A free LG TV remote app that's actually free

The usual catch is a paywall two taps in: the app connects, then locks volume or inputs behind a subscription screen. This app's free tier is a complete basic remote — navigation, volume, mute, inputs — with no credit card and no trial timer. Premium adds extras like custom button layouts, but the free controls never expire.

LG ThinQ is free but requires an LG account and cloud sign-in before you can control the TV, and it mixes the remote into a whole smart-home dashboard. This app pairs directly with the TV on your local network using LG's on-screen 8-digit PIN — no account, no login, remote-first interface. For the common case of 'my remote is across the room and I just need volume', direct local pairing is simply faster.

No. It talks to the TV over your Wi-Fi network using LG's webOS connection on port 3001, not Bluetooth. That's why pairing survives distance and walls that break Bluetooth remotes — if your iPhone has Wi-Fi signal, it can drive the TV from anywhere in the flat.

LG smart TVs running webOS — essentially every LG smart TV since the mid-2010s, including OLED (B/C/G series), QNED, and NanoCell lines. The requirement is network connectivity, not model year: if the TV is on your Wi-Fi, the app can find and pair with it. IR-only non-smart LG sets are not supported.

Yes — search fields and password boxes in webOS accept text from the iPhone keyboard through the app, which is dramatically faster than clicking letters with the Magic Remote pointer. Typing is part of the free experience, not a premium unlock.

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.