I have this remote. I paid 2x to import it. It's terrible. Even at 30 I would save your money. It's not comfortable to hold, is missing the home button, and seems sluggish. I obviously don't love the apple remote, but you do miss the Siri button and the touchpad when you don't have it.
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Hands-On With the Button Remote, a Siri Remote Alternative for Apple TV
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And by that I assume you mean "is a rank atrocity, given its Apple logo".
That godawful piece of hardware is the single least user-friendly thing In my house. The quintessential example of form over function.
It's worse. The hockey puck mouse at least had a cable so you could tell which end was up without having to examine it.
I want to like this, and I really want something like it, but this isn't really an Apple TV remote. It's just a universal remote that happens to control Apple TVs.
At the absolute minimum, this needs buttons to skip forwards/backwards 10 seconds.
At the absolute minimum, this needs buttons to skip forwards/backwards 10 seconds.
I’m sure a Bluetooth transmitter would raise the price to manufacture and the retail price. Maybe they could sell one with BT for $50?
This! I didn't realize it was IR when I ordered it and was a little disappointed. Ended up putting my ATV on top of the media cabinet instead of behind a closed door. BT would be so much more convenient.
My wife loves the button remote, as she had an absolute hate/hate relationship with the Apple Remote, mostly because of the touchpad.
That’s a valid point. My research showed the Apple TV is veering towards games and future proofing was an issue. Also, laggy animations were a concern. For example, the AW. I run a series 3 and pulling up the list of apps, switching between apps, etc is slower and stickier than it used to be. Newer OSs run smoother with more capable hardware, generally, so that was a concern too.
How come nobody seems to be able to make a third party Apple TV remote that uses Bluetooth instead of IR?
IR is obnoxious and doesn't work as well as Bluetooth.
IR is obnoxious and doesn't work as well as Bluetooth.
First of all, the "Siri Remote" is absolute trash. No need for a comparison.
Even though I just bought another Apple Aluminum remote (Apparently I threw away the Siri Remote for that ATV in disgust at some point once I realized I could use an old Aluminum remote w/ it and after many years the Al remote direction pad isn't working reliably), I expect I'll buy two of these, but the lack of BT support is a real disappointment since I'll have to move the AppleTV on our main TV to a location w/ LOS for the IR transmitter and in my home office setup I have multiple AppleTVs connected to a multi-viewer and IR is a non-starter in that situation (which I use the IOS remote app for anything other than the most basic functions). I couldn't care less about the Siri button since I have Siri disabled on every single one of our Mac, IOS and TVOS devices.
Even though I just bought another Apple Aluminum remote (Apparently I threw away the Siri Remote for that ATV in disgust at some point once I realized I could use an old Aluminum remote w/ it and after many years the Al remote direction pad isn't working reliably), I expect I'll buy two of these, but the lack of BT support is a real disappointment since I'll have to move the AppleTV on our main TV to a location w/ LOS for the IR transmitter and in my home office setup I have multiple AppleTVs connected to a multi-viewer and IR is a non-starter in that situation (which I use the IOS remote app for anything other than the most basic functions). I couldn't care less about the Siri button since I have Siri disabled on every single one of our Mac, IOS and TVOS devices.
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This works with the Sonos Beam soundbar, at least when using HDMI ARC, and I'm assuming the Sonos Arc soundbar also. I can use the iOS Apple TV remote to control the volume using the up/down buttons on my iPhone and iPad.
I wouldn't hesitate to pay $50 w/ BT, but I expect there is some sort of certification or license fee required by Apple.... otherwise the market would be flooded with alternatives to Apple's abomination.
I think I would like this remote. But I do like my all for one steaming remote that does everything that this one does for $16 at Walmart.
Pretty much every remote is better than the Siri Remote. A more useful comparison would be this vs the Apple Remote. I can see how the dedicated fast-forward and skip buttons on this would be useful, but I don’t care for the size or number of buttons (why on earth does it have P+/- buttons?). I’ll stick with the Apple Remote I think, I love that thing!
I was one of those people who tried order the Salt, and then order the Function as soon as it was available. The Apple 4K remote had a unique, unadvertised feature - at least in our household. Guaranteed that whoever was using it gained 25 additional BP points. So far, that hasn't happened with the Function. But we're still getting used to it.
I will say that thing I don't like about the Function is it's IR. Have to keep the cabinet door open.
FWIW, our Harmony hasn't played well. It did work well with the older Apple TV unit. Simultaneous to the 4K was a switch to YouTube TV, so retired the Tivo. All this plus a sealed-up 6 year old battery meant the Function was something worth trying.
I will say that thing I don't like about the Function is it's IR. Have to keep the cabinet door open.
FWIW, our Harmony hasn't played well. It did work well with the older Apple TV unit. Simultaneous to the 4K was a switch to YouTube TV, so retired the Tivo. All this plus a sealed-up 6 year old battery meant the Function was something worth trying.
I am still rocking the ATV 3 remote (silver remote w/ 2 buttons and a directional ring). I also use the original white ATV on the ATV4 that is in the guest room.
My Harmony remote does basically what this does, and I still reach for the actual Apple remote because scrubbing is so pretty horrible without the little trackpad. (Or, I guess to put a more positive spin on it, scrubbing is much easier with the Apple remote's trackpad.)
Best usability hack I did for the ATV remote was to put a strip of brightly colored electrical tape across the bottom -- helps you find it in a dark room and also quickly orient it in your hand so you don't hold it upside down. Thanks for the user-hostile symmetry, Apple.
Best usability hack I did for the ATV remote was to put a strip of brightly colored electrical tape across the bottom -- helps you find it in a dark room and also quickly orient it in your hand so you don't hold it upside down. Thanks for the user-hostile symmetry, Apple.
While your tip is appreciated, you highlighted why the Siri Remote is bad. TV remote is meant to be used without looking. I should be able to feel the remote and execute action without complex gestures or ambiguity.
And I am just not sure that the remote benefits from being so small. I hope Apple's redesigned remote would add at least few more buttons.
Any typing at all, I'm reaching for the Remote app on my iPhone. A notification to use it appears automatically for me on the phone's lock screen as soon as a text entry field comes up.
I attached a Tile sticker to the back toward to bottom. Was always losing the damned thing, and now I can tell the orientation in the dark.