Comparison

Remote Buddy Mobile 2 vs Control‎

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Remote Buddy Mobile 2

Control your Mac from your iPhone or iPad. Use it as a trackpad, keyboard, or for app-specific controls and media playback. Mirror your Mac's screen and manage power functions remotely.

Highlights
  • Remote control for 100+ Mac apps
  • Multi-touch trackpad with Mousespot
  • Web video playback control
  • Screen mirroring up to 60fps
  • Keyboard and numpad input
  • Power actions and Wake-On-LAN
  • Secure TLS connection
Features
Read full description

Control your Mac, with your iPhone or iPad acting as trackpad, keyboard, mirrored display and powerful remote control for 100+ Mac apps. Watch web videos and streaming services in Safari or Google Chrome and control playback, speed and volume from the comfort of your couch. Use the built-in, high performance screen sharing to mirror your screen on your device's display and control your Mac from another room. Deliver your presentations with confidence using the multitouch trackpad and its elegant Mousespot highlight. Launch, switch and quit apps - or pick from Remote Buddy's huge library of 1.200+ actions for 100+ popular Mac apps, right from your device. Remote Buddy Mobile is the mobile companion app for Remote Buddy, the remote control app for your Mac. KEY FEATURES • Remote Control Control 100+ popular Mac apps with 1.200+ tailor-made actions. • Multi-touch Trackpad with Mousespot Click, drag, scroll, switch spaces or invoke Mission Control. Want to highlight parts of your presentations? Or looking for the mouse pointer? Remote Buddy's Mousespot spotlight effect is just a tap away! • Shortcut Bar The configurable shortcut bar provides quick access to essential actions for the controlled app in the Remote and Trackpad modes. • Smart Remote Fusing the best parts of remote, trackpad and shortcut bar into a single, app-specific view, Smart Remote puts everything needed to control an app within reach. • Web Video Control Control playback, speed and volume of almost all web videos - without having to fiddle with controls in the browser. Works with YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, tv.apple.com, Vimeo and many more in Safari and Google Chrome. • Screen Sharing Instantly see your Mac's screen, with up to 60 frames per second. Supports zooming, dragging, clicking, scrolling, multiple displays and more. • Actions and App Control Pick from Remote Buddy's huge library of 1.200+ app-specific actions; launch, switch and quit apps right from your device. Favorite frequently used apps and actions for quick access. • Keyboard and Numpad Type text and numbers into browsers, search fields, editors, spreadsheets and more. Supports modifiers, cursor keys, the iOS keyboard's dictation feature, password manager integration and more. • Power Actions and Wake-On-LAN Save power by putting your Mac to sleep - and wake it up later through Wake-On-LAN. Or initiate a reboot or shut down right from the app. • Audio Settings Change your system's default audio output to a different device or AirPlay target. Control its volume and mute status where supported. • Connection secured with TLS Support for the new Secure Connection feature of Remote Buddy 2.0, keeping your connection private through strong, certificate-based TLS 1.2 encryption. SUPPORTED APPS Some of the Mac apps that Remote Buddy for Mac and – thereby – Remote Buddy Mobile can control out of the box: Acrobat Pro, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Reader, AirFoil, Aperture, Audio Hijack 3, Audirvana, Books, Broadcasts, Calendar, Deckset, DVD Player, Elmedia Video Player, EyeTV, FlexTime, Firefox, GarageBand, Google Chrome, Impress (OpenOffice.org & LibreOffice), iPhoto, iTunes, Keynote, Kodi, Lightroom 1/2/3/4/5/Classic/CC, Mac Blu-Ray Player, Movist, Music, OpenPHT, Photo Booth, Photos, Plex for Mac, Plex Media Player, Podcasts, PowerPoint, Preview, QuickTime Player, Roon, Safari, Skim, Spotify, TV.app, VoodooPad, VLC, XBMC, Yojimbo A complete list of supported apps is available at the Remote Buddy website. If you want us to add support for an app that's not listed there, please let us know through the contact form of our website. HOST REQUIREMENTS Requires a Mac running Remote Buddy 2.0 or later. Remote Buddy 2.0 requires macOS 10.12 or later. Licenses for Remote Buddy for the Mac are sold separately and not part of this app.

About

Control‎

Easily manage media playback and system volume on your Mac from your iPhone or iPad. It supports popular apps like Spotify, VLC, and Apple Music without requiring subscriptions or companion app installations.

Highlights
  • System-level volume control
  • Basic media playback controls
  • Supports TV.app, Music.app, VLC, Spotify
  • No subscription or companion app needed
  • Connects via built-in permissions
  • Requires same network connection
Features
Read full description

The simplest and fastest way to control media playback, volume, and more on your Mac. Control connects directly over your local network, so you never have to install or run a companion app. 【NEW】Control any app, video, or website with Keyboard controls. Re-arrange your keypad and add the commands (and shortcuts!) that are useful to you. Additionally, Control always supports system-level volume controls and *direct* playback controls for the following apps: • TV.app • Music.app • QuickTime Player • VLC • IINA • mpv • Spotify • Safari (experimental) No subscriptions, no payments, no ads, no tracking. Control is privacy-first and doesn't collect any data. It connects directly across your local network, so your information never even touches the internet. Need more Control? Send a request anytime. I'd love to make the app as useful as possible. Note: Control’s connection to your Mac is managed via built-in macOS permissions. Once accepted, Control will work forever with no additional setup. It requires being on the same network and enabling Remote Access. Some VPN clients may interfere, depending on settings. Powered by AppleScript.

Screenshots

Remote Buddy Mobile 24 screens
Control‎4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Control‎ at every 9 days against Remote Buddy Mobile 2's every 12 months. Control‎ also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and review sentiment (100% vs 75%). Remote Buddy Mobile 2's advantage is ratings volume (34 vs 5) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 17). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Control‎ holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Remote Buddy Mobile 2 has 34 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of Remote Buddy Mobile 2's written reviews are positive against 100% of Control‎'s.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Remote Buddy Mobile 2 ships an update every 12 months, Control‎ every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 20, 2026 and August 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Remote Buddy Mobile 2 versus Control‎: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRemote Buddy Mobile 2Control‎
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (34 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings) — better
Positive reviews75.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings34 — better5
Update frequencyEvery 12 monthsEvery 9 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS12.4 — better17
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB10 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperIOSPIRIT GmbHRyan Whitney

Customer experience

Remote Buddy Mobile 2

All ratings34 ratings
Positive94.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative5.9%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive75.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative25.0%

Control‎

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews4 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Remote Buddy Mobile 2

No in-app purchases

None

Control‎

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Remote Buddy Mobile 2 free?
Remote Buddy Mobile 2 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Control‎ free?
Control‎ is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Remote Buddy Mobile 2 or Control‎?
Control‎ is rated higher. Remote Buddy Mobile 2 averages 4.6 out of 5 from 34 ratings, while Control‎ averages 5.0 from 5 ratings.
Do Remote Buddy Mobile 2 or Control‎ have ads?
Neither Remote Buddy Mobile 2 nor Control‎ shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Remote Buddy Mobile 2 or Control‎?
Remote Buddy Mobile 2 ships an update every 12 months, and Control‎ every 9 days. Most recently, Remote Buddy Mobile 2 was updated on September 20, 2026 and Control‎ on August 3, 2026.

Other comparisons