Zapp / Roku
Roku TV remote app for iPhone
Lost your Roku remote? Control a Roku TV or player from your iPhone over Wi-Fi, with your TV’s real app icons and real HDMI input names. No subscription.
One payment of $9.99. Never a subscription.
iPhone and iPad · iOS 17 or later
How it connects
Roku publishes an open control protocol on your local network, so Zapp talks to it directly. It is the least fussy of the five: usually there is nothing to set up at all.
What you have to do once
- Put the iPhone and the Roku on the same Wi-Fi network.
- Open Zapp. The Roku normally appears on its own.
- If it does not respond: on the Roku, Settings → System → Advanced system settings → Control by mobile apps → set to Default or Permissive.
Which Roku TVs it works with
Roku streaming players and sticks, and Roku TVs — televisions from TCL, Hisense and other makers that run Roku’s own software. If the home screen is Roku’s grid of channel tiles, it’s a Roku.
Free and Pro on Roku
| Feature | Included |
|---|---|
| The full button remote, in the Roku layout — including the shortcut keys | Free |
| Your TV’s real app icons, pulled from the device itself | Pro, $9.99 once |
| The real input list — "HDMI 1 — Game Console", as the TV names it | Free |
| A keyboard for Roku search | Pro, $9.99 once |
| Waking the Roku from network standby | Pro, $9.99 once |
| Voice search: say what you want to watch, and Roku’s own search opens with your words | Pro, $9.99 once |
| Your iPhone’s side volume buttons turn the TV up and down while the remote is open, where the Roku can drive the volume | Pro, $9.99 once |
| Roku TVs get power and volume; a Roku player only gets them if it reports that it can drive the panel, and Zapp hides the keys when it cannot | Free |
Pro is one payment, never a subscription. What Pro unlocks on every brand.
Beyond the remote screen
Free on Roku, as on every TV: a Home Screen widget for this TV, Control Center and Action Button controls (iOS 18), the remote on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island while it’s open, Siri for pause, mute, volume and turning the TV off, and the Apple Watch app with the Digital Crown as the volume knob. With Pro, Siri can turn the Roku on from standby too.
If the Roku isn’t found or won’t respond
- Check the iPhone and the TV are on the same Wi-Fi network, not a guest network, and that no VPN is running on the phone.
- On the iPhone, Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network: make sure Zapp is switched on. Without it no app can see the TV.
- On the Roku: Settings → System → Advanced system settings → Control by mobile apps → Network access, and choose Default or Permissive. If it’s Disabled, no phone app can control it; if it’s Limited, Zapp tells you so, and some keys won’t work until you change it.
- Still nothing? Unplug the Roku for ten seconds, then add it in Zapp by IP address (Settings → Network → About).
What it will not do
- A Roku streaming player cannot control the television’s own volume unless the TV supports HDMI-CEC and the player reports it.
Saying this plainly is the point: a remote app that promises what it cannot deliver wastes your evening and earns a refund. If the answer above is no, it is genuinely no.
Questions
Can I use my iPhone as a Roku TV remote?
Yes, as long as the iPhone and the Roku are on the same Wi-Fi network. Put the iPhone and the Roku on the same Wi-Fi network. Open Zapp. The Roku normally appears on its own. If it does not respond: on the Roku, Settings → System → Advanced system settings → Control by mobile apps → set to Default or Permissive. After that the whole button remote is free.
Does it work without Wi-Fi?
No. Zapp talks to the Roku over your home network, and an iPhone has no infrared, so no iPhone app can control a TV without one. With no router, a second phone’s hotspot that both the TV and your iPhone join can stand in, if that hotspot lets devices on it see each other.
Is there a subscription?
No. The whole button remote is free on every TV you own. On Roku, one optional payment of $9.99 adds: your TV’s real app icons, pulled from the device itself; a keyboard for Roku search; waking the Roku from network standby; voice search: say what you want to watch, and Roku’s own search opens with your words; your iPhone’s side volume buttons turn the TV up and down while the remote is open, where the Roku can drive the volume.
What does Zapp not do on Roku?
A Roku streaming player cannot control the television’s own volume unless the TV supports HDMI-CEC and the player reports it.