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Meet Airfoil for Mac’s New Companion: Airfoil Remote
Posted By Paul Kafasis on July 16th, 2013
Airfoil for Mac is one of our most popular applications, and over the years it’s helped tens of thousands of users stream audio to compatible devices all around their houses. One of the most common feature requests we’ve received has been the ability to control Airfoil for Mac remotely. Today, we’re very pleased to be able to introduce an iOS application to make that possible: Airfoil Remote.
With Airfoil Remote, you can use any iOS device to control Airfoil running on your Mac. No matter where you are in your house, you can turn speakers on or off, adjust their volume, and even change the source application from which Airfoil is pulling audio. As well, Airfoil Remote can control over a dozen audio sources playing through Airfoil, including Spotify, Rdio, and many more!
Whether you’re hosting a party, or just too tired to get up off the couch, Airfoil Remote provides you with full control over your audio streaming. Awesome!
Key Features in Airfoil Remote
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Full control of Airfoil for Mac, right from iOS. Toggle outputs on or off, and adjust their individual volumes too.
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Better yet, you can switch the source Airfoil for Mac is pulling audio from, wirelessly.
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Control playback of over a dozen of the most popular Mac audio players, including Spotify, Rdio, Last.fm, MOG, and many more!
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See what’s playing too, with title and artist metadata, as well as album artwork.
Get It in the App Store
Airfoil Remote is the perfect audio playback companion, giving you full control of Airfoil for Mac right from the palm of your hand. It’s available right now for purchase right from the iOS App Store. It features full interface support for both 3.5″ and 4″ iPhones, as well as the iPad and iPad Mini’s displays. Learn more on the Airfoil Remote page, then purchase in the App Store today!
Airfoil Remote is fully universal and compatible with all iPhones, iPads, and iPods Touch running iOS 5.0 or higher.
Don’t Forget to Update Airfoil for Mac
To use Airfoil Remote, you’ll need to update Airfoil for Mac to version 4.8 (or higher). Do note that Airfoil for Mac now requires Mac OS X 10.7 or higher.1 This is a free update for all Airfoil 4 users, so we certainly recommend getting it now by choosing “Check for Update” right inside Airfoil (it’s in the Airfoil menu). You can also learn more and download it from the Airfoil for Mac page. In addition to full support for Airfoil Remote, this update to Airfoil for Mac includes a slew of minor bug fixes and improvements, and it is of course recommended for all users. Update today!
Closing
We hope users who already love Airfoil for Mac will find Airfoil Remote to be a useful companion. Be sure to grab Airfoil for Mac version 4.8, then learn more about Airfoil Remote. We think you’re going to love it!
P.S. A Note to Users of “Reemote for Airfoil”
As some folks will be able to discern, Airfoil Remote has evolved from a product called Reemote for Airfoil, by our colleague and friend Kai Aras of 010dev. We’ve acquired Reemote for Airfoil from Kai, and made Airfoil Remote a free update for previous purchasers.2 We hope you enjoy it! You’ll no longer need to use the Reemote Server on your Mac – it’s all built into Airfoil now.
If you have any questions, please contact us directly.
P.P.S. A Note to Airfoil for Windows Users
Airfoil Remote is not compatible with Airfoil for Windows. Yet.
Footnotes:
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If you’re still on Mac OS X 10.6 or below, you’ll need the newest possible version for your OS, available from our Legacy page. Airfoil 4.7.5 on Mac OS X 10.6 will work with Airfoil Remote, but it will require running the “Reemote Server” application. See this page for details.↩
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Unfortunately, Apple has not made it possible to provide a free upgrade to the iPad-only Reemote for Airfoil HD. That product has been removed from the store (though existing customers can still download the last version). We encourage all iPad users to purchase Airfoil Remote, which is now universal. ↩
Thomas Carroll says:
July 16th, 2013 at 1:53 pmThis is great news — one less thing running on my system is always a good thing. Will there be an update to the “Reemote for Airfoil” mac application? (I own the iphone, ipad and mac clients)
Paul Kafasis says:
July 16th, 2013 at 2:05 pmThomas: We’re still determining what we’ll do with Reemote for Airfoil on the Mac side. For now, the old version should work fine. Stay tuned!
Scott says:
July 16th, 2013 at 4:40 pmSo glad to see this, now the Airfoil family is really becoming a full replacement for Sonos. I’ve been putting off buying one of the Reemote versions or similar apps, now my decision is easy. Already got the app, can’t wait to play around with this in a couple hours.
Brian B. says:
July 16th, 2013 at 10:27 pm“We encourage all iPad users to purchase Airfoil Remote, which is now universal.” I’ve gotta say this feels like a bum deal. Just over a year ago I spend $4.99 for the iPad app. Rogue buys the app out and for what appears on the surface to be little more than a re-branding* I have to pay another $4.99? So Apple doesn’t allow “free” upgrades. You can’t make it .99 cents for a limited time and send an email to Kai’s previously loyal customers?
I’m both an Airfoil and Audio Hijack Pro owner and I just have to say BOOOOO! to this. Yeah, I am *itching about $5. It’s a remote control app for another application I ALSO PAID FOR.
(*If there are major feature upgrades in the new app feel free to detail them because I’m not seeing it. And I could care less if it’s “universal” I don’t own an iPhone),
Paul Kafasis says:
July 16th, 2013 at 11:25 pmBrian B. I’m sorry you’re feeling this is “a bum deal”. Here are a few things worth noting:
First, your current version will continue to work just fine, for some time to come.
Second, your existing app (Reemote HD) no longer requires the Reemote Server app to work with Airfoil – that’s an improvement for you, at no cost at all.
Finally, we have absolutely no way to reach the previous purchasers of the software. Apple does not provide ANY information on who has bought software, and it’s unfortunate that more customers aren’t aware of that. Because we’re left in the dark, even if we did opt to discount the app for a brief period (at a great cost of lost revenue on new sales), we’d have no way to inform users of the iPad version about it.
We’ve attempted to do what’s best (provide a free update), for as many users as possible (the vast majority of purchases were on the standard version, which is why it was chosen to be updated). Unfortunately, Apple’s App Store prevents us from doing what we’d really like (give the upgrade to all users) in any reasonable way. Sadly, that’s not something we can control.
David says:
July 17th, 2013 at 3:44 amThis is a great idea and it looks nicely done as usual, but, and I don’t mind being the one to ask – Android?
Charles Thornhill says:
July 17th, 2013 at 4:16 amI have all 3 Reemote apps. Before I upgrade, can I use the IPad and Mac versions without having the Reemotr Server running once I upgrade to the latest Airfoil and iOS Remote?
Dave says:
July 17th, 2013 at 1:16 pmThis is great – love not having to run another server program to make this work. Well done!
Now if you’ll just allow the Airfoil menu bar dropdown to be persistent through “Transmit To:” clicks, Airfoil will be perfect!
David says:
July 17th, 2013 at 4:17 pmHi-
Any word on when Pandora support will be added? That’s the last thing this app needs to be 100% perfect.
Thank you!
David
Paul Kafasis says:
July 18th, 2013 at 2:34 amDavid: At this time, we have no plans for Airfoil Remote for Android. We’ll see what happens though.
Charles Thornhill: Yes, that’s correct.
Dave: I’m afraid I don’t follow what you’re asking for here.
David: Unfortunately, Pandora’s desktop client is not at all controllable by other apps. We’ve been hoping Pandora would release a more powerful, fully-featured desktop client for some time now, but until they do, there’s no way for us to control it.
And remember, if you require a response, please be sure to contact us directly.
Scott Ahlsmith says:
July 18th, 2013 at 11:46 amLive the new Remote app. It connected to my network and found Airfoil within seconds of installing. The volume controls are very helpful as I have six different speaker zones and now I can adjust each without returning to the room where my MacBook Pro is running.
Wish list (great software is never done!):
Mute System and Mute Speaker so I don’t have to reset the volume when I want to lower the volume for a phone call or conversation.
System Volume Control–This was available immediately after installation, but then disappeared.
Timed On and Shut-off: Similar to the old clock radio days
I love being able to launch Pandora and understand why you can’t control it or read its meta data, but it would be nice to be able to exit the app so it doesn’t time-out when I switch to NPR on Firefox.
I have more requests, but I support the kaizen approach to development and these enhancements are from the top of my list.
All in all, nice work! This app solves several problems for me and works as advertised!
Scott
Paul Kafasis says:
July 19th, 2013 at 1:24 pmScott Ahlsmith: I’m glad we could help out!
Mute/Unmute options are a nice idea – we’ll see what happens there.
System (global) volume control is found at the very bottom of the screen, below the playback controls. If you’re not seeing that, we’ll need more details – contact us directly for support.
Timed On/Off – This would really be an Airfoil feature, and I can’t say it’s one we’re likely to add. We’ll see though.
As far as Pandora goes, I’m afraid I don’t follow. In Airfoil Remote, you select Pandora and it launches for playback. Later, you want to switch to Firefox (in Airfoil Remote again?). What happens, what’s the issue?
As I said, I’d recommend getting in touch with us directly for more!
DAS says:
July 21st, 2013 at 12:11 amThe suite of Airfoil products – Airfoil, Airfoil Speakers and now Remote – is simply terrific. Reemote was a great idea and we owe Kai Aras a huge thanks. But I do like having all-in-one and being about to trash the Reemote server!