Rowmote vs PPTControl
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rowmote
Control audio, video, and presentation applications on your Mac from your iOS device wirelessly. Seamlessly switch between apps, manage playback, and even wake your Mac remotely. It offers a convenient and cost-effective alternative to physical remotes.
- Wireless Mac control
- App switching and launching
- Media playback control
- Wake sleeping Macs
- Secure authentication
- Proximity sensor support
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Rowmote lets you seamlessly control audio, video, and presentation applications on your Mac from your iOS device. You love the remote control which came with your Mac - so simple yet elegant, with easy control of Front Row, iTunes, Quicktime, DVD Player, Keynote, and more. Or, your Mac didn’t come with a remote control or doesn’t even have an infrared port. Buying a remote control, from Apple or a third party, would carry a significant cost! You carry your iPhone or iPod Touch wherever you go... so why should you carry a second device just to control your computer? Furthermore, why should you need line-of-sight to do so? Enter Rowmote! Rowmote is like your Mac’s remote control, but over the wireless network and even better! By tapping the Apps button, you get bonus abilities, switching between controlled programs, toggling the iTunes Visualizer, and more. Rowmote will even wake sleeping Macs. FEATURES - Control your Mac over a wireless network. No line of sight necessary. - Functions just like the hardware Apple Remote Control in: • Adobe Lightroom • Airfoil Video • Amarra • Aperture • BBC iPlayer • Beamer • Boxee • Decibel • DVD Player • Ecoute • eyeTV 3.x • Firefox • Front Row • Hulu Desktop • iPhoto • iTunes • Keynote ‘08 & later • kJams Pro • Kodi • Last.fm • Logic • Microsoft Powerpoint ‘04 & later • mPlayer • Movist • OpenOffice Impress • Preview • PandoraBoy • PandoraJam • PandoraOne Desktop • Photos • Plex, Plex Home Theater, & Plex Media Player • Quicktime • Rdio • Safari • Skim • Songbird • Spotify • Squire • The Tube • VLC • xbmc (Xbox Media Center) - SWITCH: Access your Mac’s Dock, launching & switch between all controllable applications on the Mac, toggle the iTunes visualizer, and more. Order & display customizable. - Click-and-hold works just like on the physical remote in applications; for example, holding the right button fast-forwards, while a single click is ‘next’. This is a feature no other iPhone remote control I know of does properly! - Sleep on demand; wake the Mac automatically - Pause the music or video automatically when you answer a call on your iPhone - Proximity sensor support to automatically turn the screen off if the device is face-down - Secure authentication - Optional dark interface - Connect via WiFi or Bluetooth (Bluetooth requires Personal Hotspot Bluetooth tethering) REQUIREMENTS • Mac OS X 10.4.0 or later. • Mac: The free Rowmote Helper program must be running on the Mac to be controlled. Download at www.rowmote.com. Some features require later versions of Mac OS X. Rowmote is a steal! Couple it with Apple’s free Remote app to turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into the ultimate controller for home stereo, mobile presentation, or casual video viewing. The artwork of Rowmote was designed by Rik Schennink.
PPTControl
Control your presentations remotely from your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. Seamlessly connect to your computer to navigate slides, highlight points, and deliver professional presentations with ease.
- Remote slide navigation
- Highlight key points
- Connect via Bluetooth
- Control from iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
- Simple setup process
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More than a simple clicker: Control PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides on Mac or Windows from your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch. Keep your slides and speaker notes in view, highlight key points, and move freely around the room. PRESENT WITH CONFIDENCE • Move to the next or previous slide • Start and end presentations • Black or white out the presentation screen • Present directly from your Apple Watch STAY ONE STEP AHEAD WITH PRO • Preview slides and jump directly to any slide • View speaker notes while presenting • Control the cursor and use it as a laser pointer • Change slides with the volume buttons on your iPhone or iPad — without looking down No account required. PPTControl does not upload your presentation files and includes no ads or tracking. COMPATIBILITY • Microsoft PowerPoint on Windows and macOS • Apple Keynote on macOS • Google Slides on Windows and macOS • iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch Speaker notes and slide previews are only available for supported PowerPoint and Keynote presentations. Apple Watch control works through the connected iPhone. GET STARTED 1. Download and open the PPTControl Desktop app on your Mac or Windows PC at https://pptcontrol.app. 2. Open PPTControl on your iPhone or iPad and select your computer or scan the pairing qr code. 3. Confirm the connection on your computer and start presenting. PPTControl has been downloaded more than 250,000 times worldwide. Privacy: https://pptcontrol.app/privacy Terms: https://pptcontrol.app/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: PPTControl at Free against Rowmote's $0.99. PPTControl also leads on rating (3.9 vs 3.0). Rowmote's advantage is ratings volume (87 vs 24) and iOS requirement (13.2 vs 15.0). On review sentiment, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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
PPTControl is free to download; Rowmote costs $0.99 up front. Rowmote sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and PPTControl sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
PPTControl holds the better App Store score, 3.9 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 87 and 24 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Rowmote's written reviews are positive against 72% of PPTControl's.
Rowmote ships an update every 6 weeks, PPTControl every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rowmote | PPTControl |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.0 (87 ratings) | 3.9 (24 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.1% of reviews | 72.4% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 — better | 24 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.2 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 23 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Evan Schoenberg | Bastian Aunkofer |
Customer experience
Rowmote
PPTControl
Bugs and requests
Rowmote
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent disconnections
- Crashes on startup
- Unresponsive controls
- Incompatibility with newer OS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Keyboard support
- Improved mouse/trackpad functionality
- Sleep/power controls
- Support for more apps and devices
PPTControl
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Rowmote
- Rowmote Pro Upgrade$3.99
PPTControl
- Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
- Pro Yearly$19.991 Year
- Tip 1$0.99
- Tip 2$2.99
- Pro$4.99
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- Tip 3$5.99
- Tip 4$7.99
- Tip 5$9.99
- Tip 6$14.99
- Pro Lifetime$49.99









