Updated June 19 16, 2025
I’m going to stop the running updates and just try and keep this first post updated as things change.
Working DeepLink URLs
I’ve finally got a system setup for Kodi to pass deep link URLs to Home Assistant so that the AppleTV integration can open specific episodes or movies. Here are the ones I’ve found that work:
Netflix movie (web site link): DOES NOT WORK AS OF LATEST NETFLIX UPDATE IN SEPT 2025 https://www.netflix.com/watch/81587873
Netflix show (web site link - can’t do episodes, just show page) DOES NOT WORK AS OF LATEST NETFLIX UPDATE IN SEPT 2025 https://www.netflix.com/title/81591296
Disney+ episode/movie (web site link): https://www.disneyplus.com/video/afdc98f1-26bf-48d8-8866-af185ba5d5ac
AppleTV+ episode (from share panel in Mac/iOS apps): https://tv.apple.com/us/episode/in-seldons-shadow/umc.cmc.4tale27biojjpu69b5c22euge
AppleTV+ movie (from share panel in Mac/iOS apps): https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/spirited/umc.cmc.3lp7wqowerzdbej98tveildi3
Paramount+ shows/movies (from the share link on the iOS app): https://link.us.paramountplus.com/kLWgjEgkFBb
Hulu movie/episode (thanks to johaywood): hulu://watch/73df1fcf-09ed-4717-a9d2-14d3138afd7e
Hulu series page (thanks to johaywood): Note that if you have both Hulu and Disney+ in one subscription you can just use Disney+ links hulu://series/73df1fcf-09ed-4717-a9d2-14d3138afd7e
PeacockTV Show Page https://www.peacocktv.com/deeplink?deeplinkData=%7B%22providerSeriedId%22%3A%227377906371406790112%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22SERIES%22%2C%22action%22%3A%22PLAY%22%7D
Details about Peacock TV in this post from johaywood.
Nope. Paramount+ stopped working about two months ago. Netflix stopped working a couple weeks ago. They’ve both either changed the way they do deep links or they removed support for deep links out of spite. I spent several hours researching the Paramount+ side and finally just gave up. I haven’t even bothered with Netflix.
Ok, thanks. I guess I’ll need to try pinning/saving shows on Netflix and use the remote commands (up, left, down, etc) to navigate and see if that works.
Trying to get a “kid shows” randomizer via NFC card scan, lol.
Looks like how I have it setup. Later today I can construct the actual service call (I’m doing it via NodeRed and NFC tags with tag ID as YouTube URL) and double check.
Maybe check to be sure you have the Apple TV properly authorized and Home Assistant shows as a remote in apple tv → settings → remotes; should see something like “pyatv”.
Also, just to be sure, you’ve got the YouTube app installed on Apple TV, and you’re trying to use actual YouTube videos, not YouTube TV?
Thanks for the reply. Everything you stated/asked was correct.
I was able to get it to work after removing the Apple TV and re-adding it to Home Assistant. Not sure what changed other than the entity id is now the numerical id rather than the friendly name…
I’m trying to build the same thing for my kids - an NFC show randomizer. Netflix deep linking isnt working at all anymore, so wondering if you ended up finding a solution to this?
I have not. In fact, I really need to update the first post, as the only deep linking that works anymore is the AppleTV+ deep links. For services that support the tie in with the TV app (which is basically everything except Netflix), I now use the TV app deep link to get to the episode and then click the play button there so that the TV app can open the other app. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than nothing.
Netflix wants to force you to look at all their suggestions and crap, so the only thing I can do with Netflix stuff is open the app and then navigate around to find what I’m trying to watch. It’s one of the reasons I cancelled my Netflix subscription (the other being the never ending price increases), so now I only subscribe to Netflix a couple months a year to go through and watch the stuff that’s piled up.
It’s Apple’s app that has the name TV. There is no way to do it for Netflix though. Netflix doesn’t integrate with Apple’s TV app because Netflix wants you to see all their suggested crap. So the only think I can do with my setup is open the Netflix app automatically for a show the system knows is on Netflix. Netflix deep linking worked for a while, but then they “fixed” that during an update too.
It’s one of the many reasons I dropped my Netflix subscription and now just subscribe for two or three months a year and binge everything that’s come out in the last year that I want to watch.
For Spotify, this format has been working for me. You need to use a URI rather than a Spotify URL directly. The play=true parameter makes it autoplay rather than just opening the details.
Unfortunately, this (as of time of writing) does not work with tracks or episodes for some reason. Playlists, albums, artists, and shows all work however (with the annoying caveat that a “show”/podcast starts from the first episode every time).
So your best bet is probably to make a playlist with the track you’d like, and deeplink to that unless someone else finds a way to make links to specific tracks work.
For AppleTV+ shows you can use the TV app on MacOS or iOS for this. Once you find the show, in the list of episodes there will be a menu under the three dots, and one of the options is SHARE EPISODE. From there you have the option to copy the link.
Be aware that the link contains some characters that you probably have to URL encode so that the link can be passed. For instance, ?showID= has to be changed to %3FshowId%3D.
If you have other apps linked to your TV app (like Paramount+), you have to do this from an iOS device that has the TV app and the third party app. The MacOS TV app won’t show you shows from other apps.