Apple released iOS 10.2 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on Monday with support for the new TV app, and a matching update rolled out for the fourth generation Apple TV, too. That’s pretty cool, unless you aren’t watching any channels the TV app supports. If that’s you, then tapping the Home button on your Apple TV remote doesn’t need to take you right to the TV app. If that’s you, here’s how to change the remote back so it takes you to the Home screen.
Make sure that your Apple TV and your iOS are connected to the same Wi-Fi internet connection. Now tap the Apple TV remote icon on your home screen to launch the app; You will see your Apple TV. If you do not see it, make sure your iPhone or iPad is on the same Wi-Fi connection as your Apple TV. Now tap your Apple TV: my Apple TV is superhero TV. You will be shown a four digit number.
Surprise! The Apple TV remote’s Home button now launches the TV appTo change the Apple TV remote Home button so it doesn’t launch the TV app, do this:
Devices: Tap Devices to connect the Apple TV Remote app to a different Apple TV. Touch surface: In the blank space above Menu, you can swipe to navigate and tap to select. Play/pause: Tap to play or pause content. Apple TV Remote for iOS has been updated with iPad support as expected. Apple TV users can use this app to control navigation and interact with Siri just like with the physical Siri Remote. With the Apple TV Remote app or the Apple TV Remote in Control Center, you can control your Apple TV with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. In iOS 12, the Apple TV Remote is automatically added to Control Center so you can quickly navigate and control playback on your Apple TV 4K or Apple TV (4th generation).
For Apple TV Remote, the app will now support the new screen sizes (iPhone XR and iPhone XS Max) as well as autofill passwords from your iOS device to your Apple TV. Apple TV Remote for iOS has been updated with iPad support as expected. Apple TV users can use this app to control navigation and interact with Siri just like with the physical Siri Remote. Apple released iOS 10.2 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on Monday with support for the new TV app, and a matching update rolled out for the fourth generation Apple TV, too. That’s pretty.
- Choose
- Select
- Click
The Home Button setting is a toggle, so choosing it once switches the Home button so it takes you to your installed apps, just as it did before today’s update. Select it again to change back to the new function where it launches the TV app.
Apple Remote For Mac
The TV app has great potential because it promises a unified interface for the shows and movies you watch instead of forcing you to jump from app to app—something TMO’s Dave Hamilton recently lamented. The problem is that some apps are noticeably missing from the compatibility list—like Netflix—and cord cutters may not have much more than their iTunes library showing up.
Still, seeing the TV app on the fourth generation Apple TV is a big step towards getting us into a content-centric viewing experience instead of the app-centric world Apple has kept us in so far. Now if Apple could get Netflix onboard, and convince Amazon to release Prime Video for Apple TV, the TV app would be awesomely useful.
In the first three parts of my ongoing venture to make a Mac mini a powerful component of my AV empire we’ve covered upgrading the Mac, connecting it to a typical AV system, and configuring it to access local and streaming media. We now turn to one of the most important elements of any AV system—controlling it all from the couch.
Remote control
A Mac mini does a far better impression of an integrated AV device when it’s not tethered to a keyboard and mouse. Therefore, remote control is required.
In the past I might have used Apple’s remote control or configured my $250 Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote to mimic the Apple remote’s functions, but some of today’s media applications require keyboard input and a measure of mousing. While a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse would certainly get the job done, such input devices are on the bulky side. And Apple’s remote—cute as a button though it may be—can’t handle keyboard and mouse-like chores. Fortunately a variety of inexpensive iPhone and iPod touch applications (and the accompanying Mac-based server apps required by some of them) do.
Apple’s free Remote () application is a great way to play media stored in the mini’s iTunes library. Just pair the iPhone or iPod touch with the mini’s copy of iTunes, and you can control playback of audiobooks, music, music videos, TV shows, movies, and podcasts. And, if you have other Macs in the house, you can control their iTunes libraries as well. (You can’t, however, play the contents of these libraries through the mini’s speaker connection using the Remote application. This app doesn’t support networked iTunes libraries.)
To make the video experience more seamless, launch iTunes on your Mac, open its preferences (iTunes -> Preferences), click the Playback tab, and from the Play Movies and TV Shows pop-up menu, choose Full Screen. (Do the same for the Play Music Videos pop-up menu.) When you do this and then use the Remote app to play a movie, TV show, or music video, that video will automatically play in full screen rather than within the iTunes window.
The Remote app is fine for controlling iTunes, but it does nothing for the rest of the Mac. For general-purpose input and mousing I purchased R.P.A Tech’s $6 Air Mouse Pro (). Install Air Mouse Pro on your iPhone or iPod touch, and install the free Air Mouse Server on your Mac and you’ve got a remote control that’s capable of mousing, clicking, typing, and scrolling, as well as offering broad controls for Safari and iTunes.
Air Mouse Pro is a great remote, but for applications such as Boxee, Front Row, and Plex that rely almost entirely on a Mac keyboard’s arrow and Return keys, it’s imperfect as its keyboard is a little small for large fingers. There are other options.
For Boxee, there’s the free Boxee Remote application for iPhone and iPod touch. It offers two ways to control Boxee. The first is a four-way arrow pad with a central OK button and a Back button. The arrow pad corresponds to the Mac keyboard’s four arrow keys, the OK button equals the Mac’s Return key, and the Back button is the Mac’s Escape key. You can also control Boxee with a Gesture control—a large Boxee icon that you drag around the iPhone’s screen to highlight and activate objects in the Boxee interface. Regrettably, the Boxee Remote application won’t launch the Boxee application.
Evan Schoenberg’s $1 Rowmote: Remote Control for Mac can both launch and control Boxee and a host of other Mac applications including Front Row, DVD Player, iTunes, iPhoto, Keynote, PowerPoint, QuickTime, Plex, and VLC. It mimics Apple’s remote with its four direct buttons, central Play/Pause button, and Menu button. Unlike with Apple’s remote, however, you can pick applications to control. Similar to Air Mouse Pro, you need to install a free server application (called Rowmote Helper) on your Mac.
And, while not exactly family-friendly, you’re welcome to remotely control the mini from the couch, another part of your home, or across the Internet with a Mac and Leopard’s screen sharing feature, Back to My Mac, or a VNC application such as Patrick Stein’s free JollysFastVNC. These VNC applications allow you to see the mini’s screen on your Mac as well as control the mini’s functions remotely, just as if you were sitting down at that Mac. There are plenty of VNC applications for the iPhone and iPod touch too, including Jugaari’s $25 Jaadu VNC, ReadPixel’s $7 RemoteTap (), and MochaSoft’s $6 Mocha VNC ().
Full of applications though the App Store may be, and capable as the iPhone and iPod touch are, there’s no good universal remote application for the iPhone. (Not surprising, given that the iPhone and iPod touch lack IR, the invisible light that most AV components are controlled by.) Much as I desire a complete Apple solution for controlling everything—Mac mini, TV, and AV receiver—it’s just not in the cards. For that, I returned to the Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote. It’s relatively easy to program and update, handles every bit of gear I own, doesn’t require batteries (it has a rechargeable battery and charging station), and makes sense to my family. If your TV table is littered with remote controls, you owe it to yourself to get a Logitech Harmony remote.
Apple Tv Remote App Windows
Wrapping up
All the pieces are in place. My Mac mini now plays and rips DVDs, plays and records television programs, plays all the media on my network of Macs, streams videos and audio from across the globe, and flashes my pictures across my HDTV. All without me having to move my keister an inch off the couch.
In our final installment, I wrap up with a look at the big picture. As the owner of an Apple TV, DVD player, VCR, and AV receiver with AM and FM tuner, was this all necessary? Did turning the Mac mini into a media center enhance my multimedia life in significant ways? Tune it to find out.
Updated to provide correct name and link for Jaadu VNC.[Senior editor Christopher Breen blogs regularly about iPods, Apple TVs, and other accoutrements of the digital lifestyle at Macworld’s Playlist blog.]