How to Control TV and Other Devices With an Android Smartphone

Are you surrounded by a lot of electronic equipment (at your home or office)? If yes, chances are most equipment have separate remotes to control each one of them. And, chances are one may lose any of these remotes given the nature of our jobs these days.

No matter what, the thought of having a single remote to control multiple devices had crossed all of our minds at some point in time. And, IR blaster is nothing but the execution of this very idea.

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Moreover, IR blaster is one of the specs that’s become more of a standard these days irrespective of the price point the smartphone falls in. So, we’ve decided to explain what IR is all about and how to use it to control TV and other electronic devices.

What is IR blaster?

IR blaster (or an Infrared blaster) is a device that uses infrared to transmit instructions to different devices. Most electronic equipment like TVs, Air Conditioners, Smartphones, Media players, etc. come with an inbuilt IR blaster unit, which allows one to control them with a single remote.

As far as the working is concerned, the infrared light emitted by the IR blaster contains a particular code (more like a pattern) for different devices so that the device receiving the signal can recognize the pattern and function accordingly.

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How to use it to control other devices?

Most smartphones that come integrated with an IR blaster have a dedicated app to control other devices. There are a good number of third-party apps available in the Play Store as well. One can always download these apps, which serve the same purpose. You might want to install multiple apps to find out the one that best suits your device. Here are some of the apps you can try.

1. AnyMote Universal Remote
2. Smart IR Remote
3. Peel Smart Remote
4. Unified Remote

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Getting started with these apps

After installing one of the aforementioned apps, choose among various brands of the device you want to control, point the IR blaster (smartphone in this case) to the device you intend to control (just like you’d do if you are operating with a dedicated remote control) and press the keys present on your smartphone’s screen accordingly to perform different functions.

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