Use iCloud on an Apple TV
The Apple TV is a small set-top box that gives you access to streaming media from Apple and other providers, as well as media stored on other Apple devices on your network. Although the third-generation Apple TV supports several iCloud features, this chapter covers the current (4K and fourth-generation) models only.
Set Up iCloud on an Apple TV
There are two main places to set iCloud-related preferences on your Apple TV. Depending on the choices you made when you set up the Apple TV, either or both of these may already be configured, but it doesn’t hurt to check.
Set Up iCloud Account Features
To configure an Apple TV to work with iCloud Photos, iMovie Theater, Family Sharing, and the AirPods paired with your iPhone (if you have them), navigate to Settings > Accounts > iCloud. If your Apple ID isn’t already listed, select Sign In. If you’ve already entered your Apple ID for the iTunes Store, you may be asked if you want to use that same Apple ID for these other features. If you do, select Yes (and enter your password); if not, select No, Use a Different Apple ID (and enter both the Apple ID and password for a different iCloud account).
On the iCloud screen, you can turn any of the following on or off:
One Home Screen (when enabled, your Home screen will be the same on every Apple TV signed in to your iCloud account)
iCloud Photo Library (but turning on iCloud Photo Library removes My Photo Stream as an option; you can enable either one but not both at the same time)
Shared Albums (previously called iCloud Photo Sharing)
My Photo Stream
After that one-time setup procedure, to view your photos, follow the steps ahead in Use iCloud Photos on an Apple TV; and to view your movies, follow the directions in Use iMovie Theater.
Set Up iTunes Store and iTunes Match
To set up your Apple TV to use iCloud for streaming purchased media, navigate to Settings > Accounts > iTunes and App Store. If your Apple ID isn’t already listed, select Sign In and enter your credentials. Then select Yes, if prompted, to remember your password for rentals and purchases. (You may want to avoid doing so if your Apple TV is accessible by kids or guests who might rent or buy things on your account without your permission.)
You may enter more than one Apple ID (for example, if multiple people in your household have purchased content from the iTunes Store that you want to view), and switch between them easily. To enter an additional account, once again go to Settings > Accounts > iTunes and App Store, select Add New Apple ID, and enter that account’s credentials. (To switch between accounts, return to the iTunes and App Store screen and select a different account under Switch Apple ID.) If you have enabled iCloud Family Sharing, you can also use this screen to select the family member whose Apple ID will be used for purchases.
If you subscribe to iTunes Match, it’s automatically enabled when you add your iCloud account, though you will need to turn on iCloud Music Library in the Music app the first time you use it.
Use iTunes Match on an Apple TV
If you’ve set up iTunes Match on your Apple TV, then to listen to matched or uploaded tracks from your iTunes library, navigate to the Music app. You’ll be prompted to turn on iCloud Music Library the first time you use this feature, but thereafter, you don’t need any extra steps. You can then navigate through your entire iTunes music library, including your playlists.
Use iCloud Photos on an Apple TV
After setting up iCloud Photos in the Settings app, you can select Photos on the home screen to display your photos and videos, shared albums, or personal albums. If you enabled iCloud Photo Library, you can also see Memories (automatically generated collections of photos and videos based on time, location, or faces); or, if you enabled My Photo Stream, you can see it here.
Use AirPlay from iCloud
If you have an iOS device, you probably already know you can use AirPlay to send audio and video from it to your Apple TV—essentially turning your TV into a much bigger display for your iOS device. AirPlay from iCloud alters the standard AirPlay behavior in a subtle way: after you initiate playback in iOS, your Apple TV streams the media directly from the iCloud servers instead of from your iOS device. (This assumes, of course, that the media is stored on the iCloud servers, which is true for content purchased from Apple and for iTunes Match.)
One benefit of this approach is that you preserve your iOS device’s battery charge, since the device doesn’t have to stream and transmit the media. Another is that you can use someone else’s Apple TV (that is, one that’s not signed in to your iCloud account) to display purchased content from your iCloud account, simply by virtue of your iOS device being within range. For example, if you have a season pass to a TV show I want to see, I can invite you to my house and feed you popcorn in exchange for using your iOS device to play shows on my TV—without any changes in settings for either of us.
To enable AirPlay from iCloud, on the Apple TV, go to Settings > AirPlay and make sure Play Purchases from iCloud is set to On.
After you do that, whenever an iOS device sends content to your Apple TV, the Apple TV attempts to stream it from iCloud; if it can’t for any reason, it falls back to streaming from the iOS device.
Use iMovie Theater
iMovie Theater lets you send movies you create in iMovie (on a Mac or in iOS) to iCloud, and from there, stream them to your other devices—in this case, an Apple TV.
To set up iMovie Theater on your Mac:
Go to System Preferences > iCloud and make sure iCloud Drive is enabled.
Click the Options button next to iCloud Drive and—if iMovie is in the list—make sure it’s selected. (If iMovie isn’t in the list, we’ll add it in the next step.) Click Done.
Open iMovie 10 or later, choose iMovie > Preferences, and make sure Automatically Upload Content to iCloud is selected.
Then, to send a movie from iMovie to iCloud, select it, click the Share 
icon, and then click Theater.
On an iOS device, no setup is required besides turning on iCloud Drive in Settings > iCloud. To send a movie from iMovie to iCloud, tap the Share 
icon followed by iMovie Theater.
Finally, to view iMovie Theater movies on your Apple TV, select the iMovie Theater option (an optional app) followed by the movie of your choice.
To learn more about iMovie Theater, see these Apple support articles: