Zapster Universal TV Remote
Turn your iPhone into a remote for Roku, Samsung, LG webOS and Vizio SmartCast - d-pad, touchpad, keyboard, app launcher, widgets and Siri. All local, no account.
Zapster replaces the remote you can never find - and it never asks for an account. It finds your TV on your own Wi-Fi, pairs once, and then gives you a real remote: a d-pad with a big OK button, media keys, a volume slider, a number pad and a keyboard that types straight into the TV's search field. Everything happens on your local network; there is no backend and nothing to sign in to.
Works with the TVs you own
- Roku and Roku TV (TCL, Hisense, Sharp, Philips and others) over the Roku ECP protocol - no pairing needed.
- Samsung Smart TV (Tizen, 2016 and newer) - accept one prompt on the TV and the token is saved on your iPhone.
- LG webOS - accept one pairing request, including the pointer socket for smooth d-pad control.
- Vizio SmartCast - pair once with the 4-digit PIN the TV shows.
- Android TV and Fire TV are listed when found, and labelled "Pairing coming soon" - control for them is not available yet.
A real remote, not a toy
- D-pad with a big OK button, plus Back, Home, Menu, Info and Exit.
- Touchpad mode - swipe to move the TV cursor, tap to select.
- Volume slider with live mute state, plus volume and channel rockers.
- Play/pause, rewind and fast-forward.
- Number pad for channels, and a keyboard that types straight into the TV's search field.
- Haptic feedback on every press and an optional keep-screen-awake mode.
App launcher
- The app asks your TV which apps it has installed and shows them as a grid.
- One tap opens Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, Max, Apple TV and whatever else your TV has.
- Real artwork where the TV serves it, brand colours and initials everywhere else.
Finds your TV by itself
- Scans your Wi-Fi with SSDP and Bonjour, showing brand, model name and IP address.
- Add any TV by IP address if your router hides it.
- Auto-reconnects to the last TV you used, with retry and a clear connection banner.
- Favourites, renaming and one-tap forget - which also clears the pairing token.
Wake a sleeping TV
- Store the TV's MAC address and the power button sends a Wake-on-LAN magic packet.
- Samsung and Roku hand over their MAC automatically on the first connection.
Home Screen widgets & Siri
- Small widget: power, mute, volume down, volume up - without opening the app.
- Medium widget: the same controls plus one-tap tiles for your favourite TV apps.
- Pick the TV and the app tiles in the in-app Widget Setup screen, with live previews.
- Siri and Shortcuts: turn the TV off, mute it, turn the volume up or down, and a Launch App action you can put in any automation.
Private by design
- Everything happens on your local Wi-Fi. There is no backend, no account and no sign-in.
- Saved TVs, their names, IP and MAC addresses and their pairing tokens are stored only on your iPhone and never leave it.
- No analytics SDK, no advertising, no tracking, no third-party SDKs. The App Store privacy label is "Data Not Collected".
- iOS asks for Local Network permission on the first scan; discovery does not work without it.
- Available in 14 languages.
Free and Premium
The free version includes every TV brand, discovery, the full remote, the app launcher and 30 key presses a day. Premium unlocks unlimited key presses, the Home Screen widgets and the Siri shortcuts. It is available as a weekly subscription at $4.99 with a 3-day free trial, a yearly subscription at $24.99, or a one-time lifetime purchase at $29.99. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and are managed in your App Store account settings.
Please note: Zapster controls TVs over your local network and needs your iPhone and your TV to be on the same Wi-Fi. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Roku, Samsung, LG, Vizio, Amazon or Google, and which features work depends on what your particular TV model exposes.
Legal & support
