I am both happy and thankful to welcome Evgeny Cherpak as our sponsor here at TMO this week. As a solo developer, Evgeny has created a series of apps aimed at making your life easier by remote controlling your Mac in purpose-built ways, and this week we’re talking about Remote for Mac.Remote for Mac turns your iPhone or iPad into a very full-featured, easy-to-use remote control for your Mac. Not to be confused with screen-sharing, Remote is built for when you’re looking at your Mac’s screen either directory or via AirPlay but don’t want to use your typical keyboard and mouse to control it.

Remote Media Controls, Touch Keyboard and Trackpad

Think of a scenario where you’re watching a movie or listening to music and want to change the volume. Instead of getting up to go and control your Mac you’ve got controls right there. Use a Mac mini as your media server and playback device? Remote Control is perfect for you.

When you need to type in “Stranger Things” into Netflix’s search bar, Remote is there for you, too. Just bring up the touch keyboard and trackpad and you’re off and running.

AirPlay Your Way

Or – and this is where it gets really cool – if you’re AirPlaying from your Mac to your Apple TV, you’ll need a way to launch the right apps, control playback, and all that. It’s awfully nice to be able to do that from the couch. In fact, this is the use case that really made me grok just what I was missing.

I have Apple TVs on both of our TVs in the house, but one of them is an older Apple TV that I can’t install apps onto. This means that in order to play things from my Plex library I have to AirPlay from my Mac that sits in another room. Well, with Remote for Mac on my iPhone, I can control everything I need in a very fluid, natural manner.

The coolest part to me? Remote Control lets you start AirPlay on your Mac right from your iPhone, so I don’t even have to get up off the couch to begin the process. And because it has purpose-built controls for things like Plex, Netflix, iTunes, and more, I don’t have to get up and go to my Mac at all. I installed the helper app on my Mac exactly once, and after that it’s just running and ready to respond to my wishes.

You can launch apps, control system functions, and even toggle AirPlay on your Mac right from your iPhone

Comfortable Control from the Couch

This setup gives me full control of my Mac in the palm of my hand from anywhere in my house. I sit down on the couch in the Playroom, launch Remote Control on my iPhone and, boom, I can have my Mac – two stories away – showing me whatever I want on my TV.

Go download Remote for Mac and, while you’re at it, put the free companion app on your Mac, too. That’ll save you a step during the setup process later.

I think you’re going to like this as much as I do, and I hope you’ll join me in thanking Evgeny for sponsoring TMO by checking out Remote for Mac.

If you are interested in sponsoring TMO, please email us and we’ll get you more details.