How to type on your TV using your iPhone's keyboard

Entering a password or a search on a TV — one letter at a time, nudging a cursor around a grid with arrow keys — is one of the worst things tech still makes us do. Your iPhone already has the keyboard you want. LazyBinger sends what you type straight to the TV.

Why TV keyboards are so painful

On-screen keyboards are a grid you steer with a D-pad. A 16-character password means dozens of presses, plus trips to a separate symbols layout. Search is just as slow. It's the single most-complained-about part of any TV.

Type from your iPhone instead

On TVs that accept text input — Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Google/Android TV and more — LazyBinger's keyboard mode lets you tap on your phone's own keyboard and the text appears on screen instantly. Where a TV doesn't expose a text field, it falls back to the D-pad automatically. New to the app? Start with using your iPhone as a TV remote.

Or just dictate it

Because you're typing on iOS, you can tap the microphone and dictate the search or the email address out loud — faster than any remote, and no spelling out logins letter by letter.

Frequently asked

Which TVs support typing from the phone? Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Google/Android TV and others. Where a TV has no text field, the keyboard button falls back to the D-pad.

Does it work for search in Netflix or YouTube? Yes — anywhere the TV shows a text field, your phone's keyboard fills it.

See the full remote in our step-by-step guide.