In 2017, through technology, we have been able to accomplish things that were previously thought impossible. However, the common inconvenience of losing your TV remote has, to this day, gone unremedied by modern technology. It’s something that one of the best universal remotes might alleviate, however.

It’s something that we’ve all experienced, wasting an entire afternoon trying to locate a remote control that somehow inexplicably found its way inside the space between your couch cushions. Anybody with a decent home AV setup, meanwhile, still has to deal with dozens of remotes scattered throughout their living rooms.

The only real solutions on the market are the best universal remotes. They are not just an ideal replacement for a lost remote, but they can also help you keep your living room less cluttered and more organized. So, let’s dive into exactly what today’s best universal remotes are capable of, and how they work.

What is a universal remote?

The core concept of a universal remote is pretty straightforward. It’s a remote control that can replicate the signals sent by the remote that was packaged with your home audio receiver, television or whichever other devices you own that use an infrared signal.

But why should you buy one? Well, either you’ve misplaced an original remote, and don’t want to pay the often exorbitant price of a manufacturer replacement. Or, perhaps you are looking to have less remote controls because you want a less cluttered, and more organized living room. 

Pretty much every universal remote uses infrared, or, IR. Which is the same signal used by manufacturer remotes.

Cheap vs expensive

If you’re considering shopping for a cheap universal remote, such as the One For All Essence (only available in the UK), you’ll use a pattern of button presses to program the remote, selecting the right set of instructions for your hardware. Manufacturers like Panasonic and Sony have only used a couple different patterns of instructions over the last decade or so for most of their TVs. You can just cycle through them until you find the set of instructions that lets you operate the TV in question.  

Many mid-tier universal remotes boast companion apps and large databases that let you just select the TV or receiver you have on your mobile device. It’s quicker, easier and less of a hassle to add new devices, in case your AV setup ever changes.

Generally speaking, the more devices you’re looking for your universal remote to support, the more money you’ll be spending. Logitech’s Harmony Elite is compatible with up to 15 devices with just the one remote, while low-end models, like the One for All Simple, only support one. Just like most things in the tech world, it just comes down to that classic use-case question: are you replacing a lost remote or do you just want to use just one remote instead of a half dozen unique ones? 

When you start getting to the High end of the spectrum, you’ll start seeing remotes that allow you to set up custom macros, or ‘activities’. These ‘activities’ will let you make a single button or touch screen press send off several commands. 

One remote, called ‘Watch TV,’ for example, may turn on your cable box, audio receiver and TV, change the receiver to the right channel and switch your TV to the right HDMI input. Another classic is to turn all of your equipment off with a single press of a button.

Who makes universal remotes?

There are two main players in the universal remote control game, and they’re the ones we’ve listed out thus far. Logitech makes all the best high-end remotes, in the shape of its Harmony models, while One for All is the best brand for more inexpensive remotes. 

In the US, you’ll also see a plethora of low-price remote controls from RCA. And if you’re buying for an elderly relative, or want a super-simple remote that only covers the TV basics, the Doro HandleEasy only allows you to change volume and channels; it’s been around for years, but it’s a great lo-fi gadget.   

 Phones that are universal remotes

Some phones will also function as universal remotes, although perhaps not the models you may think. They need to have a feature called an IR blaster, which enables them to transmit the same signals as a normal remote control.

These used to be somewhat common, but have become quite rare, with the feature regarded as unloved and generally useless in the phones that had it. Current phones with an IR blaster include the Honor 9 and Huawei P10 Plus. Some Xiaomi phones have one too. The common thread? These are Chinese companies. 

The last high-profile phone to have an IR blaster was the LG G5, while the last flagship Samsungs with IR were the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge back in 2015. These phones have apps that enable you to configure your own setup, with on-screen buttons for (almost) all your remotes’ functions. 

We actually know people who owned phones with IR blasters a few years ago, but who ended up spending a significant amount of cash on a universal remote, oblivious to their phone’s abilities.

Have a phone with an IR blaster? You might want to check out a third-party remote control app like Peel or Sure, as these have a smarter interface than most built-in apps.

Controlling consoles and smart homes

A weakness that the vast majority of universal remotes share is that they can’t control most smart home devices, or Sony’s PS3 and PS4. This is because they use either Bluetooth, RF or Wi-Fi instead of IR. The answer is a hub that supports these other standards, and right now you have two major options. 

Logitech offers the best, and the most popular one. The Logitech Home Hub is compatible with Microsoft and Sony game consoles, and a wide range of smart home gadgets including Philips Hue lights. It connects to your home Wi-Fi network, and can be controlled either by a mobile app or one of Logitech’s higher-end remotes.  

Using one of the Harmony series’ tasty macro activities, you could therefore set the lighting level for movie night, as well as turning on your AV setup, with a single press. 

Elsewhere, the Broadlink RM and RM Pro are hubs that can control IR and RF (Pro model) devices through a mobile phone app. They’re significantly cheaper than the Logitech Home Hub, although as they don’t use Bluetooth you can’t use them to control a Sony PS4. 

It is a low-cost way to make up for the lack of an IR blaster, though. 

Voice control

One additional benefit of the Logitech Home Hub system is that you can already control it through Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa.

If you have an Amazon Echo or Echo Dot you can add a Harmony ‘skill’ to it, and using this you can say “Alexa, tell Harmony to turn on the TV”, and it’ll do so. We’ve tried it out as part of our research for this guide, and it works rather well. 

One day we’ll be able to control everything over Wi-Fi, but until that day it’s reassuring to see that universal remotes aren’t content to become ‘retro’ gadgets; they’re keeping up with the times.

Logitech Harmony at a glance

As the Logitech Harmony series is easily the most important range of universal remotes for people looking for an experience to suit a high-end setup, let’s take a quick look at what’s on offer. 

The Harmony family has two main lines – there are newer remotes that work with the Harmony Hub, and older pure IR remotes that don’t.

The newer kind includes the Elite, Ultimate, Touch, Ultimate One and 950 models, all of which have screens. Logitech’s Companion remote supports the hub but doesn’t have a display, making it a little more affordable. 

Those after something even less pocket-draining should check out the Harmony 650, which has a display but no Hub support, and the Harmony 350, a basic £35/$38 remote that’s a classic universal remote but can still combine the functions of eight remotes.