Second siri remote keeps wanting to pair to Apple TV

Discussion & Questions
1

So, kind of an odd issue I discovered, not really with BTT but because of it. I have an Apple TV 4K and played around with the remote features in BTT for a while. Decided I like it, so I bought a second remote just to use with my Mac, hoping I would not have to unplug my Apple TV to use the remote anymore.

I was able to pair the second remote to my Mac without issues, but when it's paired to the Mac, it still keeps searching for an Apple TV to connect to. The Apple TV, even though it has a remote paired to it, recognizes that search and offers me to pair that remote. The much bigger issue - the "unpaired" remote is able to wake up the Apple TV and through CEC turns on my TV as well. I can't even turn it off, because the remote constantly looking for an Apple TV prevents the aTV from going into sleep mode, so it just turns the TV back on.
The only solution is to unplug the Apple TV again, which makes getting a second remote pointless.

I know I can't possibly be the first one to have this issue, but Google just keeps spitting up useless articles about how to pair the remote with the Apple TV. I want the opposite. I want it to stop trying to pair to the Apple TV. It has its own remote.
I figure the remote needs some form of handshake to take place that doesn't happen on the Mac and thus it keeps its discovery functionality on?

Any ideas on how I can solve this or did I just spent 50€ to find out that this just won't work?

If so, let this be a warning to anyone who wants to purchase a remote exclusively for BTT use. Only buy one if you do not have an Apple TV and if you do, make sure it's out of reach from where you want to use the remote with your Mac.

2

that is weird, are you sure it’s paired to the Mac? Usually they stop searching for Apple Tvs once the pairing was successful.

For the initial pairing it’s usually best to disconnect any nearby apple tv from power

3

I'm not sure anymore, but I don't think I had the Apple TV turned off when I paired the second remote. I went through everything again, same issue - until I rebooted the first remote.
I guess the issue wasn't the second remote, but that the Apple TV didn't properly recognize it had a remote connected to it anymore and thus kept searching?
Weird. But that fixed it and it's working now.

So for anyone stumbling across this in the future - if you didn't do the initial setup correctly and the Apple TV still wants to connect to the other remote, holding the TV and volume down buttons for 5+ seconds on the remote you want to keep for your aTV seems to fix the issue. I also had the other remote paired to the Mac before doing this.

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