi box.
• Then, click on Wi-Fi options.
• Type the following information:
• Assign the desired Network Name.
• In Channel, leave it as default.
• In Security, configure it to WPA2 Personal.
• Choose a Password and Verify it.
• After that, click OK.
• Go to the Sharing menu.
• Select the box located next to Internet Sharing.
• When prompted, turn on Internet Sharing and then click on Start.
• After Internet Sharing activation, you will see a text that reads “Internet Sharing: On” next to a green light.
• It is the time to turn on your Apple TV.
• Access the Settings.
• Go to Network.
• After that, go to Wi-Fi.
• Establish a connection with the Wi-Fi network you recently configured on your Mac.

How to Share a PC VPN connection with Apple TV

• Turn on your PC.
• Press Windows + S. It will make the search bar appear.
• After that, write cmd to make the command prompt appear.
• Right click on the command prompt, choosing “Run as administrator.”
• Write this: netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=NETWORKNAME key=PASSWORD
• Set the following patterns to name your “router”:
• ssid=[pick a name]
• key=[pick a password]
• After you finish, press Enter.
• This message will appear: “The hosted network mode has been set to allow.”
• Now, the SSID, or name, of your network has been modified, as well as the user key password.
• The next step is starting the virtual router. Write this in the command prompt: netsh wlan start hostednetwork.
• Press the Enter key.
• You will corroborate that your router has successfully started of you see this message: “The hosted network started.”
• Access the “Open Network and Sharing Center,” right-clicking your Wi-Fi icon in the lower part of your screen, on the right side.
• Go to “Change adapter settings.”
• Right-click on the VPN connection you’ve recently created.
• After that, access “Properties.”
• Now, open the “Sharing” tab.
• You will check two boxes: the first one is the “Allow Other Network User to connect through this computer’s Internet connection” one, and the other is the “Allow other network users to control or disable the shared Internet connection” one.
• Choose your recently configured VPN connection located below “Home Network connection.”
• Select OK.
• It is the time to turn on your Apple TV.
• Access the Settings.
• Go to Network.
• After that, go to Wi-Fi.
• Establish a connection with the Wi-Fi network you recently configured on your PC.

In conclusion, to fully enjoy your device’s streaming capabilities, you need to learn how to set up a VPN connection on your Apple TV. Besides providing protection and privacy, you will gain the ability to spoof your location and enjoying other countries’ content.