Skip to main content

Google’s new Android TV remote will live in Quick Settings on Android, Home app on iOS

After years of neglecting the feature in its older app, Google announced this week that it will finally replace the old Android TV remote app experience, and now, we’ve got a few more details on how that will work for Android phones and iOS devices too.

Starting with Android, there will be two ways that this new Android TV remote will work from your phone. As Google announced yesterday, it will be “built into Android” itself. There’s been a fair bit of confusion around the specifics, though, but we’ve been able to get clarification directly from Google itself.

When this new Android TV/Google TV remote rolls out to Android, it’ll be baked into the Quick Settings menu on both Android 11 and Android 12 devices. The company couldn’t clarify what powers that tile, though.

Older Android devices/versions won’t be completely left out from this new experience, though. For those devices, the company says that the Google TV app (Play Movies) will feature the remote, as we reported a couple of months ago. Presumably, both of these options will be using a similar pairing method to what’s available already on Android TV and Google TV devices.

On the iOS side of things, we’ve got even better news to share. Since the Google TV app isn’t available on Apple’s platform, the revamped Android TV remote will instead be baked into the Google Home app. So, while this is all a little messy, in the end, everyone is getting their hands on a new phone-based remote for Google TV and Android TV regardless of their platform of choice.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel