How To Use
READYWARE

Go to Settings → Preferences → Edit Mode and toggle it on to unlock. Toggle it off to lock. You can also tap the lock icon in the top toolbar of any remote screen.

READYWARE has three layers, all running on the same canvas:

• The Desktop — your home base. One per profile, always there. Pin your most-used buttons here for one-tap access from anywhere.
• Folders — usually rooms (Living Room, Bedroom, Garage, Office). Group related remotes inside.
• Remotes — the individual devices (TV, AC, fireplace, gate, lights). Each one a fully-designed surface.

All three are canvases. They look the same in Edit Mode and follow the same rules — drag-and-drop, custom wallpapers, custom buttons, custom everything. Learn one, you know all three.

Picture it: your Desktop has folders for Living Room, Bedroom, and Garage. Living Room contains a TV remote, an A/V receiver, a Lights remote, and a Fireplace remote. Tap any of them to use it. Or pin commonly-used buttons (Volume, Power, All Off) directly to your Desktop or to the Living Room folder so they're available without opening any specific remote.

In Edit Mode, tap the + button or long-press on any canvas. Pick one of the starter layouts (TV, A/V receiver, cable box, streaming stick, light switch, gate, blinds, etc.) for a quick head start, or pick Blank if you want full creative control. Either way, the remote exists in seconds.

Same flow for adding a Folder. Tap +, give it a name, drop in your remotes. Most people organize by room, but you can use folders however you like — by activity (Movie Night, Bedtime, Workout), by zone (Upstairs, Downstairs, Outside), or anything else that fits your home.

Every visual element is editable. There's no template you're locked into.

• Wallpaper — solid color, photo, animated GIF, or live video stream (covered in the next section). If video isn't your thing, a clean color background works just as well.
• Buttons — drag anywhere on the canvas. Resize each one independently.
• Shape — rectangle, rounded corner, circle, oval, custom shapes.
• Color & icon — set icon color, text color, background color, border on/off. Pick from the built-in icon library or upload your own.
• Text — label size, weight, color, position above or below the icon.

Make a remote that looks like your actual A/V rack, not a generic grid of buttons.

Big buttons. High-contrast colors. Whatever-size-feels-right text. The "let me find my glasses" moment doesn't have to be a moment — you can size Power and Volume to be easy to hit without looking, and shrink the rarely-used ones to keep the layout clean. The canvas adapts to you, not the other way around.

This is the part most people miss: the Desktop and Folders can have buttons too. Pin All Lights Off, Doorbell Mute, or Goodnight to your top-level Desktop and those actions are always one tap away — no matter which remote you're using or which folder you're in.

Don't have the original remote? Tap any button, run the Smart IR Wizard, pick the brand and model from the 700,000+ signal database, and the codes are programmed. Covered in detail in Smart IR — Auto-Program Buttons below.

Layouts and signals save to the open .irc file format. Back up your entire home setup to a single file. Restore everything on a new phone or tablet in seconds. Switch from a BroadLink to a USB blaster — same buttons, same layouts, same database. You don't lose your work because you switched hardware or upgraded your phone.

Settings → Preferences → Overlay Timeout controls how long before buttons fade out automatically — just like a TV volume bar. Set it to Always On to keep buttons visible permanently, or choose a timer from 3 seconds to 60 seconds. Tap anywhere on the canvas to wake buttons back up instantly.

An IR or RF transmitter — that's it. READYWARE works with WiFi blasters (BroadLink RM4 Mini for IR, RM4 Pro for IR + RF), USB-C IR dongles (Tiqiaa, ElkSmart, Ocrustar, ZaZaRemote, etc.), the built-in IR blaster on phones that have one, the iTach WiFi for Global Caché users, or Bluetooth IR bridges. One app, every transmitter.

For most people, the easiest path is a BroadLink RM4 Mini (IR only) or RM4 Pro (IR + RF) on the same WiFi as your phone — they're cheap, reliable, and learn new signals from any remote. Set up once in Settings → Device Setup. BroadLink makes the hardware, READYWARE makes it tick.

Note on USB IR blasters: The inexpensive USB-C IR dongles (Tiqiaa Tview, ZaZaRemote, Ocrustar EKX4S-T, ElkSmart units, and similar — starting around $7) work great for transmitting IR — point your phone at the TV and fire any signal. But they don't learn signals from your existing remotes. Use a BroadLink RM4 to learn, then play those learned codes through any blaster you like. Or skip learning entirely and use Smart IR with the 700,000+ code database.

Tip when shopping: a few cheaper IR adapters use the phone's headphone jack rather than the USB-C port — those older audio-driven designs follow a different protocol and work best with whatever app the manufacturer ships. For READYWARE, look for a dongle that plugs into the USB-C port and you're set.

🍎 iPhone / iPad note: The first time you add a WiFi device (BroadLink, iTach, etc.), iOS pops up asking "Allow READYWARE to find devices on your local network?" — tap Allow. Most users see this dialog once, tap Allow, and never think about it again — discovery is instant and you're firing IR/RF in seconds. If you accidentally tapped Don't Allow, turn it back on in Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network → READYWARE. Rare iOS edge case: if discovery still doesn't work after granting permission, see iPhone troubleshooting in the FAQ.

In Edit Mode, tap the + button on the desktop → Folder. Name it, pick an icon and color. Drag remotes into it by long-pressing them and selecting Move to Folder.

Each folder supports its own live wallpaper, independent of the desktop wallpaper. Open the folder in Edit Mode and set a video stream or image. When you open that folder, its wallpaper loads automatically.

Folders support buttons too — not just remotes. Add a macro button to a folder that sets the room's lights, fires IR commands, and changes the wallpaper all in one tap.

READYWARE is built to feel right on every screen size, including the largest one in the room. There are three ways to get it on your TV, and you can use any of them — or all of them — depending on your setup.

📺 Install the app directly. READYWARE runs natively on Android TV and Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV, Sony Bravia, Hisense, Sharp, Philips), Amazon Fire TV / Fire Stick (via the Amazon Appstore), and NVIDIA Shield. Same app, same layouts, same Smart IR database — sized for the screen.

🌐 Use any browser. If your TV runs Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Roku, or you have an Apple TV with a Mac mini routed in, just open the Web Viewer in any browser. Same experience, no install. Pair the device's keyboard, mouse, or pointer for full point-and-click.

📱 Cast from your phone. Chromecast or screen-mirror your phone's READYWARE canvas to the TV. The fastest path if you'd rather not install anything new.

However it gets there, the experience is the same. Add a pointer device — an air mouse, a gyroscopic clicker, or your phone or tablet acting as a wireless pointer — and you're navigating graphical buttons floating over your live wallpaper from across the room. One pointer, one screen, every device in the room — instead of a pile of remotes on the coffee table.

A favorite setup: stream the video source itself as the wallpaper. Your security camera feed, the YouTube video you're watching, your Plex library, your Home Assistant dashboard — whatever's on screen is also what you're controlling. Watch the show, control the show, on the same screen, with the same pointer. No looking down. No second remote.

Many paths, one outcome. The TV experience never replaces your phone or tablet — it joins them. Use the phone in your hand. Use the tablet on the coffee table. Use the TV from across the room. Use all three at the same time, all controlling the same gear. There's always more than one way to do anything in READYWARE — pick whichever feels right at the moment, switch to another whenever you want.

The Remote Web Viewer gives anyone a browser-based version of your remote — real wallpapers, real icons, real buttons — accessible from any phone, tablet, or computer anywhere on the planet. Here's the full setup:

This is bigger than it sounds. The Web Remote doesn't just work on phones. It works on everything with a browser — and it fires real IR and RF signals through the hardware on your home network in real time.

• 💻
  Windows PC or laptop — open the link in any browser. Click a button. IR fires across the room. No Android emulator. No driver. No install. Your Windows machine just became an IR and RF blaster.
• 🍎
  Mac — same. Safari, Chrome, Firefox, any of them.
• 📺
  Smart TV with a browser — open the link on your TV's built-in browser. Use the TV remote's pointer to click buttons. Your TV is now controlling your other devices.
• 🖥️
  Wall-mounted touchscreen — any screen with a browser becomes a dedicated room control panel. No app, no setup beyond the link.
• 🌍
  Anyone, anywhere — share the link with family. They open it on whatever device they have and control your home from across the house or across the world.

The IR and RF signals still fire through the hardware on your home network. READYWARE on your phone or tablet bridges the browser command to the blaster in real time. Sub-second response.

Add each device in Settings → Device Setup and give them clear names. Then assign any button to any device: long-press a button → Edit → IR/RF Code tab → IR Device. Pick the one you want. That button fires through that blaster. Everything else stays on the default device.

One button can fire multiple IR commands in sequence, change wallpapers, launch apps, and more. Edit any button → Macro tab. Add steps. Set delays between them. Perfect for "watch TV" sequences that turn on the TV, switch input, and dim the lights in one tap.

Settings → Advanced → Save Profile saves your entire setup as a .ircprofile file — every remote, every button, every signal, every wallpaper. Restore it on any device, share it with anyone. Your setup is yours forever.