TV Remote

A free native menu bar remote for Apple TV on Mac. Rounded dark controls, keyboard navigation, and no subscriptions, ads, analytics, or account requirement.

Early source preview. There is no public app download yet. Pairing and remote commands still need physical-device testing. A local preview has been Developer ID signed. Notarization and confirmation of the Apple TV dependency's license notice are pending. This repository publishes our app source and fetches the dependency from its original repository for local development; it does not redistribute the dependency or a compiled app.

Controls

• Navigate, Select, Home, Back, and Play/Pause.
• Type when Apple TV reports a focused text field.
• Wake/Sleep, and volume/mute where the Apple TV audio setup supports them.
• Discover and pair using the PIN on your TV. Credentials are stored in Keychain.
• Reconnect to the last Apple TV when it is discovered on launch.
• Click the menu icon again, click outside, or press Escape to close the panel. Closing keeps the connection active.

Apple TV-only: no Samsung adapter, Wi-Fi recovery helper, or infrared transmitter. Third-party app; not affiliated with Apple.

Build locally

Requires macOS 14 or later, Xcode, Git, and Python 3. Your Mac and Apple TV need the same local network. Specific tvOS compatibility is not certified.

git clone https://github.com/chrishansen1984x-lang/tv-remote-mac.git
cd tv-remote-mac
./build-app.sh

The script fetches ItsytvCore at revision 052d9a9a0416d577119316ea813aa3b822b408e5, applies the documented app-specific changes, and builds an Apple silicon/Intel universal preview. Output is in dist/TV Remote.app and dist/TV-Remote-0.1.0-preview.zip. The local preview is ad-hoc signed, not notarized. Dependency code and build output are ignored by Git.

./prepare-dependency.sh
swift test

Three geometry regression tests cover smaller displays, secondary displays, and footer visibility. They do not validate connectivity or pairing.

Choose your Apple TV on first use and enter its onscreen PIN. Arrow keys navigate, Return selects, Space plays/pauses, and Escape dismisses the panel. Disconnect stops automatic reconnection for the current launch. Forget pairing removes this edition's credentials and saved reconnection preference. Volume is dependent on Apple TV/receiver support; Mac hardware cannot send Siri Remote infrared commands.

Public release status

The app source authored here is MIT licensed. ItsytvCore by Nick Ustinov provides Apple TV connectivity and declares MIT in its README, but the pinned revision has no LICENSE file. See dependency provenance. Obtain the exact confirmed notice before redistributing its source or a binary containing it, and place it at Licenses/ItsytvCore-LICENSE.txt. Do not treat this repository's MIT license as a license for the dependency.

release.sh requires that notice, a Developer ID Application certificate (DEVELOPER_ID_APPLICATION), and a saved notarytool Keychain profile (NOTARY_PROFILE). It signs, notarizes, and staples a ZIP in dist/; it does not upload to hosting. Public release also needs real Apple TV testing, Intel testing, final bundle identity, support information, and screenshots.

Privacy and feedback

No analytics, advertising, or cloud account. The app discovers and communicates with Apple TV on the local network, stores pairing credentials in macOS Keychain, and keeps device preferences locally. App-icon lookup functionality exists upstream but is not called by this UI. No diagnostics are automatically uploaded.

Report reproducible issues through GitHub Issues, including Mac model, macOS/tvOS versions, and the steps involved. Do not attach pairing keys, passwords, network captures, or unredacted logs.