It has vanished. Again.
Down the side of the sofa, under a magazine, in the kitchen. Your phone never goes missing for long — so make it the remote that always turns up.
Available on the App Store
The remote is lost. Your iPhone isn't.
Remote TV Control Universal turns the phone already in your hand into a full remote for the TV in front of you. Connect over your home Wi-Fi in seconds — no batteries to replace, no dongle to buy, no cushions to dig through.
Free to download · Works on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch · No account required
9:41Wi-Fi connected
Living Room TVConnected · Samsung
▲
◀
OK
▶
▼
Vol −
Mute
Vol +
Home
Back
Power
Input
Keyboard
Apps
Built for the TVs people actually own
SamsungLGSonyTCL
HisensePhilipsPanasonic
RokuAndroid TVFire TVVizioSharp
The nightly ritual
Four remotes, and not one of them works
Every household has the same drawer: a remote with a missing battery cover, one that belongs to a TV you no longer own, and the good one — which nobody can find. It shouldn't take five minutes to change the channel.
Flat batteries at the worst moment
Kick-off in two minutes and the volume is stuck. Your iPhone is already charged, already awake, already unlocked.
One remote per screen
Bedroom, living room, kitchen, the TV at your parents' house. Save each one in the app and switch between them with a tap.
Set-up
Connected in under thirty seconds
No cables, no codes to type from the back of the TV, no extra hardware. If your phone and your television share a Wi-Fi network, you are almost done.
Join the same Wi-Fi
Make sure your iPhone and your smart TV are on the same home network. That is the only requirement.
Let the app find your TV
Open Remote TV Control Universal and it scans the network automatically, listing every compatible screen it can see.
Confirm and take control
Accept the pairing prompt on your TV once. From then on the app reconnects on its own, every time you open it.
Remote TV Control Universal communicates with your television over your local Wi-Fi network. iPhone and iPad have no infrared transmitter, so older TVs without network features — and models whose manufacturer does not expose a network control protocol — cannot be controlled by any app. Check the compatibility section below before you buy anything.
Features
Everything the plastic remote does — and a few things it can't
Full button layout
Power, volume, channels, inputs, menu, back, home, playback and colour keys. The complete set, laid out for thumbs rather than for a moulding machine.
Trackpad navigation
Swipe to move through menus instead of tapping an arrow forty times. Getting to row nine of a streaming catalogue becomes one gesture.
Type with your keyboard
Search titles using the iOS keyboard you already type on all day. No more nudging a cursor across an on-screen alphabet, letter by letter.
Multiple TVs, one app
Save every screen in the house with its own name. Switch rooms in a tap, and the app remembers which TV you used last.
Jump straight to apps
Launch your streaming services directly from the phone on supported televisions — skip the home screen shuffle entirely.
Apple Watch support
Volume and playback from your wrist. Useful when the phone is charging in another room and the advert break is deafening.
Built for a dark room
A deep, low-glare interface with a soft violet glow — readable at night without lighting up the whole sofa.
Stays on your network
Commands travel from your phone to your TV across your own Wi-Fi. We don't run them through our servers, and we don't ask you to create an account.
Bigger, clearer controls
Generous tap targets, high contrast and VoiceOver labels — far kinder than tiny rubber buttons with worn-off print.
Designed for real evenings
Fast enough that you forget it's an app
A remote is judged on one thing: whether the TV reacts the instant you press. Remote TV Control Universal talks to your television directly over the local network, so presses register right away — no round trip to the cloud, no lag between your thumb and the screen.
- Reconnects silently to the last TV you used, so the app opens ready to go.
- Optional haptic feedback confirms each press without you looking down.
- Works while the phone is locked-screen dark — no bright flash mid-film.
- Keeps working if a housemate is streaming; commands are tiny, not bandwidth-hungry.
30sTypical set-up time
12+TV brands supported
0Accounts to create
∞TVs you can save
Figures describe typical use on a healthy home Wi-Fi network. Available buttons and features vary by manufacturer, model and firmware, because each brand exposes a different set of commands.
Compatibility
Will it work with my television?
If your TV is a smart TV made in roughly the last decade and it can join your Wi-Fi, the odds are good. Here is the honest breakdown.
Very likely to work
- Samsung smart TVs (Tizen and earlier smart models)
- LG smart TVs (webOS and earlier smart models)
- Sony, TCL, Hisense, Philips, Sharp and other Android TV / Google TV sets
- Roku TVs and Roku streaming players
- Amazon Fire TV sticks and Fire TV Edition televisions
- Panasonic, Vizio, Toshiba and Grundig network-enabled models
Won't work — and we'd rather say so
- Older televisions with no network connection at all (infrared only)
- Set-top boxes from cable and satellite providers that offer no local network control
- Any TV kept on a different network from your phone, including guest Wi-Fi
- Air-conditioning units, hi-fi systems and other non-TV infrared devices
iPhone has no infrared blaster, so no app — ours included — can control an infrared-only device.
Not sure about your model?
Download the app and let it scan your network — it is free, and it will tell you in seconds whether your TV appears. If it doesn't, write to us with the brand and model and we will tell you plainly whether support is possible.
What people say
The remote drawer has been retired
"Our Samsung remote disappeared in April and we never replaced it. Nobody in the house has complained once."
HMHelen M. · London
"Typing a film title with the keyboard instead of arrowing around the alphabet is worth the price on its own."
DRDan R. · Manchester
"I set it up on my mum's phone in a minute over the phone. She uses the big volume buttons every day."
PAPriya A. · Leeds
Illustrative quotes shown while our App Store reviews are collected. Replace this section with verified customer reviews before publishing.
FAQ
Questions we're asked most
Do I need any extra hardware?
No. Nothing to buy, plug in or pair. The app speaks to your television over the Wi-Fi network you already have at home.
Why can't the app find my TV?
Nine times out of ten the phone and the TV are on different networks — often one is on the 5 GHz band or a guest network. Put both on the same Wi-Fi, make sure the TV is switched on rather than in deep standby, then pull to refresh the scan.
Will it control my old TV from 2009?
Almost certainly not, and we'd rather tell you now. Televisions of that era are controlled by infrared, and iPhone has no infrared transmitter. The app needs a TV that can join a network.
Can I turn the TV on with it?
On many models, yes — provided the television's "wake on network" or equivalent setting is enabled. Some manufacturers disable network wake-up by default, or drop the connection entirely when the set is fully powered down.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Yes. Control happens on your local network, so it keeps working during a broadband outage as long as your router is still running.
Are you affiliated with Samsung, LG or Sony?
No. Remote TV Control Universal is an independent app. All brand names are the trademarks of their respective owners and are used only to describe compatibility.
What do you do with my data?
We don't require an account and we don't collect the commands you send to your TV. Full detail is in our Privacy Policy.
How do I cancel Premium?
Through your Apple Account: Settings → your name → Subscriptions. Cancelling stops future renewals and Premium remains active until the end of the period you've paid for.
Ready when you are
Stop looking for the remote
Download Remote TV Control Universal, join the same Wi-Fi as your TV, and take control from the phone that's already in your hand.