I miss having a phone with an IR blaster.
this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2025
425 points (99.3% liked)
Political Memes
8305 readers
3416 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Samsung S4 ... it took me a long while to figure out that I could program it to control most things with a IR signal
A fantastic phone because it was one of the last models to have a replaceable battery ... a SDXC memory card slot ... temperature gauge / humidity / barometer sensor .... a heart monitor tester ... and a headphone jack!
By the time I knew how to use it, I had already upgraded to the latest Samsung phones
All that while being water resistant btw
My friend had a watch with one. Of course he got in trouble at school when he used it. Of course it was hilarious.
My old PSP had a program that turned it into a remote control.
There used to be either a Japanese app or a homebrew app for the ds i think that used the ir in it. Also the wiimote was going to have that functionality aswell.
Most Chinese phone brands still have them and even come with universal remote software that works quite well.
Its just Apple, Samsung and Google that don't seem to appreciate you having that feature.
My Samsung S6 had an IR sender in the front. It was the best feature ever on a phone. I had a remote controll app and could control any TV wherever I went. With just my phone.
My favourite is to just get an old 3.5mm stereo male cord and cut off the end and carry the end around. Carry a few around with you when you think you might need one. When you see a public TV blaring whatever, just plug in the cord into the audio output of the TV and it will turn off the sound on most TVs
No remote or setting will ever change it until someone figures out what happened to the plug
I love this for accessible tvs. Right amount of chaotic
Or just get an Android phone with IR Blaster and use the SURE app. Yes they do still make them.
Don't need the entire phone. I picked up a little usb-c IR dongle with a remote app and keychain attachment. Smaller than a thumb-drive.
What app do you use? I've got one of these but the only app I could find requires play services
The one I have is called ZaZa Remote.
which ones?
i still keep my old lg v20 with LineageOS on it for this reason (not my daily driver)
Check gsmarena.com
If you get a flipper zero you can run a script that automatically switches any public tv to MSNBC, if the TV is "Smart" it can run proper workers content like Anark and the deprogram
I miss my built-in IR emitter on my phone.
I used to use an app that would rotate through a bunch of common signals for "off" and I'd just stop it when the annoying-ass TV turned off.
Nobody would even notice, because I'm just another person on their phone, not some rando with a remote out in the lobby.
You can get USB-C IR blasters and add it to any phone. Also there are some 3.5mm headphone jack ones too but I'm not sure if those would be supported as well.
Agreed. Bring back IR blasters on phones already. Incredibly cheap and useful tech.
When I was a teenager, I had a watch with an IR blaster and a few basic buttons (power, volume) built into it. I forget exactly how it worked; I think you would press the button you wanted and it would send out a bunch of common codes to control any nearby TV. Its intended use case was to do what the post describes, but more discreetly than pulling out a TV remote. I never got the chance to use it to that end, or maybe I wasn't brave enough to try, but I loved the idea.
Had a similar Casio. There's still mobile phones with IR blasters like the Galaxy Note 3, used that to change channels in a dentist's waiting room.
Many chinese phones still have these built in
Use the flipper 0 every day.
Ir blaster is a joy. You can get attachments from Etsy that increase the range crazy far.
Is it me or do remotes have to many buttons these days?
Was in waiting room for surgery and they had faux news on…
When I was recovering from surgery last year my hospital room had a GIANT screen staring me down. I work with computers all day I see enough screens, even turned off the thing was haunting me. I asked if they could cover it with anything and half an hour later a squad of nurses with a sheet and chairs came in and covered it for me. They were both confused and excited it was great
I wish we had heavy ordinance like the founders intended, could shut up Faux real fucken quick. Just a 380 barage for a ten minute period would be enough to ruin both the infrastructure and kill most everyone involved.
scissors
apply liberally and with force
The days of the palm pilot with an IR blaster were awesome. I'm sure there is a USB device that can be used with phones.
Hell, you can get this for your phone.
I lost the remote to my TV one time and I found a universal remote I could use on my phone. Worked great.
Not if you don't have IR on your phone, or connected to the same network the tv is on.
Yesss all two modern phones with IR
Yes let's put on our "preferred" propaganda.