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First Look: Keymote for iPhone / iPod touch takes control of your Mac

by John Burke Aug 16th 2009 at 4:00PM

There are some applications out there that never cease to amaze me. We're always looking for shortcuts and ways to make our lives (and our computer use) much easier. Iced Cocoa's new Keymote [iTunes Link] for iPhone and iPod touch is sure to do just that!

With Keymote, you'll never again have to remember a shortcut. Keymote creates single buttons out of complicated shortcuts and groups them by application, speeding up your productivity and boosting your workflow. Basically, Keymote acts as a remote for your Mac and can control almost any application.

The developer notes that you can "Easily control Front Row from across the room, refresh your Twitter stream wirelessly, or play a song from iTunes without even touching your computer, the possibilities are endless."

Some highlights of Keymote include:
  • Simple and intuitive user interface that makes using Keymote easy and fun.
  • Easy to connect and operate over a Wi-Fi connection.
  • Organizes your keystrokes, keeping the ones you use close at hand.
  • Highly customizable with different key colors, the ability to add tactile feedback with vibrations and more.
  • Built-in store for purchasing keystroke sets for almost any Mac application. Don't worry, most of these are free.
  • Customize and share your keystrokes and layouts with other users easily.
I found the Keymote interface to be simple to use, and the commands are snappy, happening almost instantly. The in-app store is great too; I was able to download keystroke sets for Tweetie, Coda, iTunes, Safari, Firefox, Photoshop and so much more. I'm also a sucker for a beautiful user interface and Keymote certainly has that. The menus are easy to use and the keystroke pages are downright gorgeous.

The application is available in the iTunes App Store for $3.99 and is well worth the price. In addition to the app, you'll need to head over to Iced Cocoa's website, download the free Keymote receiver, and then pair your iPhone or iPod touch with the receiver application on your Mac.

Here are a few shots of the application in action:


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There are some applications out there that never cease to amaze me. We're always looking for shortcuts and ways to make our lives (and our...
 

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Loule Lovejoy

It's a nice app, but it's missing pictures on the keys for quick navigation. You often have to scroll to get to more keys, and read the key captions to find a shortcut. That's somewhat defeats the purpose of a shortcut navigator... better alternative (with less customization features) are: Couch KeyPad, KeyPad for Mac, AirMouse. These also often keyboard and mouse access. The KeyPad apps are also just 99 cents!

August 17 2009 at 2:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hopwoods

I brought this app to remotely shut down / turn down the screen brightness of my macbook pro at night as I often forget to turn it off at night.

Problem is it doesn't seem to work with the special functions of the F1-F12 Keys or the Eject Key.

Any idea how I could get it to work?

August 17 2009 at 1:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Hopwoods's comment
Netback

Am I crazy or should someone be able to create a bluetooth remote app? I used Saling Clicker on my old Nokia for years and it was awesome, never had to worry about Wi-Fi or networks. Just pair the devices and make it happen.

I thought they unlocked all of the bluetooth stuff on the iPhone now, or am I crazy?

August 17 2009 at 11:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Erling Ormar Vignisson

Well, we're paying 3.99 for the shortcuts but there's no remote viewing (VNC view) to see what you're doing... so this requires you to actually be in front of the computer. While you're there, why not use the keyboard? :|

Add a dollar more and get Remote Jr that does everything the Apple remote does (and more), plus it has the remote view of your desktop, application switching and launching, pointing, clicking, typing... and it works on both Mac and Windows. Again, that's by adding ~one~ more dollar.

August 17 2009 at 9:38 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Erling Ormar Vignisson's comment
Kristin

My five star goes to Remote Jr. as well.
http://www.remotejr.com/

I don't think there's any other Remote application that lets you search for files on your computer (both Mac and PC) and remotely launch them.
And you dont need to switch to a VNC application to see what you are controlling.

http://bit.ly/38Lgm

Also check out the reviews of the new version on the iTunes store...

August 17 2009 at 10:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Stephen Lang

I think the main benefit of this app is not to control your computer, but to give you quick access to special keyboard combination commands in apps such as Photoshop, Final Cut, etc. For general use it would not seem as useful, unless you have problems remembering Command-C and Command-P. ;-)

August 17 2009 at 11:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
zakmac27

Purchased Keymote this afternoon and immediately discovered a reproducible bug. After adding a second computer, the first computer added cannot be selected in the settings window. When trying to delete the first computer, the app crashes.

The developer states that this is known bug and a fix is being prepared.

August 16 2009 at 11:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tobias

I just found this http://code.google.com/p/telekinesis/ which is free and seems pretty slick. And Free - free is almost always good in my book.

August 16 2009 at 9:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Tobias's comment
Cheral

I tried a lot of these remote apps and the problem with most of them is that you can't use them without looking on your screen over and over again.

The only app that I found that lets me control my Mac without looking on the iPhone screen is Remote Buddy (http://www.iospirit.com/). It works with gestures, which I found to be surprisingly intuitive. I'm still evaluating, but so far I'm pretty happy with it.

August 16 2009 at 6:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Patrick Bateman

Has potential to become my new Plex remote.......

August 16 2009 at 5:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Patrick Bateman's comment
Ben

If you want the perfect Plex remote I recommend the iPhone app Snatch. It also lets you download/upload custom remote designs. Here are the 2 plex remotes that I use:

http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/Image:Plex_remote_final.jpg
http://wiki.plexapp.com/index.php/Image:Plex-screen02.jpg.

And here's the app's site http://www.hoofien.com/Snatch/

August 16 2009 at 5:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ruairidh

Bought Keymote seconds after I finished reading this post. It's totally worth the price tag. Incredibly useful, real easy to use and looks great too. I'm currently creating a keyset for Logic Studio.

August 16 2009 at 5:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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