I want to control several TVs in my home with one iPhone instead of using separate remotes. The TVs may be different brands, so I need help finding an app or setup that lets me switch between and control multiple TVs easily.
If you have several smart TVs around the house, your iPhone can handle them without needing a separate physical remote for every room. The main choice is whether you want one universal remote app or the official app for each TV brand.
For a mix of Samsung, LG, Roku, Fire TV, Android/Google TV, and Apple TV devices, a universal app is usually less hassle. TVRem, for example, lets you save multiple TVs and switch between them inside the same app.
I use it with Fire Stick and TCL TVs. Here are the screenshots:
It’s free with no subscription and includes useful controls like a touchpad, keyboard input, and one-tap app launching. There’s more information about it here: Free TV Remote App for iPhone & iPad: One Remote for Almost All TVs
The other option is to install each manufacturer’s app, such as Samsung SmartThings, LG ThinQ, Roku, or Fire TV. These are first-party apps and generally reliable. Most also support multiple TVs from the same brand. That works well if all your TVs match, but with mixed brands you’ll end up jumping between several apps and remembering which one controls each room.
A few things make a multi-TV setup easier:
- Keep everything on the same Wi-Fi network. Your phone, TVs, and streaming devices need to be able to see each other. With mesh Wi-Fi or multiple access points, check that they aren’t isolated on separate SSIDs or incompatible 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks.
- Give each device a useful name. “Living Room” and “Bedroom” are much easier to recognize than a list of model numbers.
- You normally pair each device only once. The app saves it, so moving between rooms should only take a tap.
- Add streaming sticks separately. A Roku or Fire TV Stick is its own device. You’ll control the stick for streaming menus and app navigation, even though it’s connected to the TV.
This only works with smart TVs and streaming devices connected to Wi-Fi. An older non-smart TV will still need its physical remote or a traditional universal remote. A practical setup is to use the iPhone for all the smart devices and keep one inexpensive universal remote for anything older.
If you list the number of TVs and their brands, it should be pretty easy to tell whether one app will cover everything or whether you’ll need a combination of apps.
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If every set is a networked smart TV, this is mostly an app problem; if even one is older, it becomes a hardware problem. An iPhone has no IR transmitter, so a “universal” app cannot control a basic infrared-only TV by itself. For those sets, you need a Wi-Fi-to-IR hub placed where it can send commands to the TV. That can actually be cheaper than replacing an otherwise working television.
For the smart TVs, saving each device under a room name in one app is the cleanest setup, as @zerofox described. I would still keep the manufacturer apps installed as backups. Universal apps sometimes handle navigation perfectly but fail to wake a particular TV from standby, change inputs, or control volume.
Streaming sticks add another wrinkle. The phone may control the Roku or Fire TV interface while power and volume depend on HDMI-CEC or separate TV commands. Test power, volume, input switching, and wake-from-standby on every set before deciding that one app has replaced all the remotes.
If two TVs are in the same room or within sight of the same IR blaster, the setup changes quite a bit. A Wi-Fi-to-IR hub may send power or volume commands to both sets, especially when they use the same brand’s IR codes. In that case, you need separate blasters positioned close to each TV, or a hub with wired emitters that can be assigned individually.
For TVs in different rooms, I’d start with a universal app such as TVRem and name every device by location rather than brand. “Kitchen TV” is much harder to confuse with “Bedroom TV” than two entries called “Samsung.” Pair and test each set separately, including power-on from standby. Some televisions disappear from the network when switched off because an energy-saving or network-standby setting is disabled.
I wouldn’t delete the original remote apps yet. Universal apps are convenient for everyday navigation, but manufacturer apps often expose settings or input controls that third-party apps miss. Keeping those installed costs nothing and gives you a fallback when a TV firmware update suddenly breaks pairing.
There is another network issue beyond simply using the same Wi-Fi name. Guest networks and router “device isolation” settings can prevent your iPhone from discovering the TVs even though everything appears connected. If one set refuses to show up, check that first before repeatedly resetting or re-pairing it.
Streaming devices should be named as separate controls too. For example, “Living Room Fire TV” controls the streaming interface, while “Living Room TV” may still handle power, volume, and inputs. HDMI-CEC can combine some of that, but it is inconsistent enough that I would test it rather than assume it will work.
So the realistic target is one main app with saved room names, plus manufacturer apps as backups. If older IR-only sets are involved, add a properly positioned hub for each room rather than expecting the iPhone itself to transmit infrared.
If you don’t use the TVs’ built-in apps, standardizing the streaming device is simpler than chasing a truly universal remote app. Put the same platform on each TV, name them by room, and switch between them in its iPhone app, while keeping a physical remote for inputs and deeper TV settings.
Don’t spend too long chasing a mythical app that controls every brand perfectly. Mixed TVs usually mean at least one set will refuse power, input, or volume commands because apparently remote controls needed their own compatibility mess.
If a universal app handles all the basic controls, use it as the main remote. For any stubborn TV, keep its official app and create iPhone Shortcuts named by room, such as “Bedroom TV” or “Kitchen TV,” that open the correct remote app. Put those shortcuts in one Home Screen folder. You can even place an NFC tag near each TV to launch its app with a tap, although it won’t perform every command automatically.
Keep the physical remotes somewhere accessible too. Your iPhone will eventually be charging, missing, locked in another app, or in the hands of someone who has no interest in learning your beautifully engineered multi-TV system.
The TV is not necessarily the device you need to control for volume. If a room uses a soundbar or AV receiver, the iPhone app may handle TV menus perfectly while the volume buttons do nothing.
Before settling on any universal app, test each room with the physical remotes put away: power on, switch inputs, open the streaming device, adjust volume, and power off. HDMI-CEC can pass some commands between the TV, streamer, and soundbar, but support varies.
You may end up saving two controls for a room, such as “Bedroom TV” and “Bedroom Soundbar.” That is still easier than separate apps for every brand, but it is worth knowing that “multiple TVs” can quietly become multiple TVs plus several audio devices.
Don’t leave ‘network standby’ or ‘wake on LAN’ as an afterthought, because that single setting decides whether any app can turn a TV back on. A few sets I’ve read about quietly flip it back off after a firmware update, so a remote that worked last month suddenly can’t power the TV. Check that toggle first before blaming the app.
Controlling several TVs while your iPhone is on the home Wi-Fi is straightforward; controlling them while a VPN, Private Relay-style filtering app, or cellular connection is active can be a completely different story. Before resetting a TV that will not appear, check Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network and make sure the remote app has permission. Temporarily disable any VPN too. Those two checks can save a lot of pointless re-pairing.
Use whichever universal app supports the most sets, save each TV under its room name, then test power-on after the TV has been off for ten minutes. That last test matters because discovery may work while the set is awake even when network standby is disabled, which matches @mike34’s warning. Keep the official app only for TVs that fail power, input, or settings commands.
There is a household-use problem people forget: putting every remote on one iPhone makes that phone the new missing remote. Install the same setup on at least one other household device if possible, and keep the original remotes in a known drawer rather than throwing them into storage.