By Klaus Jakobsen, developer of A Decent Remote Sony is a two-protocol brand, and that’s good news for a lost remote: both ways in show a PIN on the TV screen. Neither needs the remote you lost.
Most Sony smart TVs run Android TV / Google TV, so everything in the Android TV guide applies. But Bravia sets also speak Sony’s own IP control protocol, which reaches back to around 2013, covering older Sonys that predate Android TV entirely.
How do I pair an iPhone with a Sony Bravia?
- iPhone on the same Wi-Fi as the TV.
- Open A Decent Remote. Bravia TVs are discovered automatically.
- Tap the TV. A 4-digit PIN appears on screen; type it in the app.
That’s the whole flow. You get navigation, volume, inputs, app launching and power. Bravias stay reachable in standby, so turning the TV back on from the phone works.
Why do Sony remote apps keep asking to re-pair?
A quirk worth knowing because it separates good Sony remote apps from bad ones: Sony’s PIN registration expires after about two weeks, and on some firmware a TV reboot kills it early. Apps that handle this properly re-register silently in the background while the session is still valid, so the PIN never reappears. A Decent Remote does this automatically.
If you want the bulletproof version: set a pre-shared key on the TV under Settings → Network → Home Network → IP Control (“Authentication: Normal and Pre-Shared Key”). A PSK never expires and survives anything short of a factory reset. Enter it once in the app and the PIN dance is gone forever.
What are the other options for a Sony TV?
Replacement Sony remotes run $15-$40, and Sony mostly points users at the generic Google TV app these days. A Decent Remote speaks both of Sony’s protocols, renews the expiring session silently so you never see the PIN twice, supports the never-expires PSK option for power users, and runs the Roku, Samsung, LG, Fire TV and whatever else the house accumulates from the same screen.