LG TV remote app without Wi-Fi: the honest answer

No app can, ours included — and neither can LG's own ThinQ app. A webOS TV accepts phone commands over a WebSocket on port 3001, and only from a device on its own local network. Phones have no infrared emitter, so software cannot reach the TV's IR receiver. What you need is any shared network, and it does not have to be your router or have internet.

Not if this phone was paired before. webOS stores the authorization for each phone on the TV itself, so it survives a change of network: when the TV and phone meet again on a hotspot with your Wi-Fi's name, the app reconnects without a new PIN. You only see the 8-digit PIN again after a factory reset, after a major webOS update in some cases, or if mobile connections were revoked under General → Devices → Mobile connection management.

Give a second phone's hotspot exactly the name and password of the network the TV last used and switch it on near the TV. webOS reconnects to it as if nothing changed — which matters when there is no remote to open the network menu. Then put your control phone on the same hotspot and open the app. If no TV appears, the phone has usually slipped back onto mobile data; turn data off for a moment and try again.

No, only a local network. Commands go phone → router or hotspot → TV over WebSocket HTTPS on port 3001 and stay inside your home network, so a broadband outage changes nothing about volume, the D-pad, inputs or typing. What stops without internet is the TV's streaming apps. Antenna channels and HDMI sources keep working offline.

Yes — the Magic Remote talks to the TV directly, not through your router, so it needs no Wi-Fi at all. That is the difference between hardware and a phone: a phone app has to use the network because phones have no IR. If the Magic Remote is lost, the joystick under the LG logo covers power, volume and input, and SIMPLINK (LG's HDMI-CEC) lets the remote of a connected cable box or console switch the TV on and change inputs. A cheap replacement remote plus the free app for everyday use is the honest setup.

LG ThinQ. LG retired the standalone LG TV Plus app in late 2023 and moved its remote features into ThinQ. ThinQ reaches the TV over local Wi-Fi using LG’s own protocol, so no infrared hardware is involved on either end.

LG puts a single joystick nub under the centre of the panel, directly below the logo, and on many sets it is recessed far enough that you locate it by touch rather than sight. A press powers the set; tilting moves through volume, channel, input and the power menu. Some models place it on the lower rear edge instead. The nub reaches basic navigation but not the full network menu on every model. ThinQ is LG’s intended path once the TV is on a network; Ethernet gets you through first-time setup when it is not.

LG’s pairing flow asks for either a PIN shown on the TV or the set’s Wi-Fi Direct password, which lives on the TV’s own device screen — a flow that has stayed broadly the same from webOS 2.0 through webOS 26. The usual reason nothing appears is a band mismatch: the TV on 2.4 GHz and the phone on 5 GHz of the same-named network, or mobile data quietly taking over. Put the phone on the 2.4 GHz band of the same network and switch mobile data off while pairing. If the app wants the Wi-Fi Direct password, read it from the TV’s own device or home dashboard screen.