Today we will explain how to use a smartphone as a TV remote control.
A few years ago some watches served as remote controls. Today, some nostalgic people (like me) still keep these collector’s items. But in addition to these watches we mentioned, there is an essential element already in the day-to-day that can also serve as a remote control.
We are talking about the smartphone, that technological tool that has become almost an appendix of our body. The smartphone is already a Swiss army knife of technology to which we can give almost infinite uses, and today we will see how we have to do so that it also becomes a universal remote control.
First option: Infrared sensor
The first option we have is to use the infrared port of the phone (if it has one). To do this we need to check that our phone has an infrared sensor. Not all phones on the market have it, for example, the iPhone is one of them, but later we will see the possibilities we have with Apple phones.
In case we do not know if our phone has an infrared sensor or not, we have two options. One is to look for the model on the manufacturer’s website and check it among the specifications and another is to directly download the application that will allow us to give this use because once we have it downloaded, it will recognize directly if our phone has or not this function.
The application we are talking about is IR Universal TV Remote, which is available on Google Play for free. As we said, if our phone does not have the infrared option the application itself would inform us and it would be impossible to start the process.
If, on the other hand, we have infrared, the application will first ask us what type of device we want to control remotely. Among the available options, we find DVD, Blu-Ray or soundbars among others and of course, televisions. Once the device is selected, we will be asked for its brand, we will select a name to register it and the application itself will make the connection.
From this moment, the mobile screen will show us the distribution of remote control with its characteristic functions (Previous/Next, Volume, Mute). We have the possibility of registering as many devices as we want without any limit and thus forget forever that the said remote controls end up lost among the sofa cushions.
No infrared sensor
The infrared sensor is indeed connectivity that has been gradually disappearing from smartphones in recent years. Nevertheless, we can turn our phone into a remote control whether we have one or not.
There are applications on the market that allow devices to be connected via WiFi. To use them, two requirements must be met: both the phone and the TV must be able to connect to the Internet and both must be connected to the same WiFi network.
To do this we can use specific applications such as SURE Universal Remote, available for Android phones on Google Play, or the applications directly made available by TV manufacturers in the app stores. This second option will always be the best choice because the compatibility with the TV model will be perfect.
The same happens if our TV has Android TV because here we can use the Android TV Remote Control application that Google makes available to users and that is independent of the TV manufacturer or the device we have.
The iPhone as a remote control
In the case of Apple phones, we have neither the infrared port option nor, obviously, the Android TV option. To configure an iPhone as remote control of our TV we will have to use the applications that manufacturers, such as LG, or third-party applications compatible with certain brands such as myTifi, make available to us.
