Using your smartphone as a universal remote isn’t a new idea. It has been around almost as long as smartphones have. Back in the early days, when smartphones used Windows Mobile, various remote control apps surfaced. They were all a little clunky, though, and most of the versions I’ve took what I’d describe as a traditional, device-centric approach. Users had to turn on each device individually, and then control the devices independently. Most apps would let you set up macros so that you could daisy-chain commands to, say, turn on all your devices. But if you wanted to watch DVD movies, you’d then have to switch to the DVD player to control that. As for volume control, macros would again help, but creating them was often tedious work. I experimented with some of these early apps, but they were more frustrating than useful. The iPhone changed everything. If you fire up iTunes and search for “universal remote”, you’ll find a number of applications that permit you to control your home theatre gear with the iPhone. However, there is a catch. Almost all of these apps are proprietary, because they need some form of external hardware. I’ll touch on that topic shortly.