Siri Remote
Apple's Siri Remote combines a touchpad with buttons, Bluetooth LE and a long-lasting, rechargeable li-ion battery into a compact form factor.
Supported features
Remote Buddy 2 supports the buttons and touch area of the Siri Remote to enable usage of the remote as trackpad, remote control and keyboard:
Different models
Depending on Siri Remote model, the hardware capabilities, minimum required macOS version and supported features differ.
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| 1st generation (2015) |
1st generation (2017 refresh) |
2nd generation (2021) |
3rd generation (2022) |
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| Model | A1513 | A1962 | A2540 | A2854 |
| Introduction | 2015 | 2017 | 2021 | 2022 |
| Availability | discontinued | discontinued | discontinued | available |
| macOS support | macOS 10.13 - macOS 14 | macOS 10.13 - macOS 14 | macOS 11.3.1 and later | macOS 13 and later |
| Buttons | 6 (+ 1 in touchpad) | 6 (+ 1 in touchpad) | 8 (+ 5 in clickpad) | 8 (+ 5 in clickpad) |
| Touch | multitouch touchpad | multitouch touchpad | multitouch clickpad | multitouch clickpad |
| Sensors | accelerometer gyroscope |
accelerometer 3-axis gyroscope |
- | - |
| Bluetooth | 4.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Battery | built-in, rechargeable li-ion battery | built-in, rechargeable li-ion battery | built-in, rechargeable li-ion battery | built-in, rechargeable li-ion battery |
| Charging port | Lightning | Lightning | Lightning | USB-C |
| Wake up Mac | no | no | no | no |
| Supported in Remote Buddy 2 | ||||
| Trackpad mode | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Clicking | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Scrolling | two finger gesture | two finger gesture | circular gesture on the ring; optionally also presses on the ring | circular gesture on the ring; optionally also presses on the ring |
| Scroll directions | up, down, left, right | up, down, left, right | up, down, left, right | up, down, left, right |
| Mousespot | yes, automatic, configurable | yes, automatic, configurable | yes, automatic, configurable | yes, automatic, configurable |
| Remote mode | touch-based, using swipe gestures and/or presses | touch-based, using swipe gestures and/or presses | button-based, using the buttons built into the clickpad | button-based, using the buttons built into the clickpad |
| Buttons | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Virtual Keyboard | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Automatic mode switch |
yes | yes | yes | yes |
Limitations
macOS 13 (Ventura) is required to use the latest, 3rd generation Siri Remote with USB-C charging port with Remote Buddy, because macOS Monterey - as of version 12.6 - does not include driver support for it.
At the time of writing, macOS 15 (Sequoia) is not able to create a new Bluetooth pairing with 1st generation Siri Remotes. Bluetooth pairings established with a 1st generation Siri Remote prior to upgrading to macOS 15 continue to work. In our testing, this issue only affects 1st generation Siri Remotes - with 2nd and 3rd generation Siri Remotes not affected.
We believe this to be a bug and have filed feedback with Apple (FB16417183). If you're also affected by this issue, we'd like to encourage you to also file feedback with Apple and mention FB16417183. This will make it more likely that Apple will give it attention.
As of macOS Big Sur 11.3.1, the Mac can not be woken up with the Siri Remote. The Siri Remote's microphone and IR transmitter are not supported by Remote Buddy 2.
Support for the Siri Remote in Remote Buddy 2 is only possible through the use of private APIs. While these private APIs have been stable and usable by 3rd party apps for many years, we can't guarantee that this will always be the case. Our ability to support the Siri Remote with future macOS releases fully depends on Apple's goodwill towards creative, useful apps like ours.
Topics
Remote Buddy FAQApps supporting Siri Remote
Datasheet
| Vendor | Apple |
| Technology | Bluetooth LE |
| Device Type | Remote |
| Minimum OS | macOS 10.13 (1st gen), macOS 11 (2nd gen), macOS 13 (3rd gen) |