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1. The short answer
Yes, a phone can turn a television on — but not the way most people picture it. Your phone has no infrared emitter, so it cannot imitate the remote that came in the box. What it can do is reach the television over your Wi-Fi network, and a television that is switched off is still listening on that network if you let it.
There are three routes, in the order they are worth trying:
- Wake-on-LAN. The phone sends a small packet to the television's network address and the set comes out of standby. This is the real answer and it works from fully off.
- A device already plugged into the HDMI port. A console, streaming stick or Blu-ray player can switch the television on through HDMI-CEC — and most of those have phone apps of their own.
- The television's own app. Some manufacturers let their app power the set on, which is the same Wake-on-LAN mechanism wearing a brand name.
What will not work: a smart plug. Most televisions return to standby rather than switching on when mains power comes back, so you get a dark screen and a confused set. Cutting mains power repeatedly is also not good for the electronics.
2. Wake-on-LAN — the method that actually works
Wake-on-LAN is a decades-old network feature that most modern televisions quietly support. A specially shaped packet, addressed to the set's network hardware, tells it to power up. The television does not need to be running an app or listening to anything else — the network chip itself answers while the rest of the set sleeps.
It has to be switched on in the television's own menus first, and every manufacturer calls it something different, which is why most people never find it:
| Brand | What the setting is called |
|---|---|
| LG (webOS) | Mobile TV On |
| Samsung (Tizen) | Power On with Mobile / Network Standby |
| Android TV · Google TV | Networked standby / Wake on LAN |
| Sony (Bravia) | Remote start |
| Roku | Fast TV start |
Turn it on now, while the television is on and you can reach the menus. It costs a very small amount of standby power, and it is the difference between a phone that can start your television and one that can only control it once it is already running.
3. The second condition nobody mentions
Wake-on-LAN needs the television's hardware address — its MAC address — and an app can only learn that while it is connected. A television that has never been paired is invisible: there is no address to send the packet to. So the order matters:
- Turn the television on with its own remote, or with the button on the set itself.
- Open the remote app and let it find and save the television. This is when the address is learned.
- While you are still in the television's menus, switch on Wake-on-LAN under its network settings.
- Switch the television off properly — with the remote or the app, not at the wall socket.
- Now try waking it from the phone. From this point on it works from cold.
If you skip the pairing step and wonder why nothing happens, this is almost always the reason. It is not a fault; the app simply has no address to aim at.
4. Which televisions can be woken this way
Network wake works on sets that keep their network interface alive in standby. In practice:
- LG (webOS, roughly 2014 onward) — reliable, and the setting is easy to find under the general or network menu.
- Samsung (Tizen, roughly 2016 onward) — supported, though the setting name varies by model year.
- Android TV and Google TV — supported on most sets, including Sony, Philips, TCL, Hisense and Xiaomi models, plus NVIDIA Shield and Chromecast with Google TV.
- Roku — slightly different: “Fast TV start” keeps the set reachable rather than waking it from deep sleep, which amounts to the same thing for you.
Televisions with no network connection at all cannot be woken by any app, on any platform. For those the only options are the button on the set, a device on the HDMI port, or a replacement infrared remote.
5. Why your phone cannot simply beam the signal
This is the misunderstanding behind most one-star reviews of remote apps. The remote that came with your television speaks infrared: an invisible light, line of sight, no network involved. To copy it, a phone would need an infrared emitter.
No iPhone has ever had one. Android phones that did were largely discontinued around 2015 and 2016, with a handful of exceptions. So no app, however well written, can make a modern phone behave like the original remote. Every working phone remote goes over the network instead — which is also why it can do things the original cannot, such as waking the set from off.
A network remote needs Wi-Fi, not internet. If your broadband is down the remote still works, because the command never leaves the house.
6. If you cannot get into the menus at all
Setting any of this up needs one trip through the television's menus, and that needs the set to be on. If you have no working remote at all right now:
- Use the control on the body of the television. On most modern sets it is a single small joystick under the centre of the panel, below the logo. Press it once to switch on.
- Press a button on anything connected by HDMI. A games console or streaming stick with HDMI-CEC enabled will switch the television on and select its own input.
- Borrow a universal remote for the five minutes it takes to enable Wake-on-LAN, and you will not need it again.
Our guide to using a television with no remote at all covers where that hidden button sits on each brand, and what to do when the set ignores it.