Control Apple TV With iOS Remote App

Apple this week released the Apple TV Remote app, which turns your iOS device into a touch-screen Siri Remote.

You'll need an Apple TV (2nd-gen using Apple TV software 6.2.1; 3rd-gen using Apple TV software 7.2.1; 4th-gen using tvOS 9.2.1 or later), as well as a Wi-Fi connection and an iOS smartphone or tablet running 9.3.2 or higher. Once connected, navigate the digital media player with touch gestures, enter text with the keyboard, ask Siri for suggestions, control content, and play games.

The app will come in handy for those times you've misplaced the teeny remote for Apple TV ($148.38 at Amazon) . But don't be too quick to delete the iTunes Remote app. As app reviews note, the new service lacks some features of the older one, which supports Apple Watch ($300.00 at eBay) and the iPad's larger displays.

"As an additional Apple TV Remote it does the job and it does it well," cgriffin215 wrote in an app review. "However, I'd much prefer if this app and the old remote app were combined. Now I need to keep two remote apps handy because I still want and use the iTunes controls in the older app."

The iTunes Remote app has not been updated since December. And as AppleInsider points out, it is still not a 64-bit app—a violation of Cupertino's own rules.

For more, see PCMag's lineup of 10 Must-Have Apple TV Apps.