Lost your TV remote? Control the TV with your phone
Before you buy a new one, you can usually get the TV working again in a few minutes: with the buttons on the TV itself, and with your phone as the remote, as long as the TV is on your Wi-Fi.
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First, look in the usual places
Some newer remotes and streaming players can make the remote beep from a menu or an app. If yours can, the TV's manual or settings will say so.
- Down the sides of the sofa and under the cushions.
- Under the sofa, the bed and anything close to where you watch.
- In pockets, bags, blankets and the laundry basket.
- Wherever things get put down: the kitchen counter, the bathroom, a shelf by the door.
Control the TV without the remote
- 1
Use the buttons on the TV
Almost every TV has a power button or a small joystick on the back, the side or under the bottom edge. It turns the TV on and off and usually changes the volume and the input too. - 2
Put the phone on the same Wi-Fi as the TV
A phone remote reaches the TV over your home network. Check that the TV is connected, and that your phone is on the same network, not a guest network. - 3
Install a remote app
Use Rimokon or the TV maker's own app. On iPhone, allow the app to find devices on your local network when it asks. - 4
Pick your TV and pair
The app finds the TVs on your network. Most TVs then show a code to type into the phone; some ask you to accept the connection on screen, which you can do with the TV's own buttons. - 5
Use the phone as the remote
Arrows and OK, Back, Home, volume and playback, all on the phone. Leave it set up, and the next missing remote is no longer a problem.
Where Rimokon fits
Rimokon turns your iPhone or Android phone into the remote for the TVs in your home. It finds them on your Wi-Fi and walks you through pairing, and once a TV is added, everyone in your household has it on their own phone.
Your phone and the TV need to be on the same Wi-Fi. It works with Google TV and Android TV, Apple TV, Samsung, LG, Sony, Fire TV, Roku, Philips, Panasonic and VIZIO, but not with every TV: Hisense VIDAA, Titan OS and the newest Fire TV Sticks (Vega OS) aren't supported yet. See which TVs work.
With the remote on your home screen, lock screen or your watch, the TV is one tap away even when the real remote has gone missing again. Rimokon is free for 30 days, with no card needed to start.