A New Remote App Is Coming ⇥ buzzfeed.com

The tvOS 9.1 update released yesterday added support for the iOS Remote app. Joe Rosensteel:

For me, the Apple TV was recognized by the Remote app on my iPhone 6 and I was able to use direction, menu, play/pause, and — most important of all — the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. This does not cover the full range of features that the Siri Remote can handle, and there are interface bits that the 4th generation Apple TV does not support (the options element does nothing).

Nice. But:

There was no update at all to the Remote app. Not even for branding. As Robb Lewis pointed out on Twitter, this is rather absurd and unhelpful. Instructions for pairing are different for the fourth generation, and the icon the iTunes is even 3 years-old. […]

Also, since it’s not an updated Remote app, there are several things it can’t do that your Siri Remote can do:

• Use Siri to do searches or control the TV.

John Paczkowski reports for Buzzfeed:

“We’re working on a new Apple TV remote app that will give you the full functionality of the Siri Remote on your iPhone,” [Eddy] Cue said. “We’re hoping to ship that in the first half of next year.”

Good stuff. Here’s hoping for dictation on the Apple TV’s keyboard soon, too.