The Ultimate Guide to Setup Charles Proxy in your Apple TV

Charles Proxy is a powerful tool for tracking and analyzing network traffic. It is widely used for tracking requests and responses between a client and a server.

Setting up Charles Proxy on Apple TV is a valuable tool for developers and testers. It helps check and fix network traffic, API calls, and security issues. You can also assess network performance, simulate conditions, and ensure content delivery. This proxy is crucial for optimizing app communication and ensuring its reliability.

I will guide you in setting up Charles Proxy with Apple TV using Apple Configurator in this article.

Requirements:

• A MacBook
• Download and install Charles Proxy on your Mac: https://www.charlesproxy.com/
• Download and install Apple Configurator on your Mac: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator-2/id1037126344
• An Apple TV
• An HDMI cable
• A USB-C cable (4th Generation and Below)
• Ethernet cable (4K Apple TV or newer)

Configuration

Pairing your Mac with Apple TV

• Apple TV 4th generation and below

a) Connect your Apple TV to your MacBook using a USB-C cable.

b) Launch the Apple Configurator application.

c) Your Apple TV should automatically appear under the “All Devices” section.

d ) If not, navigate to “Paired Devices” under the Apple Configurator menu and click “Pair”.

e) Enter the code shown on your Apple TV screen to complete the pairing process.

• 4K Apple TV or newer (without USB-C)

a) Connect your Apple TV and Mac to the same Wi-Fi network.

b) On the Apple TV, go to “Settings > Remotes and Devices > Remote Apps and Devices”.

c) Open the Apple Configurator.

d) Check the “All Devices” section for your Apple TV. Connect your device and the Mac to Ethernet if it doesn't appear.

Otherwise, follow the step “d” of pairing Apple TV 4th generation and below.

e) Enter the code on your Apple TV screen to complete the pairing process.

f) The Name of the Mac should appear in the Device’s list.

Supervising your Apple TV

a) First, check if your Device is shown in the “Supervised” tab, if it is, you can skip this section. (Supervision is needed once per device.)

b) Only applicable to 4K Apple TV or newer:

Establish a wired Ethernet connection between your Apple TV and MacBook.

c) Only applicable to 4K Apple TV or newer:

On your device, navigate to the “Settings” menu, then go to “System”, choose “Reset”, and select the “Reset” option. The device will restart.

Re-launch the Apple configurator and pair the device to the laptop, as shown in the section before.

d) Once your Apple TV is paired, click on the “Prepare” button and follow the on-screen instructions.

Checks needed to supervise your device

Enrolling in a Mobile Device Management is Optional

You can create a new organization or select the “New Organization” option if you don’t have one

These are the prompts you will see in the Apple TV after the reset generated by the preparation

f) Click the “Prepare” option to see a message asking you to log in using your local macOS account. (This has the necessary permissions to change the Certificate Trust Settings).

Log in with the appropriate account and click on “Update Settings”.

In case you have already prepared your device, the following message will be shown:

g) After preparing the device, check if the Apple TV is displayed in both the “Supervised” tab and the “All Devices” tab.

h) Only applicable to 4K Apple TV or newer:

Once the device has been prepared, disconnect it from Ethernet if you plan to use Wi-Fi. Additionally, pair the remote before proceeding with the device setup.

Create and install Profile

a) Open the Apple Configurator, go to the “File” menu, and select “New Profile”. (Profile installation window)

b) In the Name of the “General” tab, add a unique name identifier.

c) Select “Global HTTP Proxy” and click “Configure”.

d) Look for your IP address on the settings of your Mac and add it along with the default port of Charles “8888”.

e) Open Charles and go to the “Help” menu, select “SSL Proxying” and then click on “Save Charles Root Certificate…”.

Make sure you save the “.cer” file.

f) In the profile window, go to “Certificates”, click on “Configure”, and select the “.cer” file you have saved before.

g) Save and close the Profile.

h) Install the profile:

Select the device and click on “Add -> Profiles” (Find the profile you created above), then click “Add Profiles”.

i) On your Apple TV the “Restrictions” screen will appear. Press the “Global HTTP Proxy” button and “install” the profile on the device.

j) Go to “Settings -> General -> About -> Certificate trust settings” and press on your certificate to change it to “Trusted”.

k) Charles will show a new message asking you to allow the connection with the Apple TV. Press “Allow”.

l) Now, you can restart your Apple TV and Charles Proxy.

m) In Charles, enable the Proxy SSL on what you want to track, and it will be all ready to go!

Charles is tracking the Apple TV!

¡Great job on completing this setup process!

I hope this guide improves your development and testing experience. Now, you can track and fix network issues, boost performance, enhance security, guarantee content delivery, and more.

Thank you for reading, and ¡Happy tracking and analyzing!