Clicker

An Apple TV remote that lives in your Mac's menu bar.

A small native app with the Siri Remote's buttons, plus typing, app launching and keyboard control. It talks to the Apple TV directly over your network, with no accounts, helper apps or cloud service.

Requires macOS 15 or later.

Install

1. Download Clicker-X.Y.Z.dmg from the latest release.
2. Open it and drag Clicker to your Applications folder.
3. Open Clicker. Its icon appears in the menu bar and the remote opens under it the first time; there is no Dock icon or window.

Or install it with Homebrew:

brew install --cask jakejarvis/tap/clicker

The first time it runs, macOS asks whether Clicker may find devices on your local network. Allow it, or Clicker can't see your Apple TV.

Clicker is signed with a Developer ID, notarized by Apple, and keeps itself up to date (see Updates).

Pair with your Apple TV

You only do this once per Apple TV.

1. Make sure your Mac and Apple TV are on the same network, and that the Apple TV is awake.
2. Click Clicker in the menu bar. If you have more than one Apple TV, pick one from the list at the top.
3. Click Pair…. A four-digit code appears on your TV.
4. Type the code. Clicker connects as soon as you enter the last digit.

That's it. From now on Clicker connects on its own whenever you open it.

If the Apple TV won't pair, check Settings › Remotes and Devices › Remote App and Devices on the TV.

Using the remote

• Clickpad: click the arrows to move around and the center to select. Scroll with two fingers over it to swipe, just like the touch surface on the Siri Remote. If swipes move the wrong way for you, set Swipe Direction to Inverted in Settings.
• Siri: hold the button down (or hold S), just like the real remote.
• Volume and Mute (the bar along the bottom) control your TV or receiver if the Apple TV does (through HDMI-CEC or an IR remote it learned).
• Apps (top-left corner of the clickpad): search your Apple TV's apps and open one. Star an app (hover a row, or right-click it) to pin it to a Favorites group at the top; the ones you opened most recently come next.
• Power (top-right corner): Wake, Sleep, Screen Saver, Control Center and Guide.
• Typing: when a search box or password field is showing on the TV, a text field appears at the bottom of the panel. Type there and the text shows up on your TV. The keyboard button in the bottom corner hides it or brings it back.
• Switching TVs: click the Apple TV's name at the top of the panel.

Keyboard shortcuts

While the panel is open you can leave the mouse alone:

Key	Does
Arrow keys	Move
Return	Select
Delete	Back
Space or P	Play/Pause
H or T	TV (Home)
S (hold)	Siri
M	Mute
+ and −	Volume up and down
⌘,	Settings
Esc	Close the panel

Hold an arrow key to keep moving, as you would hold the clickpad on the Siri Remote. Hover over any button to see its shortcut.

Settings

Open Settings from the ••• menu in the bottom corner of the panel, by right-clicking the menu bar icon, or with ⌘,. There you can:

• change the name your Apple TV shows for this Mac under Remotes and Devices,
• start Clicker when you log in,
• set a keyboard shortcut that opens or closes Clicker from any app,
• invert which way two-finger swipes over the clickpad move,
• choose whether the panel opens to the left of the menu bar icon, centered under it, or to its right (the default),
• forget an Apple TV you've paired, and
• choose whether to check for updates automatically.

Updates

Clicker checks for a new version once a day. When one is ready, a notice with an Update button appears under the remote. You can also check yourself with Check for Updates… in the ••• menu or by right-clicking the menu bar icon. Turn the daily check off in Settings.

Privacy

Clicker only talks to Apple TVs on your own network. It doesn't collect analytics, and the only other connection it makes is the daily update check. Pairing keys are stored in your Mac's keychain and can only be read by Clicker; Forget in Settings removes them.

Troubleshooting

• Stuck on "Looking for Apple TVs…": make sure the Mac and Apple TV are on the same network, and that Clicker is allowed in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Local Network.
• "Not on this network right now": wake the Apple TV with its own remote and check that it's on the same network as your Mac. An Apple TV that was just plugged in can take a minute to show up.
• Pairing fails: check the TV's Remotes and Devices settings (see above) and try again.
• A paired Apple TV asks to pair again: it was reset, or Clicker was removed from its list of remotes. Click Pair… and enter the new code.
• A paired Apple TV stops responding: forget it in Clicker's Settings and pair again.

Contributing

Clicker is a native SwiftUI app with no dependencies beyond BigInt, Sparkle and KeyboardShortcuts. To build it from source, see docs/development.md; for how it works and speaks to the Apple TV, see the rest of docs/.

License

MIT