Hisense TV Remote

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Hisense TV Remote is that it does not try to be a universal remote for everything in the room. It is built for one brand: Hisense. Mobile Tools Shop made a phone app that stands in for the remote that came in the box, and it is unofficial, with no connection to Hisense itself.

That focus is the reason to consider it. If your household has a Hisense television and the physical remote has gone missing behind a couch cushion, or its buttons have stopped responding, an app that already lives on the phone in your pocket is a straightforward substitute. It works with Hisense Android TVs, Roku TVs and IR TVs, which covers the main ways Hisense has shipped its sets over the years.

It is free to download, carries advertising and offers in-app purchases, so the cost of trying it is your time rather than your money. The install figures suggest a fair number of people have gone looking for exactly this: over 100,000 installs and a 4.0 average from 1,035 ratings.

A phone that behaves like the remote you lost

The core promise is simple: your phone does what the standard remote does. The developer describes full remote functionality, with channel navigation, volume adjustment and the rest of the everyday controls you would expect from the plastic handset that came with the TV. Nothing here is meant to be clever; the point is that the basic operations are covered without hunting for hardware.

The trackpad is the part that changes how this feels compared with a button remote. Instead of tapping arrow keys repeatedly to move through a menu, you slide a finger across the pad on the phone screen, which the developer presents as a smoother way to browse menus and apps. On a smart TV with a crowded home screen, that difference matters more than it sounds.

Voice control is the other headline feature. The app accepts spoken commands, so you can change channels or search for something to watch without tapping through an on-screen keyboard. The developer pitches this as managing the TV without lifting a finger, which is the kind of claim worth treating as marketing until you have tried it in your own room with your own accent and background noise.

What it needs from your network

For smart TVs, the setup requirement is stated plainly: the phone and the television have to be on the same Wi-Fi network. That is normal for this category of app, and it is the first thing to check if the remote refuses to talk to the TV.

The older IR televisions are a different case, and the app includes them in its compatibility list alongside Android and Roku models. The app is described as universally compatible across Hisense sets, giving the same experience whatever model you own. That breadth is the developer's claim rather than a guarantee I can verify, but the intent is clear: one app rather than a different one for each generation of TV.

The app has been on the store since June 2018 and was last updated in August 2025, so it is not an abandoned experiment.

Voice, trackpad and the everyday buttons

Taken together, the three input methods cover most situations. Buttons for the routine adjustments, a trackpad for navigating interfaces, and voice for when typing a title into a search box is more effort than it is worth. The app is meant as a replacement for the remote, not an add-on to it.

What appeals to me about the arrangement is that the trackpad and voice features are the ones a physical Hisense remote may not offer at all. On a set where the bundled handset is a plain button affair, the phone app can end up being the more capable controller, which is an unusual position for a remote replacement to be in.

The trade-off is that you are now depending on two devices instead of one. A phone with a flat battery, or one that has wandered into another room, leaves you with no control at all if the original remote is already lost. Keeping the physical remote somewhere findable is still sensible even if the app becomes your daily driver.

Ads, purchases and the unofficial label

Two things deserve attention before you install. First, the disclaimer: Mobile Tools Shop made this unofficial app for Hisense TV owners, and Hisense has no part in it. That is honest labeling, and it means support and updates come from a third party rather than the television manufacturer.

The app is free, it contains advertising, and it offers in-app purchases. I would not read that as a warning so much as a description of how a free utility like this typically sustains itself.

Neither point undermines the basic usefulness of the tool. A 4.0 average across more than a thousand ratings is a reasonable signal for a free remote app, and the written review count of 105 suggests a modest but real body of user feedback behind that score.

Best for households already committed to Hisense

This app makes the most sense for someone who owns a Hisense television and wants a spare controller on hand. That could be a second remote for a bedroom set, a stopgap while a replacement handset is on order, or the primary controller for a TV whose original remote has been lost for good.

It also suits people who find button-by-button navigation tedious. The trackpad and voice input give a phone-based way to move around a smart TV interface, and for anyone who already reaches for their phone during an evening of watching, keeping the controls there is a natural fit.

Because it is built around a single brand, the app is not trying to serve a household with televisions from several manufacturers. It is a focused tool for Hisense owners, and it is at its most useful when the phone and the TV are on the same network and the physical remote is somewhere you would rather not crawl behind the furniture to find.

A free stand-in for a lost Hisense remote

Hisense TV Remote is a narrow app that does one job: put the controls for a Hisense television onto your phone. It covers the standard buttons, adds a trackpad for menu navigation and voice commands for channels and searches, and works with Android, Roku and IR Hisense sets.

The requirements are modest but real. Smart TVs need both devices on the same Wi-Fi network, the app is free with ads and in-app purchases, and it carries no official connection to Hisense. If you own a Hisense TV and want a backup controller that is always within reach, this is a sensible thing to install. If your living room is a mix of brands, its single-brand focus will not help you.

What's new in version 1.0.12mts

Better user experience and fast connectivity. The top remote app for all Hisense TVs.