Zapwick: Universal TV Remote

Hedgepost Digital LLC

Contains adsIn-app purchases

About this app

Zapwick turns your phone into a fast, reliable remote for your TV.

WORKS WITH
• LG smart TVs (webOS)
• Samsung smart TVs (Tizen, 2016 and later)
• Roku TVs and players, including onn. and Philips Roku TVs
• Amazon Fire TV sticks, Cubes and Fire TV Edition sets
• Vizio SmartCast TVs
• Google TV / Android TV: Sony, TCL, Hisense, Philips, onn.
• DirecTV satellite receivers

Your phone and TV just need to share Wi-Fi. Zapwick finds your TV, you pair
once, and it reconnects by itself from then on. No IR blaster needed.

No account, no sign-in, and no button you have to pay for:

• Power on and off
• Volume and mute
• D-pad, OK, Back and Home
• Play, pause, rewind, fast-forward
• Channel up and down
• Launch your streaming apps
• Typing from your phone's keyboard, with voice input
• Home screen widget and four Quick Settings tiles
• Sleep timer
• Photo Beam — put a photo or video from your phone on the big screen


ONE PURCHASE, IF YOU WANT IT

Zapwick is free with ads. A single purchase removes them for good and adds if supported:

• A volume slider at the top of the remote, on TVs that report their level
• Six pinned app shortcuts instead of three
• TVs saved, switched between instantly
• Your TV setup shared with another phone, by QR code or over Wi-Fi
• Call Hush — pauses the TV when your phone rings, resumes when you hang up
• Volume Fence — a maximum volume the TV can't exceed, even from its own
remote, on TVs that report their level (all LG, some Samsung and Vizio)

No subscription. Zapwick will never have one.


WHAT EACH BRAND ALLOWS

Every manufacturer opens up a different amount, and models differ within a
brand: older sets allow less. Zapwick shows only the buttons your TV can use, so a missing control means your set doesn't offer it.

LG allows the most: trackpad, phone typing, captions, screen-off, input and
channel pickers, sound output switching, number pad, guide and Photo Beam.

Samsung adds phone typing, captions, guide, a number pad and an input key.
Volume level and Photo Beam depend on the set, so Zapwick asks yours.

Roku gives you inputs, a number pad, phone typing and Photo Beam. Roku TVs with
a tuner get a channel list; on a Roku player, volume goes to the TV it feeds.

Fire TV gives you the D-pad, playback, apps and phone typing, and its volume
keys control the TV it's plugged into.

Google TV / Android TV gives you captions, guide, a number pad, phone typing,
app shortcuts, and Photo Beam on sets that accept casting.

DirecTV gives you the D-pad, guide, playback, channel keys and a number pad to
tune by number. It has no volume of its own, so volume goes to your TV. Switch
on External Access in the receiver's Whole-Home settings first.

Vizio gives you inputs, sound output switching and app shortcuts. Its protocol
has no digits and no text channel, so there's no number pad or keyboard.


ADS DONE RIGHT

One full-screen ad per app open at most, ten minutes apart, and never while you're pressing buttons.


A CONNECTION THAT FIXES ITSELF

• Wake your TV and it reconnects while it's still booting
• It keeps retrying instead of sitting on "disconnected"
• If your router gives the TV a new address, Zapwick finds that same TV again
• A button pressed mid-reconnect still lands
• If the TV asks for its code again, you answer it right on the remote


GOOD TO KNOW

• No MAC address to look up: Roku, Vizio and Fire TV switch on from the app;
other TVs wake over Wi-Fi, which some need enabled in their settings.
• Roku owners: if buttons do nothing, Zapwick shows you the setting to change.
• Fire TV shows a PIN on screen the first time, like Amazon's own remote app.

Questions or a TV that won't cooperate? Email [e-mail] — a real person answers.

Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by LG, Samsung, Roku, Amazon, Sony, Vizio, TCL, Hisense, Philips, Walmart, Google or DIRECTV. All trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used only to describe the TVs Zapwick works with.

What’s new

Fixes the power button on LG TVs.

Zapwick had been asking your LG the wrong question for its network address, so it never learned how to switch on a TV that was fully off — the power button could only ever say it wasn't ready. It now asks the right one, and wakes the TV whether it's on Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

If your LG shows its "Allow?" prompt once after this update, that's expected. Accept it and you're set.