Lost the remote? Use an app instead

The standard TV remote control, lost so many times beneath sofa cushions, may soon be lost to history.

Good riddance, says Chris Lavoie, a radio producer living in Los Angeles. Taking advantage of advances in smartphones, Mr. Lavoie uses an app on his iPhone to control his Apple TV set-top box and search for things to watch.

But the phone is not a perfect solution. Its tendency to go into "sleep" mode can be annoying, Mr. Lavoie said, because it takes several steps to reactivate it before he can use, say, the pause button.

For basic functions, he still uses the remote that came with the box.

TV viewing habits are changing as more Internet and on-demand content -- YouTube videos, streaming movies, shopping sites, Facebook photos -- flows directly onto big screens.

Navigating all of that demands more action from the viewer, including a fair amount of typing, which current remotes cannot handle.