RIP Remote. First app on the App Store; 14 years since I wrote its first line of code. https://apple.news/A2umO0obCSpqvMr2FWCfzVw

Quick facts: 1) I started writing it in 2006, before I could even see the iPhone UI (I made my own UI elements); 2) When Steve saw it, he was nervous the App Store wouldn’t be a hit, so he wanted Apple to have apps (we also had Hold’Em)

5) A year later (2009) I had also built prototypes in Remote that would let your phone touchscreen be your mouse for your computer, and to interact with photos, applications (the original TouchBar) and screensavers on your Mac.

7) I was pitching a larger idea around device communication that never got off the ground (too early?). Predecessor to HomeKit & AirPlay. I had devices from Denon, Marantz, Sharp that spoke a protocol I designed so you could turn them on/off, change inputs and volume, tone, etc.

3) It was the first production App the App Store team used to test their upload flow to the Store, hence first app on the App Store!

4) While we shipped it only with iTunes and Apple TV control, my prototype also allowed me to turn on/off lights, TVs and Receivers (via an IR adaptor), and save and resume a room’s state as a “Scene”.

6) In 2010, I sat down with with Steve to show him how Remote controlled Apple TV with swipes, and he said, “our next Apple TV Remote should be this without a screen”. It took five years (lots of stuff paused when Steve died), but eventually Siri Remote came out and was just that