Wired
After Apple removed the standalone Apple TV Remote app, a former Apple engineer posted a tweet on Twitter explaining how he helped design and develop the current Siri Remote.
Recently, Apple removed the first-party Remote app, which was first introduced as an iTunes Remote and later became a controller for Apple TV.After the application is removed, users can choose to use the Siri Remote that comes with Apple TV, or use the integrated remote control function of the iOS device control center.
Alan Cannistraro, a former Apple engineer who was in charge of the application, posted a series of tweets explaining the history of the tool within Apple since the first code was written in 2006.According to him, he started to write code using UI elements he created before he could view the iPhone user interface.
Steve Jobs was worried that the App Store would not be popular at the time, so he hoped that Apple had the app. Cannistraro was encouraged at the time. It was also the first production app used by the App Store team to try out the App Store’s “upload” Process”, thus becoming its first application.
The factory version is also a simplified version of Cannistraro’s work, because the prototype also enables controls to turn on and off the lights, TV and receiver through the IR adapter, as well as to save and restore the state of the room.This may be the predecessor of Apple’s smart home platform HomeKit.
Cannistraro claims that a later prototype in 2009 could use the iPhone’s touch screen as a computer mouse and “interact with photos, applications (the original TouchBar) and screen savers” on the Mac.
By 2010, Cannistraro once again discussed with Jobs a version of the Remote application that allowed sliding to control Apple TV.He said Jobs said at the time: “Our next Apple TV Remote should be a remote without a screen.”
Later, Siri Remote was released. Almost all Apple TV users are familiar with Siri Remote and use the same control mechanism.