Pairing and Credentials

Companion Link pairing uses HAP pair-setup and establishes long-term credentials. Store the resulting credentials securely and persist the Companion Link stable identifier alongside them.

Stable client identifier

The _i field sent in _systemInfo must be stable across connections. Regenerating it can stop power-state events and, on newer tvOS releases, can cause a connection to be dropped shortly after a successful handshake.

Generate the identifier once during pairing, store it with the credentials, and reuse it for every future connection. The WPF reference host's CredentialStore demonstrates this persistence model.

Export and import

Hosts should provide their own secure credential export/import mechanism when users need to move a paired configuration between installations. Do not commit paired-device credential files or private keys to source control.

Security

Pairing credentials grant control access to the paired Apple TV. Treat them like any other application secret: restrict filesystem access, avoid logs, and revoke/re-pair if credentials are exposed.