{"id":23,"date":"2026-10-23T00:08:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T03:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remotapp.com\/blog\/phones-with-ir-blaster\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T00:08:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T03:08:36","slug":"phones-with-ir-blaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remotapp.com\/blog\/phones-with-ir-blaster\/","title":{"rendered":"Phones With an IR Blaster: Can Your Phone Control Any TV?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Phones used to come with infrared emitters as standard. Today they are rare, but they still matter: an IR blaster is the only way for a phone to control a TV that isn\u2019t connected to Wi-Fi. Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/p>\n<h2>What an IR blaster is<\/h2>\n<p>A physical TV remote sends invisible infrared light pulses. An IR blaster is a tiny emitter, usually a small dark window on the top edge of the phone, that sends the same pulses. With the right app and code set, the TV can\u2019t tell the difference between the phone and the original remote.<\/p>\n<h2>Which phones have one<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO:<\/strong> most models, including many budget ones. They come with the Mi Remote app.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Huawei and Honor:<\/strong> some models, especially older flagships.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other brands:<\/strong> occasionally on specific models; check the spec sheet.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Samsung:<\/strong> the Galaxy S4, S5 and S6 had IR; it was removed starting with the S7.<\/li>\n<li><strong>iPhone:<\/strong> never.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>How to check your phone<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Look at the top edge for a small, dark, glossy window.<\/li>\n<li>Search your exact model name plus \u201cIR blaster\u201d or \u201cinfrared\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Install an IR remote app. If there is no emitter, it will say so.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>IR vs Wi-Fi: when you need which<\/h2>\n<div class=\"table-wrap\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th><\/th>\n<th>Infrared<\/th>\n<th>Wi-Fi<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Phones<\/td>\n<td>Only phones with an IR blaster<\/td>\n<td>Any iPhone or Android<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>TVs<\/td>\n<td>Any TV with an infrared remote, including old ones<\/td>\n<td>Smart TVs on the network<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Line of sight<\/td>\n<td>Required<\/td>\n<td>Not required<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Setup<\/td>\n<td>Pick brand and test code sets<\/td>\n<td>Automatic discovery and pairing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Typing and apps<\/td>\n<td>No<\/td>\n<td>Keyboard, app launcher on supported TVs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other devices<\/td>\n<td>AC, fans, set-top boxes, projectors<\/td>\n<td>TVs and streaming devices<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<h2>No IR blaster? Your options<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Smart TV:<\/strong> use a Wi-Fi remote app such as <a href=\"https:\/\/remotapp.com\/\">RemotApp<\/a>, which works on any iPhone or Android with Samsung, LG, Roku and Google TV.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Old TV:<\/strong> a physical universal remote is the simplest answer. See <a href=\"\/blog\/universal-remote-vs-phone-app\/\">universal remote vs phone app<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>External adapter:<\/strong> small IR dongles that plug into the phone\u2019s port exist, though app support varies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Infrared support for Android phones with an IR blaster is on RemotApp\u2019s roadmap, so a single app can cover both smart and older TVs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An IR blaster is a small infrared emitter, usually on the top edge of the phone, that copies the signal of a physical remote. Today it is found mainly on Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO phones and on some Huawei and Honor models. iPhones have never had one, and Samsung dropped it after the Galaxy S6. You only need IR for TVs without Wi-Fi; smart TVs can be controlled over Wi-Fi from any phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-remote-apps"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Phones With IR Blaster in 2026: Use Your Phone as a TV Remote | RemotApp<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Which phones still have an infrared blaster, how to check yours, and when you need IR instead of Wi-Fi to control a TV, AC or set-top box from your phone.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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