Today we’re expanding the list of devices that can run Tailscale, bringing secure remote networking to the Apple TV. The newly released tvOS 17 offers support for VPNs, and we’re proud to say Tailscale is among the first to use this new feature. You can now add your Apple TV directly to your tailnet, unlocking three powerful new use cases that we’re excited to share.
You can use one of your nodes as an exit node for another device and route your traffic though it as an alternative to a public VPN, depending on your needs.
I use it for remote management, video streaming, and the occasional file transfer without publicly exposing my NAS. You could achive all this by setting up your own wireguard server but that’s more work.
I’m surprised you’re finding it too slow for video streaming. I use it just fine and can saturate my 300 Mbit connection when doing file transfers.
Wait. I can use my Apple TV as a VPN server? Did I understand you right? That would be a nifty redundancy tool for me if my main wireguard server goes down.
Edit: I guess I should’ve just RTFarticle:
But look at it this way: your Apple TV device is a capable little computer, and it stays connected to your tailnet even when it’s not in active use. Download and configure Tailscale now and you can securely route any of your other devices’ traffic through your Apple TV — and by extension, through your home internet connection — even when you’re on the other side of the planet. Whether you want another layer of security and privacy on sketchy Wi-Fi networks or just want to connect back through your personal internet connection when you’re on the road, you’re set with the Apple TV as an exit node.
So sounds like the tv doesn’t act as a server natively but I can use tailscale to leverage the tv to do that. I’ve never seriously looked at tailscale as wireguard generally worked well for me. Guess it’s worth a look.
Edit: I’ve now switch to Tailscale and am happy with it BUT the Apple TV support is lacking. While you can make it a node, you can’t get subnet access through an Apple TV node yet. So you can’t use an Apple TV to access other machines using their subnet IPs — i.e. no home LAN access.
If you run a media server that isn’t publicly exposed, it lets you jump in to browse stuff w/o needing to forward additional ports.
Another use is if you want to bring the device with you on vacation. You can VPN back home and have your traffic exit out of your house which may be useful for streaming services that require traffic be “in the same household”.
I think that’s only if they detect that you’re connected to an IP address that they recognize as part of a commercial VPN service, since i’m sure they have a list.
I use netflix when connected to tailscale VPN on both my phone and apple tv and it works fine, since the exit node that netflix is receiving my connection from isn’t a commercial VPN IP
The bulk of the traffic between two Tailscale nodes is direct between the nodes. They mainly use the Tailscale servers to help them find each other (NAT hole punching) and establish a connection.
You’re kidding! I thought all the traffic went through tailscale. So it’s basically just establishing the connection, then I’m only limited by upload/download speed of the NAS and the client?
Man, that’s great news. Though I may have some extra set up to do because I tried once with a decent internet connection and couldn’t get plex working over tailscale.
Plex has issues with VPNs unfortunately. It wants you to go through them whenever you connect to your server, and this means it needs to know where your server IP/domain is. But if you have situations where the IP/domain changes, like a VPN, it can get confused.
It’s one of the reasons that made me give up Plex back in the day. (Holding your accounts hostage was the other one.)
It’s going to depend on the devices involved, but I get about 600 megabit or so between two computers over tailscale on my network (really, wireguard). That’s what, 10 HD video streams? Of course, it’s going to depend on device cpu capability and network bandwidth.
On your own network? I’m not sure the reason to use tailscale between computers on the same network, nor if that’s really relevant to the discussion. If tailscale was capable of 600mbps from outside the network then that would be another story
That 600mbps is the throughput of the encryption on those devices. It’s no different crossing networks, but the speed will be limited by the network speed. The benefit of a p2p vpn is that you don’t need to shut it off when you join the same network. The devices remain accessible at the same ip whether they are on the same network, or if one is somewhere else. The overhead is negligible and you gain the security isolation that would normally require subnets and a firewall.
In the end, yes, I can stream HD video just fine from another network. For most people, the limitation will be their home ISP’s uplink speed.
Are there used for this outside of video streaming? Ive found Tailscale too slow for decent quality video streaming myself
You can use one of your nodes as an exit node for another device and route your traffic though it as an alternative to a public VPN, depending on your needs.
I use it for remote management, video streaming, and the occasional file transfer without publicly exposing my NAS. You could achive all this by setting up your own wireguard server but that’s more work.
I’m surprised you’re finding it too slow for video streaming. I use it just fine and can saturate my 300 Mbit connection when doing file transfers.
Wait. I can use my Apple TV as a VPN server? Did I understand you right? That would be a nifty redundancy tool for me if my main wireguard server goes down.
Edit: I guess I should’ve just RTFarticle:
But look at it this way: your Apple TV device is a capable little computer, and it stays connected to your tailnet even when it’s not in active use. Download and configure Tailscale now and you can securely route any of your other devices’ traffic through your Apple TV — and by extension, through your home internet connection — even when you’re on the other side of the planet. Whether you want another layer of security and privacy on sketchy Wi-Fi networks or just want to connect back through your personal internet connection when you’re on the road, you’re set with the Apple TV as an exit node.
So sounds like the tv doesn’t act as a server natively but I can use tailscale to leverage the tv to do that. I’ve never seriously looked at tailscale as wireguard generally worked well for me. Guess it’s worth a look.
Edit: I’ve now switch to Tailscale and am happy with it BUT the Apple TV support is lacking. While you can make it a node, you can’t get subnet access through an Apple TV node yet. So you can’t use an Apple TV to access other machines using their subnet IPs — i.e. no home LAN access.
yeah I’m not sure what the point of this is tbh.
If you run a media server that isn’t publicly exposed, it lets you jump in to browse stuff w/o needing to forward additional ports.
Another use is if you want to bring the device with you on vacation. You can VPN back home and have your traffic exit out of your house which may be useful for streaming services that require traffic be “in the same household”.
Have we figured out if this solves the Netflix password sharing limitation yet?
I haven’t tried it. AFAIK Netflix won’t work on iOS if you have a VPN active so I don’t have high hopes for Netflix.
I think that’s only if they detect that you’re connected to an IP address that they recognize as part of a commercial VPN service, since i’m sure they have a list.
I use netflix when connected to tailscale VPN on both my phone and apple tv and it works fine, since the exit node that netflix is receiving my connection from isn’t a commercial VPN IP
I’m surprised any VPN would be strong enough for streaming video of anything other than potato quality
The bulk of the traffic between two Tailscale nodes is direct between the nodes. They mainly use the Tailscale servers to help them find each other (NAT hole punching) and establish a connection.
You’re kidding! I thought all the traffic went through tailscale. So it’s basically just establishing the connection, then I’m only limited by upload/download speed of the NAS and the client?
Usually yes! There will be some minor overhead from both nodes keeping in touch with the Tailscale command server but mostly they talk to each other.
Read this though to see if there’s a case where direct connection might not be possible: https://tailscale.com/kb/1181/firewalls/
Man, that’s great news. Though I may have some extra set up to do because I tried once with a decent internet connection and couldn’t get plex working over tailscale.
Plex has issues with VPNs unfortunately. It wants you to go through them whenever you connect to your server, and this means it needs to know where your server IP/domain is. But if you have situations where the IP/domain changes, like a VPN, it can get confused.
It’s one of the reasons that made me give up Plex back in the day. (Holding your accounts hostage was the other one.)
It’s going to depend on the devices involved, but I get about 600 megabit or so between two computers over tailscale on my network (really, wireguard). That’s what, 10 HD video streams? Of course, it’s going to depend on device cpu capability and network bandwidth.
On your own network? I’m not sure the reason to use tailscale between computers on the same network, nor if that’s really relevant to the discussion. If tailscale was capable of 600mbps from outside the network then that would be another story
That 600mbps is the throughput of the encryption on those devices. It’s no different crossing networks, but the speed will be limited by the network speed. The benefit of a p2p vpn is that you don’t need to shut it off when you join the same network. The devices remain accessible at the same ip whether they are on the same network, or if one is somewhere else. The overhead is negligible and you gain the security isolation that would normally require subnets and a firewall.
In the end, yes, I can stream HD video just fine from another network. For most people, the limitation will be their home ISP’s uplink speed.