Kickback Download
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New Version 0.1.0 for macOS 14 Sonoma and later

Your Mac,
made for the couch.

Kickback turns any Mac into a living-room TV box: a home screen of beautiful tiles for your apps and streaming sites, and a remote that is already in your pocket.

Download for MacSee what it does

Free remote for iPhone and Android · No account · No server

Music
App
Apps
Links
Shortcuts
Back or Home on the remote returns to Kickback
9:41
Living Room
RemoteTrackpadAppsControls
Kickback home
Swipe to move · Tap to select

This one is live.Swipe the remote, click a tile, or hover and use←↑↓→ and Return.Swipe the remote, or tap a tile twice to open it.

0servers between your phone and your Mac
6digits to pair. No account, ever
2ways to connect: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth LE
1payment. The remote is free
The launcher

A home screen worth
sitting back for.

Apps, websites and Shortcuts become big, focusable tiles you can read from across the room. Artwork and colors are picked up automatically, and the tile in focus lifts, tilts and catches the light.

The Kickback launcher: rows of large tiles for Safari, TV, Music, Photos and Podcasts, with Music in focus and a red glow across the top of the screen.The Ask Kickback panel over a blurred launcher, with suggestions such as “Open YouTube and dim the screen”.Kickback Settings: Full Screen, Start in Full Screen, Dedicated TV Mode, Display and Screensaver.

Real screenshots of Kickback 0.1.0 on macOS.

Tiles for everything

Mac apps, any web link, and your Shortcuts. Group them into rows, reorder them, and give any tile custom artwork.

Dedicated TV Mode

For the Mac mini behind the TV: launch at login, stay full screen, open apps full screen, and keep the display awake.

Links that behave

Links open in the service's own Mac app when you have it. In the browser, Kickback reuses the tab that is already open instead of piling up new ones.

The remote

Already in
your pocket.

The free remote for iPhone and Android finds your Mac on its own. Swipe to move, tap to select, and reach for a trackpad or keyboard when a web page needs one.

  • Swipe pad or D-pad, with haptics on every press
  • Trackpad and live keyboard: the keyboard appears when a text field does
  • Dictation: hold the mic, speak, let go
  • Your tiles on your phone: launch, add, reorder and remove
  • Volume buttons and lock screen control the Mac too
The remote's Apps tab: a grid of the Mac's tiles, including Safari, TV, Music and Photos.
The remote's main tab: a large swipe pad above Back, Home, Keyboard and Hold to talk buttons and media keys.
The remote's Controls tab: scenes, Now Playing, Do Not Disturb, brightness and volume sliders, and audio output.
Everything else

It does the fiddly parts,
so you stay on the sofa.

A remote that knows what's on

The remote reshapes itself for whatever is in front on the Mac: video sites and players, music apps, browsers, or any other app.

Scenes: one tap, many steps

Try one. Scenes can set any control, open a tile, run a Shortcut or start the sleep timer.

Pick a scene to run it here.

Night DriveCoastal FM · Music
1:12−2:41

Now Playing

Artwork, a scrubber and transport for whatever the Mac is playing: Music, Spotify, Podcasts or a browser tab.

Switch apps and tabs

Double-press Home for a grid of running apps and open browser tabs. Tap to switch, hold to quit or close.

Sleep timer

15 minutes to two hours, or the end of this track. Then it pauses, and can sleep the display or the Mac.

Game controllers welcome

PlayStation, Xbox and MFi controllers drive the launcher. In a game, only the Home button belongs to Kickback.

D-pad / stick
Navigate
A
Select
B
Back
X
Play/Pause
L1 / R1
Previous / Next
Menu
Tile options

And a long tail of thoughtful extras

Wake on LAN Window snapping Audio output switching Clipboard sync Shortcuts as tiles Share to TV Dictation Lock-screen controls Trackpad mode Live keyboard
See every feature
Apple Intelligence

Just ask.

Say what you want in plain words. Kickback turns it into its own real actions, and checks every name against what is actually on your Mac, so it cannot invent anything.

  • Private by design. It all runs on the Mac, so Android phones get it too.
  • Describe a scene and get a name, icon and steps to review.
  • Smart Clipboard turns a pasted link, address or tracking number into the next step on the TV.
  • Organize Tiles suggests clean names and tidy rows. Nothing changes until you apply it.

Needs macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon with Apple Intelligence on. Everything else runs on Sonoma.

Ask Kickback
    The Ask sheet on the phone remote, with a text field, a microphone button and example requests.
    Private by architecture

    No cloud. No account.
    Nothing in between.

    Your phone talks straight to your Mac over your own network or Bluetooth. After a 6-digit pairing code, every message is end-to-end encrypted with keys only those two devices hold.

    Your phoneiPhone or Android
    Your MacmacOS 14 Sonoma or later

    Wi-Fi or Bluetooth LE · end-to-end encrypted

    No relay server. No sign-in. No analytics.

    Modern cryptography

    X25519 key agreement and ChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption, with the pairing code mixed into the first handshake.

    On-device intelligence

    Ask, Smart Clipboard and Organize Tiles use Apple Intelligence on your Mac. Requests never go to us.

    You hold the keys

    See every paired remote in Settings and remove any of them. Turn off new pairings entirely when you are done.

    How Kickback handles your data

    Two minutes

    Set up before the popcorn's done.

    1. 1

      Install Kickback on your Mac

      Open it, and it walks you through the permissions it needs so your phone can find it and send keys.

    2. 2

      Get the free remote

      Install the remote on iPhone or Android. Your Mac appears on its own; no address to type.

      Living Room Connect
    3. 3

      Enter the 6-digit code

      Your Mac shows a code, you type it once, and the two are paired. From then on the remote reconnects by itself.

      482916
    Pricing

    Pay once.
    Own it.

    No subscription. The Mac app is a one-time purchase with a 3-day free trial, and the remote is free on every phone in the house.

    Start free trialSee pricing
    $5one-time · every feature
    • The full tvOS-style launcher
    • Now Playing with artwork and seeking
    • Brightness, Night Shift and Dark Mode
    • Browser tab reuse and tab switching
    • Ask, Smart Clipboard and Organize Tiles
    Questions

    Good to know.

    What is Kickback, exactly?

    Two apps that work together. On your Mac, Kickback is a full-screen launcher of large, focusable tiles for your apps, websites and Shortcuts, in the spirit of a set-top box home screen. On your phone, the free remote app drives it: swipe pad, trackpad, keyboard, media keys and more.

    Do I need an Apple TV or any extra hardware?

    No. A Mac connected to a TV or display (HDMI, a dock, or just a laptop on the coffee table) and a phone are all you need. A Mac mini behind the TV is the classic setup.

    How do the phone and Mac connect?

    Directly, over your Wi-Fi network (Bonjour discovery and a WebSocket) or over Bluetooth LE. There is no relay server in between and nothing to sign in to.

    Is my data sent anywhere?

    No. Kickback has no server and no account system. Your tiles, scenes and paired remotes are stored on your Mac. The only network requests the Mac makes on its own are to fetch artwork and icons for the sites you add as tiles, and, while Show What’s New is on, public show listings from TVmaze and Apple’s music and movie charts. Those lists are the same for everyone in your region: Kickback never sends what you watch or which apps you have.

    Is it a subscription?

    No. Kickback for Mac is a one-time purchase and the phone remote is free.

    Read the full FAQ

    Lean back.
    Your Mac's got this.

    Download for Mac Get the remote

    macOS 14 Sonoma or later · iPhone and Android