Before you start
- Your TV is on and showing a picture — not in standby.
- Your phone and TV are on the same Wi-Fi network — the same network name, not a guest network.
- You can see the TV screen — you may need to approve the connection there.
Pair your TV
Use your remote, or press the Controller button on the TV. Wait until the home screen appears. A TV in standby won't show up in iMote.
On your TV, open Settings › General › Network › Network Status to see which network it's using. Then check that your phone is on that same network in your phone's Wi-Fi settings.
If your router splits its bands into two names — something like MyWiFi and MyWiFi-5G — put your phone on the same one as the TV. Many Samsung TVs join only the 2.4 GHz band, so a phone sitting on 5 GHz won't find them.
Open iMote and tap Add device. Your TV appears in the list by its model or the name you gave it — for example "[TV] Living Room" or "Samsung QN90D". Tap it.
Scanning takes a few seconds. If nothing appears, jump to My TV isn't in the list.
Your TV will ask permission. What you see depends on how old it is — follow whichever one appears.
2020 models and newer — an "Allow" prompt. A message asks whether to allow iMote to connect. Select Allow with your TV remote, or with the Controller button on the TV.
2017–2019 models — a numeric code. A PIN appears on the TV screen. Type those digits into iMote on your phone and tap Pair.
No remote? Use the button on the TV
Every Samsung TV has one multi-function Controller button that can approve the pairing.
Samsung moved it over the years, so check these in order. The standby light is a good landmark — the button is usually within a couple of inches of it.
- 2020 and newer — reach behind the lower-right corner of the back panel and feel for a small joystick or nub.
- 2025 models — along the bottom edge of the frame, either centre or right.
- Roughly 2016–2019 — underneath the front bezel, just below the Samsung logo.
- Older sets — a row of separate labelled buttons on the right side edge or back-right panel.
- S90D and S95D OLED — on the back left side, near the bottom.
If the TV is wall-mounted, use your phone's camera and flashlight to look along the underside.
The single button does everything, and short presses and long presses do different things.
Press the button once. A small Control menu appears along the bottom of the screen.
Press repeatedly to move the highlight through the options.
Press and hold to select the highlighted option.
Use the same press-to-move, hold-to-select rhythm to reach Allow on the pairing prompt. On 2025 models the Control menu also has a Mobile Remote option that puts the TV straight into pairing mode.
If something isn't working
Start with the first one — it's the cause about nine times out of ten.
My TV isn't in the list
Almost always a network mismatch. Work through these in order:
Check the band. On the TV, go to Settings › General › Network › Network Status and note the network name. Put your phone on exactly that one. If your networks are named separately for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, your TV is most likely on 2.4 GHz.
Check it's not a guest network. Guest networks block devices from seeing each other. Move your phone to the main network.
Pull down to refresh the device list in iMote and give it ten seconds.
Restart the TV properly. Unplug it at the wall, wait 30 seconds, plug it back in. This clears more than the remote's power button does.
My TV is in the list, but nothing appears on screen
Your TV may be set to refuse new connections silently. Turn the prompt back on:
On the TV, go to Settings › General › External Device Manager › Device Connect Manager.
Open Access Notification and set it to First Time Only so the TV asks you to approve each new device once.
Try connecting from iMote again.
On some TVs this menu sits under All Settings › Connections › External Device Manager instead.
The code was rejected
The PIN expires after a short time. Tap Try again in iMote to make the TV show a fresh code, and enter it as soon as it appears.
Enter only the digits — no spaces or dashes. If the code on screen is hard to read, it's the same size on every model, so moving closer usually helps more than changing any setting.
It connected before, but now it won't
Your TV keeps a list of devices it has paired with, and it can get stale — usually after a Wi-Fi password change or a new router.
On the TV, go to Settings › General › External Device Manager › Device Connect Manager › Device List.
Find your phone in the list and remove it.
In iMote, remove the TV from your devices, then add it again from scratch.
The remote works, but the TV won't turn on from my phone
Waking a TV from standby over Wi-Fi is a separate setting, and not every model supports it.
Look for Power On with Mobile or Wake on LAN under Settings › General › Network › Expert Settings and turn it on. If your model doesn't list it, you'll need to power the TV on with its own remote or Controller button first, then use iMote for everything else.
Still stuck?
Tell us your TV's model number — you'll find it on the sticker on the back, or under Settings › Support › About This TV — and we'll take a look.