Netflix Remote allows you to control Netflix or Youtube movies playing in a browser on a Mac or PC from your iPhone/iPod/iPad over WiFi. Some other players, such as Vimeo work with it as well. On a Mac, it also enables use of Apple IR remote to control Netflix. The app features a simple trackpad that allows controlling your mouse remotely. The following requirements must be met for things to work properly: both the computer on which you watch Netflix and iPhone must be connected to the same access point (wireless router) and it will not work over 3G or 4G connection; the computer must be either an Intel Mac or an Intel Windows machine and must be running the Netflix Controller that can be downloaded at the top of this page. The Netflix Controller listens for remote commands sent from the iPhone and converts them to keyboard commands that Netflix player understands. Make sure the browser with Netflix is the active window so that it intercepts the keyboard input. For that, click once inside the Netflix window. Once paired with an iPhone, the Mac version of the Netflix Controller will also support Apple IR remote if you have one. Netflix player was not designed to be remotely controlled, so this app is a hack in a way, thus setting it up is not a no-brainer.

Once you have downloaded the Netflix Controller, simply unzip it and place it where you want on your system; there is no installation program to run. When you launch the Netflix Controller on the computer and the Netflix Remote app on the iPhone for the first time, the Netflix Remote app will scan the local network for all hosts that have the Netflix Controller running. At that time your computer firewall may ask you whether you want to allow the Netflix Controller to accept incoming connections and you should say Yes. Since the scan lasts only couple seconds, by the time you answer Yes it probably will have finished without finding any hosts, so if you are not at the main screen on the Netflix Remote app, return there and enter the settings screen again via the small button with "i" in it. After that you should see the list of all computers (their IP addresses) that are running the Netflix Controller on your network. Choose the address that is listed in the Netflix Controller on your computer. If Netflix Remote cannot find a computer running the Netflix Controller, it may be that your wireless router has guest wireless network defined which is isolated from the rest of the network and computers on the guest network cannot communicate with the other computers connected to the router including other computers on the guest network itself. In that case you need to follow your router's documentation to create a regular wireless network and connect to it instead.

If you are using Mac OS X you may get a message about "unidentified developer" when you double click on the Netflix Controller. In that case right-click or Control-click on the Netflix Controller in Finder and choose Open from the popup menu. After that you will see an Open button on the message window which you should use to start the app and you will never see the warning again. 

Once you have selected the computer to control from the iPhone, return to the main screen of the Netflix Remote app and try sending any remote control command. At that time the Netflix Controller running on the computer will ask if you want to pair with the remote that is trying to send the request. Answer Yes and from then on the Netflix Controller will accept remote commands only from your iPhone. If you want to pair with another iPhone, click the Reset Remote button. If you were using Apple IR remote, it will stop working as well until you pair with iPhone again. If you upgraded your Mac OS X and Apple IR remote stopped working, try powering the computer down including unplugging it from the outlet for at least 30sec. 

The remote control commands are simple. Plus and minus buttons control volume of the Netflix player in the browser, but not the master volume on the computer that determines the loudest setting the Netflix volume control can have. Therefore, you may need to adjust the master volume to a higher value first. Volume is controlled by multiple taps instead of tap and hold. The central button toggles play and pause. Repeated short or long taps gradually increase Forward/Rewind speed, double taps stop playback and cause Forward/Rewind in 10sec steps. Trackpad controls: tap=click; double-tap=double-click; long-tap=right-click; two-finger-pan=drag.