Remote Control App For All TVs

Review by eFreeware

If your living room has collected more remotes than anyone can keep track of, an app that folds them into your phone is an appealing idea. Remote Control App For All TVs, from developer HOOHUA, is built for exactly that: one piece of software that handles the everyday jobs a physical remote does, on whatever television you happen to be sitting in front of. It is free to install, and more than a million people have done so.

The pitch is simple. You adjust volume, move between channels, switch the set on or off, and open the TV's own menu, all from the handset already in your pocket. There is no hardware to buy. For anyone who has ever dug between sofa cushions while the opening credits rolled, that convenience is the whole point.

The households this suits best

I'd expect this to land best in homes with more than one television. One phone can stand in for the remote in every room, so you stop hunting for the one that wandered off.

It also suits anyone whose original remote is lost, broken or worn smooth, since a phone already within reach covers the same ground. Travelers facing unfamiliar sets may appreciate a familiar control surface.

The content rating is Everyone and the category is Productivity, which tells you this is a utility rather than an entertainment app. There is nothing here to learn beyond the buttons themselves, so the audience is broad by design.

What you can actually do with it

Volume, channel and power controls are the ones you reach for constantly. The developer describes the app as working with all types of TVs, the claim that matters most for a universal remote.

Beyond those basics, the app opens the television's own menu, so picture settings and input selection stay reachable from your phone. That menu access separates a genuine stand-in from a volume slider with a power toggle.

The most recent update, from August 2026, contains bug fixes. That is not a feature announcement, but it does suggest the app is being looked after rather than left to sit, which matters for something you rely on whenever the remote goes missing.

Price, ads and in-app purchases

The app is free to download, and it carries a 4.3 average across 4,437 ratings, with 336 written reviews. Those are healthy numbers for a utility, and they suggest the basics work well enough for most people who try it.

The free download comes with ads and in-app purchases. I'd treat both as part of the deal rather than surprises. How often the ads appear or what the purchases cover isn't described.

If you object to advertising on principle, or you prefer to pay once and be done, that is a reasonable position to hold. It just means weighing the convenience of a phone-based remote against those interruptions before you commit.

How it compares to the alternatives

The obvious comparison is the remote that came in the box. That one has physical buttons you can find by touch. Its weakness is that it is a single object in a house full of places to lose it, and it only works with the television it shipped with.

A second option is a dedicated universal remote, the kind sold as a separate piece of hardware. Those offer a tactile layout, but they represent one more thing to keep track of. The app's advantage is that the device is already in your hand and already charged.

Then there is whatever remote software your television's own manufacturer provides. HOOHUA's app is positioned as brand-agnostic, which is the reason to consider it over a first-party tool if your home mixes televisions from different makers.

A straightforward pick for multi-TV homes

Remote Control App For All TVs does one job and does it without ceremony: it turns your phone into a controller for volume, channels, power and the TV menu. It is free, it has drawn a large audience since its October 2024 release, and its 4.3 rating suggests most of those users got what they came for. The trade-offs are the ads and the in-app purchases.

I'd suggest it to anyone running several televisions, to households where the remote is perpetually missing, and to people whose original remote has given up. If you want a tactile button layout or you would rather not see advertising in a utility, a physical remote remains the simpler answer. For everyone else, this is an easy thing to install and try.

What's new in version 1.4.6

bug fixes