Launched in early June on Kickstarter, Kiwi plug is an accessory that will transform your smartphone (iOS or Android) into a universal remote control.
Count all the devices in your home that have a remote control: TV, stereo, video projector, air conditioner, camera, DVD player… Now count the number of times you look for these remote controls…
Yeah, that's a lot of remotes and wasted time, huh!
It is on the basis of this observation that the Kiwi plug project was born. More than a universal remote control, the Kiwi plug will transform an object that you always have at hand, your smartphone, into a universal remote control!
The Kiwi plug comes in the form of a small white plastic pebble with a 3.5mm male jack plug and a micro-USB input for recharging (approximately every 6 months). It is compatible with all devices controlled by an infrared remote control.
To use it, the first thing to do is to download the free Kiwi Plug application from the App Store or Google Play.
Once the Kiwi plug is plugged in and the app launched on your smartphone, you will be able to configure all the remote controls in your home one by one.
For this, you have a list of brands classified by product type in order to find the remote controls for your different devices. If you find the one that suits you, you just have to save it, otherwise you will be able to create it yourself.
The process of creating a remote control is quite amazing (although a bit laborious since you will have to configure the buttons one by one). Indeed, once you have started creating your personalized remote control, you will have to press in turn each of the buttons on the remote control that you want to program and assign a function to it in the application (On, Volume +, Forward, Backward, Pause, etc.). And it really works. The Kiwi plug acts as an infrared receiver to decrypt the signals emitted by your remote control and thus be able to reproduce them!
Over time, the remote control database will be enriched with all the creations of the product's users and it should be rare not to find your remote control!
Once launched, the Kiwi plug should be marketed at the very reasonable price of €29, but you can already participate to fund the campaign on Kickstarter and get this accessory for just €19 thanks to the Early Birds formula for the first 500 participants in the financing.
And for more information, you can watch the official video of the project:
Article updated on January 24, 2021 by Byothe
