Want to use your iPhone or iPad as the remote for your Apple TV? Here’s how.

All TVs are shipped with remote controls and these work great for the most part. However, depending on how many TVs you have, it may be more convenient to use your iPhone or iPad as a remote.

Also, let’s be honest, you’re much more likely to lose the remote control to your television than you are to lose your iPhone or iPad.

The functionality is already built into the mobile devices and you only need to set it up before you’ll be able to control all the Apple TV systems that are connected to your home WiFi network.

You don’t need to download or install any files to activate the option. However, you do have to set it up and connect it to the devices that you want to control. Here’s how to do it:

Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad

Select Control Center and confirm that the Apple TV Remote feature is in the Included Controls section

If it does not appear, go to the More Controls section at the bottom of the page and tap the plus symbol that’s associated with the Apple TV Remote feature.

Open the Control Center on your device. This is done by swiping down from the top right of the screen if you are using iOS 12 and up. For older versions of the operating system, you must swipe up from the bottom of the screen

Select the Apple TV Remote shortcut from the Control Center

Select your Apple TV from the displayed list and pair the two devices together by following the instructions

READ MORE: How to delete Apple TV apps

There you have it! A quick guide to enabling the remote feature on your iPhone. Again, this same process will work on your iPad, as well.

Once you’ve connected your iPhone or iPad to your Apple TV, the devices will remain paired until you manually disconnect them.

However, keep in mind that both the device that you use as a remote, as well as the Apple TV need to be connected to the same WiFi network. Once you connect your phone or tablet to the WiFi, you only have to start the Remote app.

Here’s how to do it:

The interface of the Apple TV Remote is straightforward and easy to understand. It enables users to connect to multiple Apple TVs and then choose which one they want to control. You can switch between TVs by using the dropdown menu that’s positioned at the top of the screen.

If you have a cable TV subscription, you can also access the channel guide right from the app. Do this by tapping the Guide button shaped like a bulleted list. If you do not have a subscription, you can use the remote app to get one.

The center of the screen acts as a touchpad. It can be used to navigate up, down, left, or right, similarly to how the buttons on a normal remote control work. You can also tap and hold on to this section to see additional options related to the item that you’ve selected on the TV.

Once you start watching a movie, the touchpad will also display Forward 10 seconds and Backwards 10 seconds buttons. The text box between them allows you to activate subtitles for the program.

Lastly, you can access Siri by pressing and holding your configured button for this feature. Simply activate it as you would normally.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Subscribe to the KnowTechie Newsletter

If you want to control the conversation on your own tweets, you have options.

You can try these steps before contacting Apple support.

Fed up with seeing Elon Musk's name all over Twitter? You have options.

If you want to watch shows with friends, you can do that with Watch...

Everyone with an Amazon account gets 5 free gigabytes of cloud storage.

We've all broken the controller from one of our devices. Can you easily replace...

If your console keeps turning off, it's time for some troubleshooting.

You can check your AirPods battery level on basically any Apple device.

Copyright © 2022 KnowTechie LLC / Powered by Kinsta