wireless audio sync does not work with bluetooth speakers, is that right?

The 3rd gen doesn't work with bluetooth speakers, and never has. It's OS does not have this feature.

The 4K does, and TVOS is what supports this feature. The article specifically refers to bluetooth speakers.

You might need to use Wireless Audio Sync if you notice that your audio is out of sync when you:

• AirPlay TV audio to your HomePod1 or AirPlay speakers.
• AirPlay TV audio to your HomePod or AirPlay speakers and use the TV speakers at the same time. 
• Play TV audio with your AV receiver or sound bar and HomePod or AirPlay speakers at the same time.2
• Listen to your TV audio with Bluetooth speakers or Bluetooth headphones.

The article then goes through the steps to setup wireless audio sync, which will be the same whether they are bluetooth or one of the others listed. Again, as it states in the article, when it plays the tone it will be through your connected speakers. It will either show that it has been complete or has failed. The article also goes through things to try if it didn't work.

You spoke to one person who as I said gave wrong information, and it is unclear whether you fully went through the article.

I just posted a similar question. The responses people are giving do not make sense. If the sync tones do not play over the bluetooth device, there is no way to sync properly the bluetooth speaker. The fact that the sync tones play over the TV speaker is a bug in this process.

It's physically impossible for the audio sync to know the latency of the bluetooth device if the test tone is played through the TV speakers. This feature does not work.

It is for wireless audio, and bluetooth would count

See

Set up Wireless Audio Sync with Apple TV - Apple Support

Then you were given wrong information.

The steps are listed in the article I linked above, as is the compatibility with Bluetooth speakers

Sorry, correction:

update Apple TV (3rd generation) to latest os

connect speaker directly to Apple TV using Bluetooth

should have said:

update Apple TV (3rd generation) to latest os

connect Apple TV to computer, and connect computer by speaker to Bluetooth

Apple TV has to be connected to a TV via HDMI, that is how the product works. It can then connect to wireless speakers. The tone is supposed to play through the connected speakers, as it specifies in the article. This is part of the process, and is not a bug. It does not affect the prior settings. If you properly complete the process it will identify that the audio sync is complete or that it failed. If you didn't properly complete the cycle then of course it is going to retain lag. If it actually went through as complete, but there was still lag then there would be an issue with that particular speaker. If it failed then it would require further investigation on your end.

It worked just fine during my testing and I am in regular contact with other testers who confirmed the same. If it was actually not working then the forum would be full of users reporting as such, including many responses in this thread.

I tried Apple support again, they think it’s probably a bug

i can get a refund, because it is a recent purchase

The article does not cover linking audio speakers to Apple TV with Bluetooth

here is what I tried:

update Apple TV (3rd generation) to latest os

connect speaker directly to Apple TV using Bluetooth

test movie, sounds comes through Bluetooth speakers, but with lag

call Apple support, they recommend Apple TV 4K with ‘wireless audio sync’

buy Apple TV 4K, update os

connect speaker directly to Apple TV using Bluetooth

test movie, sound comes through Bluetooth speakers, but with lag

try ‘wireless audio sync’ - the sound is redirected through speakers connected by hdmi (not the speakers connected by Bluetooth)

test movie, sound comes through Bluetooth speakers, but with lag

call Apple support - they say ‘wireless audio sync’ does not work with speakers connected by Bluetooth to Apple TV

can you help?

Apple TV connects to a computer for restore, you cannot use the MAC to display content from an Apple TV and that doesn’t change the fact that the 3rd Gen doesn’t support Bluetooth speakers. That model only ever supported BT keyboards.

However, it seems that you bypassed the rest of the response and that is what dealt with the issue at hand. So if you’d rather waste time to focus on that point then I will bow out and leave you to it.

what are the steps to get wireless audio sync to work with Bluetooth?

I spoke to Apple customer service on the phone and they confirmed that wireless audio sync does not work with speakers connected by Bluetooth

I read the article again (thanks), and I also interpret the article as saying that wireless audio sync should work with speakers connected by Bluetooth to Apple TV.

However, this does not match my experience, and it does not match what Apple support say - they said wireless audio sync worked for Bluetooth speakers when connected to a TV that is connected by hdmi to Apple TV, and not my situation.

I will try Apple support again to see if I get a different answer

I would also like to know if anyone has successfully used wireless audio sync for speakers connected by Bluetooth to Apple TV

here are the steps I have taken:

• update Apple TV 4K

• Link Apple TV 4k to bluetooth speakers

• When I navigate menu system or play movie, sounds is coming through Bluetooth speakers, but with lag

• follow steps for wireless audio sync, page link is above

• on step 4, tone plays through speakers connected by hdmi (not Bluetooth speakers) - this seems like a bug, Apple Support assured me that this is the right functionality

• again, when I navigate menu system or play movie, sounds is coming through Bluetooth speakers, but with lag