Rowmote vs atvTools
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.
atvTools
Control your Android TV devices remotely from your iOS device. Install apps, manage existing ones, transfer files, and even use your phone as a remote. Offers advanced features like shell commands and system monitoring.
- Install apps remotely
- Manage TV apps (open, uninstall, disable)
- File transfer from phone to TV
- Remote control and mouse mode
- Run shell commands
- System monitoring (CPU, RAM, storage)
- Screenshot and screen recording
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App developed to control your TV devices from your iOS devices. You need to have enabled USB/Network debugging on your Android device to get it work Depending on the device, some functions may not be available. Also it is not tested App allows: - Install (sideload) apps from your iOS device to your TV devices - Control your TV apps (include opening, uninstalling, disabling/enabling and downloading APK) - Control apps permissions (grant/revoke) - Build-in File Manager - Make screenshot or screenrecord (you can't capture any video content due to OS restrictions) - Send files from your phone to TV - Control your device using remote control and mouse mode in the app - Open channels on your iOS device (only Android TV 8+) - Paste text from your phone - Run Shell commands - Clear all apps cache using one button - Reboot and power TV device - See usage of CPU, RAM, network and storage - See running apps and force-stop them if needed
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: atvTools at 4.8 against Rowmote's 3.0. atvTools also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and chart position (#21 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and update cadence 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
Rowmote costs $0.99 and atvTools $0.99 up front. Rowmote sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. atvTools asks for nothing beyond the download.
atvTools holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 87 and 168 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 66% of Rowmote's written reviews are positive against 68% of atvTools's.
Rowmote ships an update every 6 weeks, atvTools every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rowmote | atvTools |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | $0.99 |
| Rating | 3.0 (87 ratings) | 4.8 (168 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.1% of reviews | 68.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 87 | 168 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #21 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.2 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Evan Schoenberg | Oleksandr Hamlii |
Customer experience
Rowmote
atvTools
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
atvTools
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Rowmote
- Rowmote Pro Upgrade$3.99
atvTools
No in-app purchases









