Health, home and travel decision
TV Controller
A capable developer can build a basic local‑network universal remote, but reproducing the full multi‑brand reliability, App Store polish, and ongoing compatibility maintenance of the paid product is significant and would take multi‑week effort and continuous upkeep.
View on the App Store↗$6.99/mo
$84/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off60 h to build
$0/mo6 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
No open-source build does this yet
Nothing published replaces this one, so a replacement starts from an empty file. Here is what it would have to cover.
What a replacement has to do
- Discover TVs on the local Wi‑Fi and send remote-control commands; provide touchpad navigation and on‑screen keyboard; implement quick app-launch buttons and favorites; implement Google Cast media casting; handle App Store in‑app purchases/subscriptions.
What it still won’t have
- Polished cross‑brand reliability and frequent bug fixes tuned to many TV models
- App Store distribution conveniences (automatic updates, in‑App Purchase handling without running your own payment backend)
- Branded themes, analytics/telemetry, and ongoing compatibility tweaks for new TV firmware
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 2 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build an iOS SwiftUI app (iOS 15+) with local network discovery (mDNS/SSDP), protocol adapters for Roku (HTTP ECP) and generic Samsung/LG/Fire TV/Android TV command endpoints, a touchpad navigation view that translates gestures to D‑pad events, an on‑screen keyboard sending text to devices, Google Cast sender integration for casting photos/videos from the device photo library, favorites/quick‑app buttons persisted in CoreData, and App Store in‑app purchase/subscription integration (StoreKit) with restore flow. Out of scope: backend servers, cloud sync, or training ML models. Include error handling for missing devices, connection timeouts, and user prompts for network permissions; include unit tests for discovery and command layers and UI snapshot tests for main screens.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- 2 cited sources+1
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score60
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 2
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productUniversal - TV Remote Control (App Store)
- official productTreasureScan:Product Info&Coin (App Store)
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
