My TV remote was bad, so I built one on my phone
Pilot runs my LG TV and Sonos from my iPhone. I use it a lot now, mostly during games.
My LG remote was painful. I was always changing batteries, the buttons barely worked, and most of them were for things I never use. I always have my phone on me, so that should be the remote.
I knew what I wanted it to do and how it should work with my phone, so I built it with Claude Code. It's an iPhone app called Pilot. Nothing hacky: the TV already lets apps on the same Wi-Fi control it once you press OK on the TV the first time.
That was the surprise. Just from being on my network, the TV lets you do a lot. Open apps, switch inputs, type into search, grab a screenshot of what's on screen, even turn it on. My Sonos is on the same Wi-Fi, so Pilot runs that too.
The design took the most rounds. Early versions put volume and play on rails beside the wheel, or in a dock at the bottom, and they all felt lopsided. I looked at Apple Music's player for a while but didn't want to copy it, and I wanted every control visible. What worked was the Fire TV remote: a wheel on top, a plain grid of buttons under it, app shortcuts at the bottom.
Some of what I tried. The grid on the right is close to what I kept.
It's a phone, not a piece of plastic, so it can use the whole screen. And I pick which six apps sit at the bottom.
Using it, and the app itself.
What I use most: volume goes straight to the Sonos, and there's a sheet for the speaker itself. And when I'm watching NFL games I take screenshots of the TV and they land right on my phone.
One I took through Pilot while watching a game.
There's a panel on the Lock Screen too, for volume and play.
The Sonos sheet, and the Lock Screen panel.
This one is mostly for me. You can build pretty much anything now and shape it around how you actually use it, and this is one I'll be using a lot, especially for games.
The code is on GitHub if you want one for your own LG: saviii/pilot.