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Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

I'm always a little surprised when people talk about the Apple TV remote, since I always just use my phone as the remote, and assume that everyone else would too; you always have your phone and often don't have the remote on-hand.

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Using a real remote (Apple remotes don’t count) is so much better. There are some things a smartphone is better for, such as entering in passwords. But for regular usage there’s no comparison.

Besides, if I just wanted to use my smartphone I would simply stick to my chrome cast devices. If I’m gonna be using the phone to control my entertainment center then the chrome cast provides by far the best interface because you have access to the entire app.

I forgot all about text inputs! With the actual remote, You have to fumble with that letter-at-a-time selector. I’m even more surprised anyone bothers with the physical remote.

You can use a physical remote without looking at it and that's very hard to do with a smartphone. You also have to constantly unlock it to get back to the remote app if it shuts down. I love the Roku remote, it works so well and the physical buttons are very satisfying.

You can put it on your slidey down screen (where flashlight and sleep etc live) and then it’s swipe down, touch - no unlock necessary

Actually it goes straight back to the Apple TV remote without having to unlock. Not sure what the time limit is but it works after the device has gone to sleep and otherwise locked itself.

I use actual remote for normal use, and iphone whenever I have to edit text. Seems like the best of both worlds?

To be clear I use my TVs remote with HDMI CEC, not that insane apple remote.

For me a touch screen as a remote is even worse than the terrible Apple TV remote. I like being able to pick it up and use it without looking at it (and without lighting up the dark room if we’re watching a movie or something).

I use my phone often too, but you cannot control the volume from your phone so you need another remote too. My Samsung TV remote works pretty well as the Apple TV remote though too. The DirecTV remote control was also programmable and worked OK. They both just lack the Home button but you can use the Back button enough times to do without it.

My phone controls the volume, when the remote app is up on the phone the volume buttons on the phone actually change my receivers volume through HDMI from the Apple tv.

This depends on HDMI-CEC and volume control support amongst manufacturers is varying. My fancy LG OLED doesn't support volume control over CEC (but it has HomeKit support which works).

You're the second person to say this, but for what it's worth: the iPhone remote app is literally the only way I control the volume on my AV system.

First, let me just say that it never even occurred to me that my iPhone volume would control the TV so I just never even tried it. I would have expected volume buttons to appear in the remote app.

That said, I just tried it and it does not seem to work for me in my setup. I just have a Samsung TV with the Apple TV connected. No other "AV system". The volume buttons do not seem to do anything with the TV. Now that I know it works in some situations I will start digging around.

The Apple TV remote controls the volume of the TV fine but I seem to recall that I programmed it for the power and volume of my TV when I set it up.

I have a specific annoyance about that: I have an Apple TV HD that I bought second hand that had no remote; it's connected to a monitor so there's no TV remote or HDMI-CEC or anything of the sort; when using AirPods with the Apple TV the only means I have to adjust volume is that iOS App, the universal remote I have for otherwise controlling the Apple TV can't adjust it. Oh well. I'm thinking about buying that new remote and taking one of the other siri remotes I already have and putting it on that one.

Me too mostly but it's annoying that it's in a weird place not directly accessible from the remote widget in control center.

For me, using both the "built-in" remote app on the control panel and the "real" remote app launched as a proper app, the volume is controlled simply with the iPhone's volume buttons. I'm not sure how it could get any more ergonomic.

It's a better experience for sure, but loading the app takes time, and it often (for me) takes a couple tries to pair with your apple tv. Also, you can't adjust the tv volume.

If you have CEC or ARC setup, then you can adjust the volume by tapping on the buttons on the Lock Screen or using the iPhone volume buttons when the remote open.

I'm not sure what remote your are using, but the one built into the iPhones pull down menu is instant for me.

I'm not totally sure how it works (the only connection between my ATV and my AV system is HDMI) but adjusting the volume --- on my receiver --- works fine from the Apple TV iPhone remote.

It uses HDMI ARC but it's pretty flaky from the iPhone in my experience. Works more consistently with the remote itself. No idea why.

I'm pretty certain that the ATV remote beams good old fashioned infrared signals to change the volume on your TV/soundbar/receiver directly without involving the ATV itself.

The Apple TV remote doesn't emit infrared. The Apple TV does that itself! (This means that "learned" remote commands work even if you're controlling the Apple TV with your phone, or with a Bluetooth controller.)

I find that hard to believe, but I'm willing to be wrong. My Apple TV HD is in a cabinet with solid sides and doors (3/4" MDF). The television is wall mounted above it, outside the cabinet, and maybe 12" behind the Apple TV. And yet the Siri Remote controls the volume on the TV. I'm pretty sure it's using IR from the remote to the television to control the television's volume. I guess there's some small chance the volume is being controlled with HDMI ARC, although I've never been able to get my iPhone to control the volume on the television.

Unfortunately I can't find any definitive source on the internet to confirm exactly what's going on.

The remote clearly has an IR blaster on the front though.

Are you telling me I should have my appletv positioned so that I can shine into my TV’s ir receiver?

Mine is behind the tv.

I think this is right, because I had to teach my remote how to talk to my tv. Super odd, since every other box I've had has just been able to do this over HDMI.

It falls back to IR, but will use HDMI-CEC if available. Can be pretty fiddly to get it to work

I have two Sony TVs, one from 2016 and one from 2020, and they both work fine to control volume from the remote. One goes to a set of Homepods and the other on the TV itself.

The device itself probably uses CEC to do volume control, which can be a bit of a crapshoot with all the different vendors involved.

I think if one is going to always use their phone, then they probably bought a Chromecast at 1/4 the price. Unless they have a really strong attachment to the Apple ecosystem.

Or they have kids and the Apple TV remote is quickly lost or broken as it is both small and fragile!

I have multiple of both Apple TV and Chromecast and they both have their benefits. The babysitter can control the Apple TV with their phone. With the Chromecast they need their own Netflix/Prime. Not nearly as good. For my own personal use Chromecast is best.

Edit: and of course on my newer TV’s most services are available as apps.

What? I have an iPhone and an Apple TV, I use my phone as the remote 99% of the time, mostly because I always have my phone on me. I bought an Apple TV because it’s the only device that doesn’t sell user data, nothing to do with how it is controlled. The touch remote is pretty crap for actual use, nice to see they’re going back to buttons.

> I bought an Apple TV because it's the only device that doesn't sell user data

You may want to double check that statement and reset your "Apple Advertising ID".

I generally want any member of the viewing party to be able to hit the pause button when they want to say something or step away for a moment. I also like being able to instantly hit a button in the dark purely with muscle memory. A TV remote on the coffee table really can’t be beat.

The iOS TV remote makes it easier for people to share control of the TV, not harder.

How can I give guests control of my TV via their phones? As far as I know, that can’t be done automatically with iPhones, let alone people who don’t have iPhones.

They launch the Remote app on their phone, select the TV from the local network (if you don't banish them to a guest network), and pair with the code, same as you adding your phone.

You mean yet another remote on the coffee table ;)

I use a Logitech harmony the last 12 years (different models) and hate to use my phone other than entering text. I tried multiple times to use my iPhone but hate it so much. Also my Harmony has macros to switch to different activities. There is an app for the phone as well. But that gets really frustrating. At least for me.

> since I always just use my phone as the remote

Our family does this only because the actual remote is such a pile of crap.

Kids use the real remove in our house..

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