You Won't Lose Your Apple TV Remote With Elago's New AirTag Remote Case

[JonBOY26]

I gave my mum my old ATV3. Just the other week we had to buy her a new remote because she lost the thin silver one. We turned her house upside down looking for it. Such a stupid design to make a remote so ridiculously thin. The cheap replacement one from eBay is substantially thicker.

As somebody who users a nVidia Shield, I don't think I could go back to a remote that doesn't illuminate the buttons as soon as it's picked up. It's amazingly helpful and is one of the reasons the triangular shaped Shield remote is the best remote I've ever used.

 

[jon3543]

This is insanity. Putting any case on a remote is insanity.

 

[emulator]

Gotta give them credit if this thing sells, they just serve the idiots who buy these.

 

[Macaholic868]

This is what I’ve been waiting for! Once I read this I bought a new Siri remote to replace an older original Siri remote that quit working and this case. I bought an extra AirTag knowing something like this would be out a few weeks back.

When your wife falls asleep on one of two couches watching TV and as a result loses the remote on an almost nightly basis it’s worth every penny. She lost the original remote so I bought a new one, then she lost the new one but I finally found the original one. Then the original one bit the bullet about two week ago. It was literally a day after I ordered a 3D printed version of something like this for the older remote. Talk about not catching a break.

I know you can use your phone but I prefer a remote. I just don’t get why Apple wouldn’t offer a version that has built in tracking but whatever, I’ll take it.

 

[kshitijshah]

hmmm... a $50 case plus Airtag for a $50 remote

 

[LonestarOne]

Why is the back curved? That means the remote will not lie flat on the table.

 

[michelb76]

What a turd. How the hell do you lose a remote anyway.

 

[ds2000]

Wow, any bigger and I'll need an airtag to find my sofa if that thing is left on top.

 

[bebarhood]

I never lost/broke any gadget in my life until I had kids.

Fact: Kids are obsessed with remote controls.

 

[George Dawes]

Turns a beautiful elegant remote into something horrible

I’ll pass thx

 

[Wildkraut]

They shall also invent some airtag basecap, that way users don’t lose their heads.

 

[Kid Red]

Why not just extend the length to fit the airtag so it stays relatively thin? Having this rocking horse backside is stupid.

 

[GadgetBen]

Now THIS is a great design.

 

[MistrSynistr]

I ordered it right away. Not sure why people give a crap on how thick it is. It's a remote. Why do remotes have to be thin. Your hands aren't built for thin remotes. This gives it a heft that is welcome, plus you can put an AirTag in it which is great. people just like to complain about everything.

You're literally complaining about the original remote by buying this. lol.

 

[MistrSynistr]

They had to photoshop their own product into a stock photo at an incorrect scale? Why does an Apple TV remote need a strap?

Because if you're buying this case you're probably an uncoordinated goof anyhow, so why not an extra layer of protection to keep it locked to your body.

 

[criticasm]

Lose it..? It makes the remote so ugly I'd throw the damn thing away.

 

[kagharaht]

I just got one of the new ones. How can you lose this thing? It's a lot bigger than the old one lol. I guess unless your dog took it outside and buried it or the cat dragged it somewhere as a toy or kids took it somewhere and forgot.. I don't know why it needs an airtag. I mean how often can that happen?

 

[Bremse]

This is just silly makes it huge and it’s not like you would loose it badly this can’t be real

We haven’t seen our remote (previous gen) in well over a month. Checked all the usual places and it even has a bright silicone case around it. It would be nice to have find my built in. I agree though this case is clunky and I guess you could pretty much buy a new remote for the cost of this plus an AirTag.

 

[SkippyThorson]

You mean like the official Xbox One Media Remote? At least it rocked because it lit up when moved.

This case is just weird. Why not put the AirTag at the bottom edge in a clear cutout instead of underneath? I wouldn't want the bulk and it would highlight what a truly silly purchase the whole lot is for humor value.

 

[seek3r]

tragic. apple should've just made the remote trackable by default

Agreed, I hope they enable that in some form in a future update (I mean, it *does* already have BTLE at least).

 

[perealb]

I probably would have went with making the case longer and putting the AirTag on the bottom, vs making the remote thicker.

That’s the best idea after apple having the remote already designed with this feature.

 

[Wando64]

Turns a beautiful elegant remote into something horrible

I’ll pass thx

Horrible enough that you will actually want to lose it.

 

[jessea]

Gosh, I'm glad most of you aren't designers — you have zero empathy for understanding simple problems that can be easily solved with good design.

(And you clearly don't have kids who lose, drop, and otherwise destroy your TV remotes! )

 

[CarlJ]

Well, I ordered one out of curiosity, and it arrived an hour ago. I ordered blue, to increase visibility. Elago sent me black instead (the packing slip indicates blue, the box indicates black). Someone on the marketing team made a box with a hole in the back, labeled, "The color of this product", then someone else on the marketing team elected to put the case in a white plastic wrapper, inside the box, rendering the hole useless. Not exactly off to a good start .

The case is well made, out of a very solid block of silicone (I've seen cheap cases that have hollow spaces inside to save on material, which end up feeling flimsy). This solid construction makes it surprisingly heavy, compared to the remote itself, more than I would have guessed. The substantial silicone wrapping also means your AirTag is very well protected: nothing can hurt it - and not much high-frequency sound can get out from where it's ensconced inside. So don't expect to be able to locate your remote by the AirTag's little chirps. Elago makes some nice accessories, but I didn't find this case of theirs' to be an improvement on the no-name silicone case case I got from Amazon a month ago (which is more of a close-fitting silicone skin, follows the contours of the remote, makes it agreeably grippy, has a light blue color that's easy to spot, and was half the price). I reverted to the old case after about twenty minutes.

Why is the back curved? That means the remote will not lie flat on the table.

Because it's got an AirTag in the middle of the back. If it weren't curved, the whole case would have to be close to an inch thick, and even heavier than it is.

(I expect that Apple didn't build in an AirTag equivalent because the design for the new Apple TV has been sitting on a shelf for a long time, possibly before the AirTag was finalized. I do wish, though, that they had built in a tiny speaker or beeper, behind one of their arrays of pinholes, so that they could eventually have the Apple TV be able to send a command to the remote to have it play a noticeable noise. I get that being able to locate things with an arrow on your screen is even cooler, but requires the Apple TV owner to have one of the latest iPhones as well.)

 

[Tech198]

I prefer my version "If you never loose it, you wouldn't need AirTags."

It's not THAT tiny... I've seem RS-232 batteries smaller than that.