Apple TV Remote App Replaced by Control Center
Filipe Espósito (also: MacRumors):
Apple today silently removed its “Apple TV Remote” app from the App Store, which lets users control the Apple TV from an iPhone or iPad simulating a real Remote. The app is no longer available for download from the App Store and Apple has likely discontinued it, which means that it will no longer get any updates.
That doesn’t come as a surprise since Apple has added the Remote feature built into the Control Center in iOS 12, so Apple TV users can have access to all the controls on Siri Remote without having to download any app.
I created this app on nights and weekends. I demoed it to Steve in Jan ’08. He said, “We’re going to open an App Store; let’s make this our app”. Sad to see it go. I always referred to it as “my baby”.
This is the first version of the Control Center remote that works with my Apple TV 3, and it seems to fix the keyboard and focus problems that have plagued the standalone Remote app lately. Unfortunately, the connection with the Apple TV sometimes gets dropped when the phone’s screen turns off, and—unlike with the physical remote—holding down the Menu button doesn’t bring you all the way up to the top menu.
Previously:
- Third-Generation Apple TVs Suffering From Software Update 7.6
- HBO to Drop Support for Apple TV 2 & 3
Update (2020-11-07): Nick Heer:
This is kind of a bummer because the Apple TV Remote app has actual buttons for previous and next. The Control Centre feature is a more faithful onscreen replication of the Siri Remote, which does not have those buttons.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter
Agreed. The app doesn’t support swiping on an ATV3, only tapping. You can use the TV button to go home (which doesn’t exist on the physical remote) instead of holding Menu. However you can’t tap and hold on play/pause to put it to sleep nor on select to hide Home Screen items.
That said Control Center/now playing integration with the ATV4 and later is very nice to the point I often find myself using it rather than the remote after media is playing. We’ve only got one ATV3 left so hopefully this won’t be a problem for much longer.
