tvOS · trackpad remote, now playing, seek
Apple TV remote app: trackpad control and Now Playing on your tablet
The Apple TV is the device people most often lose the remote for, and the one where a phone remote usually feels worst. MediaPond takes the trackpad seriously, streaming swipes to the device as your finger moves, so scrolling a long row feels closer to the real thing than to a series of jumps.*
How MediaPond pairs with an Apple TV
You pair once. The Apple TV shows a code on screen, you type it into MediaPond, and the two hold a credential from then on, so no Apple ID goes into MediaPond and the connection stays local between your phone and the box.
That pairing also unlocks the metadata side, because once it is trusted the Apple TV tells MediaPond what is playing, what the artwork is, and roughly where the playhead sits.
A trackpad that behaves like a trackpad
Drag on the tablet and the selection on screen moves with your finger, continuously, including the flick and release you use to cross a long shelf of titles. The button set sits around it, with menu, home, play and pause, and the Control Center press for switching between profiles.
On a tablet that is arguably better than the hardware remote, because the buttons are labelled and nothing is upside down in the dark.
Now Playing that keeps up
The Apple TV pushes playback changes to MediaPond as they happen, so the room dock shows the current title, artwork, progress and state without you opening anything. Scrub the progress bar and the Apple TV seeks, press pause here and it pauses there.
Volume goes to the television or to the room’s speakers, so one pair of buttons keeps doing the obvious thing whether the sound is coming from the panel or from a soundbar.
At a glance
What Apple TV supports
- A touch trackpad with continuous swipe streaming, plus the full button set
- Play, pause, skip and seek, driven from the Now Playing dock
- Live title, artwork, progress and playback state
- App launch on the Apple TV, and deep links into a title where the app accepts them
- Volume and mute through the television or the room’s speakers
- A Control Center press for switching between Apple TV profiles
- Keyboard text entry instead of the on-screen letter grid
Support covers the Apple TV models and firmware families MediaPond currently works with, under typical home network conditions. Manufacturers can change, restrict or discontinue the interfaces these features rely on, so what a particular unit accepts can change over time.
Does this work from an Android tablet?
Yes. MediaPond speaks the Apple TV’s own local protocols, so an Android phone or tablet gets the same trackpad, transport and Now Playing as an iPad does.
Do I need to sign in with an Apple ID?
No. Pairing is a one-time code shown on the television, and MediaPond neither asks for an Apple ID nor sends Apple TV traffic through a server of ours.
Can it turn the TV on when I start something on the Apple TV?
That is the room’s job. Where the television is supported, MediaPond powers it on and moves it to the Apple TV’s input before starting the title, so you get a picture rather than a black screen with sound.
Also worth reading
- Android TV & Google TVShield, Chromecast · deep links, now playing, cold starts
- RokuRoku OS · remote, channel launch, volume, power
- PlexYour server, browsed and launched by room
Devices and services MediaPond supports · How a room comes up · Questions and answers
Not every device or streaming app supports direct launching. MediaPond makes a good-faith, best-effort attempt to open content in the right app, and falls back to opening the app itself where a direct link is not available. Availability varies by device, app, region, and your subscriptions.
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