Clickwork: Android TV Remote

A TV remote that clicks back. Keys that travel under your thumb, buttons that change with what's on, shortcuts that learn your apps, and a Power key that wakes the TV.

Clickwork is a remote for Android TV and Google TV, made to feel like a good physical one. Keys travel when you press them. You hear the click and feel it in your hand. The D-pad rocks toward the arrow under your thumb.

Most phone remotes are a grid of flat buttons. We spent our time on the part you touch.

THE FEEL Every key is a small block with a side wall. Press it and it sinks, let go and it springs back, even on a quick tap. Each finish has its own sound and haptic. Tilt your phone and the light slides across the keys.

PICK YOUR FINISH Black is soft matte rubber. White is brushed aluminium with crisp plastic keys. Retropad is an old console pad: a black cross and red buttons in white wells. Switch whenever you like.

PAIRED IN SECONDS Clickwork finds your TV on your Wi-Fi. When the TV shows its pairing code, point your camera at the screen and it reads the code for you. You can also type it. With only one TV on the network, it skips the list and opens the camera.

IT KNOWS WHAT'S ON Open YouTube or Netflix and play, pause and skip take the D-pad's place. Switch to live TV or an HDMI input and you get channel buttons, a number pad, Guide and Input. Go back to the home screen and the D-pad returns. A small chip shows which app the TV is in; tap it to keep a layout.

SHORTCUTS THAT LEARN Watch the same app a couple of times and Clickwork offers a one-tap button for it. Make your own as well: an app, a link, a single key, or a sequence of presses like "Input, down, OK". Long-press a shortcut to change or delete it.

LESS TYPING When the TV wants text, type it on your phone instead of picking letters with arrows. In YouTube, what you type becomes a search. Or say it: "search lo-fi beats on YouTube", "HDMI 1", "pause". Your voice is turned into text on your iPhone, and the audio never leaves it. Voice needs iOS 26.

WAKES YOUR TV Many Android TVs stop listening a few seconds after you switch them off, so most phone remotes can't turn them back on. Clickwork wakes the TV over Wi-Fi, screen included, on TVs that allow it. Power works both ways.

ONE-HANDED It's laid out for your thumb. When your shortcuts run below it, drag the remote up by its body and they come to you.

WITHOUT OPENING THE APP Home Screen widgets for power, play/pause, volume and your shortcuts. Control Center buttons on iOS 18 and later. And Siri: "Press Home on Clickwork", "Open YouTube with Clickwork".

PRICE Seven days free with everything on. After that, one payment unlocks Clickwork for good. No subscription, no ads, no account.

WORKS WITH Android TV and Google TV: TVs from Sony, TCL, Philips, Hisense and others, Chromecast with Google TV, NVIDIA Shield and other Android TV boxes. Your iPhone and TV need to be on the same Wi-Fi. It does not work with Samsung, LG, Roku, Fire TV or Apple TV.

A few small things we enjoyed making: the remote arrives in a box you tear open, the IR window blinks green with every press, and if you knock on the remote enough times, well, try it.

Android TV, Google TV and YouTube are trademarks of Google LLC. Clickwork is not affiliated with Google.