Everything you need to get the most out of Magic AV Remote on iPhone. Scan the frequently asked questions below, check what's still on the roadmap, or reach out to us directly.
New to Magic AV Remote? Connecting your first receiver takes about a minute. For the full walkthrough, see the complete user guide.
The first time you open Magic AV Remote with no saved receivers, it automatically opens the Settings sheet you'll use for receiver management. Before scanning, make sure your receiver is powered on, on the same Wi-Fi network as your iPhone, and — if it has one — that its Network Standby or Network Control option is enabled.
Tap Scan Network and Magic AV Remote searches your local network for compatible receivers — Modern (eISCP), Legacy Pioneer (Telnet), and Denon (Telnet). This takes only a few seconds.
When the scan finishes, tap Add next to your receiver, give it a friendly name, and pick a theme — and you're in.
The quick answers to the questions we hear most.
Open Settings → Receivers and double-check the IP address and family. The number-one cause of failures is "Connection refused" because another remote app or a stale session is holding the receiver's single allowed control slot — close other clients, or unplug the receiver from the wall for at least 30 seconds and plug it back in — switching it off at the front panel only puts it in standby.
This is normal, by design. To be respectful of receivers that only allow one control connection at a time, Magic AV Remote doesn't hold a connection open every second the app is in the foreground — it connects on demand. The status dot shows idle until you tap a control, at which point it connects automatically, usually in under a second.
Yes. Magic AV Remote is LAN-only, so it can't reach your receiver while you're away, and it releases its connection slot when the app is backgrounded. When you return home and reopen the app on the same network, it reconnects automatically the next time you tap a control.
Legacy receivers allow only one control connection at a time, and their network module can occasionally get stuck believing a client is still connected when nothing actually is. In that state the receiver accepts each incoming connection and then drops it instantly — so the app can't discover or connect to it, and the receiver seems to disappear. A normal power-cycle often won't clear this, because the stuck session survives a quick reboot. The fix is a full power drain: unplug the receiver from the wall for about a minute, then plug it back in and power on. That fully resets the network module and frees the control slot. (Modern eISCP receivers allow multiple connections and aren't affected by this.)
First, make sure Network Control (sometimes labeled Network Standby) is enabled in the receiver's network setup menu — without it, the receiver won't accept control connections at all. Second, like Legacy Pioneer receivers, Denon's Telnet interface accepts only one control connection at a time — close any other remote app, Denon's own app, or a stale session before connecting from Magic AV Remote.
Magic AV Remote requires iOS 17 or later on any supported iPhone model.
Not yet. Magic AV Remote for iOS is iPhone-only for now. An iPad-optimized layout is on the roadmap.
Yes. Magic AV Remote is LAN-only. It talks directly to your receiver over your local Wi-Fi network — there is no cloud service. As long as your iPhone and receiver are on the same network, the app works even with internet disabled.
No. All traffic is between your iPhone and your receiver on your local network. The app makes no outbound internet connections and has no analytics. Album art for the Now Playing panel is fetched from the receiver itself, not a third party. See our privacy policy.
The app displays only the artwork the receiver itself provides over the network. If the art isn't appearing on the receiver's own on-screen display or connected TV, it won't appear in the app either — there's nothing for the app to fetch. Whether artwork is exposed depends on your receiver's firmware and the current source; some firmware versions and some sources (including AirPlay on certain receivers) don't serve it over the network. This is a receiver limitation, not an app bug.
The graphic equalizer only exists on the main zone — Zone 2 and Zone 3 don't have EQ hardware on any receiver, so it's not something we can add. Additionally, on Legacy Pioneer and Denon receivers, even the main-zone EQ isn't available over the network protocol — only modern eISCP receivers expose it.
Zone 3 is a hardware feature — not every receiver model includes a third zone (generally the more capable models do). If your receiver doesn't have Zone 3 hardware, the Zone 3 tab still appears but the commands have no effect on the receiver.
Yes, via Apple Shortcuts. Chain Set Power, Select Input, Set Volume, and other actions into a single Shortcut and trigger it by voice with Siri, from a Home Screen or Lock Screen widget, or from a Personal Automation — arriving home, an NFC tag by the door, or sunset are common triggers.
Not directly — the receivers themselves do not speak HomeKit. However, you can wrap Magic AV Remote's Shortcuts actions into a Personal Automation in the Home app, or trigger them via Siri, which is effectively the same outcome.
Probably, if it's a Pioneer or Onkyo with eISCP (Modern) or Telnet (Legacy) network control, or a Denon receiver with network Telnet control. Add it manually with the appropriate port (60128 for eISCP, 8102 for Legacy Pioneer Telnet, 23 for Denon Telnet) and see whether commands flow. Some commands may produce errors (the receiver simply ignores them) but core features — power, volume, mute, input — are widely shared across all three families.
Yes. Magic AV Remote for macOS is a separate, full-featured native Mac app built on the same engine, with additional desktop features like multi-window support and hardware media-key control. If you're having trouble on the Mac specifically, see the Mac support page.
We'd rather tell you up front than have you go looking for something that isn't there yet.
If the FAQ above didn't sort it out, send us a note — especially if something isn't working with your particular receiver. The more detail (receiver model, what you tried, what happened), the faster we can help.
We're a small independent operation, so replies come from a real person and may take a day or two.