Sohva Remote: free, ad-free Android remote for Sony Bravia TVs

A fast, ad-free phone remote for Sony Bravia TVs, on the local network only ("sohva" is Finnish for sofa). Built for a 2018 KD-65XF9005 (Android TV); other Bravias with IP control should work too. No cloud, no account, no analytics. Not affiliated with Sony.

Coming to Google Play (com.mothandgravel.sohva). Made by Moth & Gravel. English and Finnish (suomeksi: ilmainen, mainokseton kaukosäädin Sony Bravia -televisioille).

Features

The remote

• Finds the TV with SSDP (or add it by IP address); PIN pairing, cookie stored encrypted and renewed silently. Re-finds the TV by UUID when its IP address changes.
• Lost the TV's remote? A TV with Control remotely off is still found (mDNS, Sony only); the app pairs fast keys first and gives you a D-pad and numbered steps to switch it on, then pairs as usual.
• Check connection (on "Can't reach" and per TV in Settings): home network, TV on the network, Control remotely, pairing, Remote start (switched on from the app) and fast keys, each with what to do.
• "Fast keys" over the TV's Android TV Remote protocol (one-time pairing): D-pad, OK, Back, Home, volume and channel keys arrive in tens of milliseconds. Other keys use IRCC.
• Power, volume, mute, D-pad, Back, Home, Guide, Options, playback, channel up/down; haptics and long-press repeat. The phone's volume buttons change the TV volume.
• Touchpad mode: swipe to move, tap for OK, rest the finger to keep moving; a toggle beside the D-pad switches between the two.
• The card shows what's on (channel or app); swipe it to change channel, drag its volume bar to set the volume. "Jump back" chip returns to the channel watched before.
• Ad break: one tap mutes the commercials and the sound comes back by itself after 3 minutes ("+1 min" for a long break), also with the app closed. Watch another channel meanwhile and the end of the break brings you back.
• Pin apps (long-press in Sources): one-tap chips under the card and launcher shortcuts (long-press the app icon).
• More sheet: the TV's inputs, installed apps (icons cached on the phone), the channel list, number pad and extra keys, timers, scenes, and Settings (saved TVs, language, vibration, call mute, notification remote).
• English or Finnish whatever the phone's language: Settings › Language in the app, or Android's per-app language setting on Android 13+.
• Type on the TV: when the TV's keyboard is up, type (or dictate) from the phone.
• Voice commands in Finnish and English: "kanava 3", "volume 20", "Netflix", "PlayStation", "mute", "turn off".

Without opening the app

• Quick Settings tiles: power, mute, guide, and the first scene.
• Home-screen widget: volume, channel and mute.
• Remote in notifications (opt-in): power, volume, mute, pause and play in the shade and on the lock screen.
• A double tap on power is ignored for 4 s, so the TV doesn't switch off and back on.
• Mute the TV while a phone call rings or is on, unmute after (opt-in).

Automations

• Sleep timer: turns the sound down over the last minute, then the TV off; the volume comes back the next time the app sees the TV on.
• Wake-up TV: switches the TV on at a set time on chosen days, to a channel, input or app, and a volume.
• Scenes: one tap for the TV on + a channel, input or app + a volume ("Game time": PS5 at volume 30). A scene can also run on a schedule, e.g. MTV3 on weekdays at 18.30 for Emmerdale. A scheduled scene only acts while the TV is on; it never switches the TV on (that's the wake-up's job).

Timers, the wake-up and scheduled scenes use exact alarms and a short foreground service, so they work with the app closed and the phone in Doze.

Requirements

• Android 8.0 (API 26) or newer, phone or tablet. On a tablet the More tabs sit beside the remote (landscape) or above it (portrait).
• On the TV, usually nothing: the app finds it and you type the 4-digit code it shows.
  • Remote start: On (Settings › Network & Internet), so the app can switch the TV on from standby. Settings › Check connection tells you when it's off and can switch it on.
  • If the TV refuses the app, Settings › Network & Internet › Remote device settings › Control remotely must be On. Lost the TV's remote? The app pairs over the TV's Android TV remote service first and gives you a D-pad to switch it on.
• Phone and TV on the same network.

Install

A Google Play release is being prepared (listing in fastlane/). Until then, sideload:

• From CI: every push builds a debug APK on GitHub Actions. Open the run under the Actions tab and download the sohva-remote-debug-apk artifact.
• From source: ./gradlew assembleRelease gives a minified (R8) APK; bundleRelease gives the AAB for Play. Both are signed with the upload key when keystore.properties exists, otherwise with the debug key.

On first start the app finds the TV and asks for the PIN the TV shows. Fast keys ask for a second, one-time PIN from the TV's Android TV Remote service.

Permissions

Permission	Why
INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE	Talk to the TV on the LAN and find it with SSDP.
SCHEDULE_EXACT_ALARM	Sleep timer, ad break, wake-up and scheduled scenes on time, also in Doze. On Android 12+ you allow it in settings; the Timers and Scenes tabs link there.
FOREGROUND_SERVICE, WAKE_LOCK	Keep the phone awake for the minute a timer needs to reach the TV.
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED	Set the alarms again after a restart.
READ_PHONE_STATE	Only for "Mute during calls", asked when you switch it on.
POST_NOTIFICATIONS	Only for "Remote in notifications" and the timers' brief status; asked when you switch it on.
VIBRATE	Haptic feedback.

Microphone access goes through Android's own speech recognizer; the app never records audio itself.

Privacy

Everything stays between the phone and the TV. The app makes no calls outside the local network. The TV's cookie, PSK and Android TV Remote certificate are stored encrypted (Android Keystore) and are excluded from backups.

Known limits

• With an HDMI-CEC soundbar the TV moves the volume two steps per key and one step per "set volume" call; the app steps and reads back to reach a level.
• Devices found over HDMI-CEC (e.g. a PS5) are listed only while awake; scenes save them by HDMI port so they still work when the device sleeps. A console or soundbar can take the screen back over HDMI-CEC right after a channel scene; the scene checks and switches again.
• Apps with their own on-screen keyboard (YouTube) don't raise the TV's keyboard, so there is nothing to type into.
• Live TV can't be previewed on the phone (protected video).
• After a phone restart, alarms come back at the first unlock.

Build and verify

Requirements: JDK 17+, Android SDK platform 36 and build-tools 36.

./gradlew testDebugUnitTest lintDebug assembleDebug   # run before every commit
./gradlew assembleRelease                             # R8 build, debug-signed

Unit tests run the protocol code against fake TVs (FakeBraviaTv on MockWebServer, FakeAtvTv over TLS). Device smoke tests are described in AGENTS.md.

Layout

app/src/main/java/com/mothandgravel/sohva/
  protocol/   Pure Kotlin, no Android: BraviaApi (Scalar JSON-RPC + IRCC), PinPairing,
              SsdpDiscovery, WakeOnLan, RemoteKey; Android TV Remote: AtvPairing,
              AtvRemote, AtvWire, AtvTls.
  data/       TvController (the one live session), TvStore (DataStore), CredentialStore,
              SleepTimer, WakeUpAlarm + SceneSchedule + WakeUpService, CallMute,
              Automations (Scene, WakeUp, TvTarget).
  shortcuts/  Quick Settings tiles and the home-screen widget.
  voice/      Voice command parser (Finnish/English).
  ui/         Compose screens: discover, pair, remote, More sheet tabs.
app/src/test/ Unit tests and the fake TVs.
site/         Landing page and screenshots in site/img.
.claude/skills/  Project agent skills (Android, Compose, Kotlin), pinned in skills-lock.json.

Contributor and agent conventions: AGENTS.md.

License

Copyright (C) 2026 Moth & Gravel.

Sohva Remote is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. It is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; see LICENSE for details.

Contributions are accepted under the same license.

Trademarks

"Sohva Remote" and the ring-and-dot icon are trademarks of Moth & Gravel. The GPL covers the code, not the name or the icon: if you publish a modified version, give it your own name and icon, so nobody mistakes it for this app.

Sony, Bravia and Android TV are trademarks of their owners. Sohva Remote is an independent app, not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Sony.