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Apple TV Remote app icon
For Apple TV 4K & Apple TV HD

The remote for your Apple TV — no Siri Remote needed.

Lost, dead, or just annoyingly small — the Siri Remote has a way of disappearing when you need it. RemoteWave turns your phone into a full touch-navigation remote, a fast on‑screen keyboard, and playback controls for tvOS.

Free to download on Google Play · link will be added here once available · View Privacy Policy · View Terms of Use

App Preview

A closer look at the app

Actual screenshots will replace these placeholders once available — the layout and flow are already final.

Touch Trackpad
D‑pad Controls
Keyboard Input
Key Features

Everything you need to drive your Apple TV

Touch trackpad navigation

Swipe across your phone's screen just like the Siri Remote's glass surface, for the same swipe-to-scroll feel tvOS is built around.

Fast on‑screen keyboard

Log into streaming apps and search for titles using your phone's own keyboard instead of clicking through tvOS's on-screen letter grid.

Playback & volume control

Play, pause, skip, and scrub through movies and shows, plus volume control for TVs and soundbars with HDMI-CEC support.

Quick menu, home & back

Dedicated buttons for the tvOS Home button, Menu (back), and Control Center sit right where your thumb expects them.

One‑tap app launching

Pin your installed streaming apps to a quick-launch row and jump straight in without hunting through the tvOS home screen.

Multiple Apple TVs, one app

Pair with the Apple TV in the bedroom and the one in the living room, and switch between them from the same app.

How to Connect

Pairing your phone to Apple TV

1

Same Wi‑Fi network

Connect your phone to the same Wi‑Fi network your Apple TV is using.

2

Open RemoteWave

Launch the app — it automatically scans your network for compatible Apple TV devices.

3

Select your Apple TV

Tap your device's name from the discovered devices list to begin pairing.

4

Enter the on‑screen code

Apple TV displays a short passcode on screen — enter it in the app once to finish pairing.

Supported Devices

Compatible with every current Apple TV

Apple TV 4K (3rd generation)
Apple TV 4K (2nd generation)
Apple TV HD
Apple TV (4th generation)
tvOS 15 and newer
Apple TV devices on a shared home Wi‑Fi network
Benefits

Why people switch from the Siri Remote

Never lose the remote in the couch again

Your phone is already always within reach — the Siri Remote's small, symmetrical shape makes it notoriously easy to misplace or grab backwards in the dark.

Faster streaming app logins

Typing emails and passwords by clicking through an on-screen letter grid is slow. A real keyboard makes login screens painless.

One phone, every Apple TV in the house

Pair with multiple Apple TV devices and switch between them from the same app.

No batteries or charging cables to hunt for

RemoteWave runs on your phone's battery, so it keeps working even if your Siri Remote is dead or missing its cable.

Setup Instructions

First-time setup, step by step

1. Grant device-discovery permission

When prompted, allow RemoteWave’s Nearby devices (or Location, on older Android versions) permission — this is how it finds your Apple TV on Wi‑Fi.

2. Confirm your network

Check that your phone's Wi‑Fi matches the network your Apple TV is connected to under Settings > Network.

3. Scan for devices

RemoteWave lists every compatible Apple TV found on the network within a few seconds.

4. Enter the passcode & save

Enter the code shown on your TV screen once — RemoteWave remembers the device for future sessions.

Troubleshooting

Common connection issues, solved

Apple TV not appearing in scan

Confirm both devices share the same Wi‑Fi network and that it isn't a guest network with client isolation enabled. Restarting your Apple TV's Wi‑Fi and reopening the app resolves most cases.

Passcode never appears on screen

Make sure your Apple TV is awake and not in sleep mode — wake it with any input first, then reopen RemoteWave and try pairing again.

Touch trackpad feels imprecise

Try slower, shorter swipes rather than long flicks — tvOS is tuned for the Siri Remote's small glass surface, and shorter gestures translate more accurately.

Keyboard input isn't reaching the field

Make sure the text field is actively focused on the Apple TV screen before typing — select it once with the trackpad so it's highlighted, then open the keyboard.

Read the Full Wi‑Fi Troubleshooting Guide

FAQs

Apple TV Remote — Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes — RemoteWave turns your phone into a full Apple TV remote with touch trackpad navigation, playback controls, and an on-screen keyboard
  • You don't need the physical Siri Remote at all once you're connected
  • RemoteWave focuses on touch navigation, keyboard input, and playback control
  • Voice search through Siri still requires the physical Siri Remote or a connected microphone
  • RemoteWave works with Apple TV 4K (2nd and 3rd generation), Apple TV HD, and the 4th-generation Apple TV, on tvOS 15 and newer

RemoteWave finds your Apple TV by discovering it on your phone's Wi‑Fi radio, which Android treats as a device-discovery capability rather than a single named toggle:

  • On Android 13 and newer, the app requests the Nearby devices permission — specifically for Wi‑Fi device discovery — which does not share your physical location
  • On Android 12 and earlier, the operating system bundles Wi‑Fi device scanning under Location permission, even though RemoteWave never reads, stores, or uses your GPS coordinates
  • You can review or revoke this permission anytime under Settings > Apps > RemoteWave > Permissions

No separate internet connection is required to use the remote:

  • RemoteWave communicates with your Apple TV directly over your home Wi‑Fi network
  • An internet connection is only needed once, to download the app from the Play Store
  • Streaming content on the TV itself still needs its own internet connection, independent of the remote control features

A handful of causes account for most connection drops:

  • Weak Wi‑Fi signal near the TV, especially over long distances or through multiple walls
  • Router congestion on the 2.4GHz band — switching the TV or phone to 5GHz Wi‑Fi where available often helps
  • Android's battery optimization suspending the app in the background — see the next question
  • A guest network with client or AP isolation enabled, which blocks devices from seeing each other even on the same Wi‑Fi

For the most reliable connection to your Apple TV, yes:

  • Go to Settings > Apps > RemoteWave > Battery, and set it to Unrestricted or disable battery optimization
  • This prevents Android from suspending the app's background network activity, which is the most common cause of a remote that needs to be reopened to reconnect

Yes. Most VPN apps route all traffic through an external server, which blocks the direct Wi‑Fi path RemoteWave needs to reach your Apple TV:

  • Turn off the VPN while using the remote
  • Or add RemoteWave to your VPN app's split-tunneling or per-app exclusion list if it offers one

RemoteWave is built to need as little as possible:

  • Remote-control commands travel directly between your phone and your Apple TV over your local Wi‑Fi network — never routed through our servers
  • No Apple ID account is required to use the core remote-control features
  • See our full Privacy Policy for details on diagnostic data
  • Yes — the core features are free to download and use
  • Any optional extras are always disclosed clearly on the app's Google Play listing before you install

See General FAQs

Related Articles

Guides for Apple TV users

Ready to stop hunting for the Siri Remote?

Download RemoteWave for Apple TV and pair your phone in under a minute.