Skip to content
TV Remotely
Get

Everyday control

Remove an old phone’s access to your TV remote

There is no single place to remove a phone from a TV. Which step works depends on how the phone got control: through the TV’s own approved-device list, through a manufacturer account, or just by being on your Wi-Fi. For most local-network remotes the fastest and most reliable way to end an old phone’s access is to change the Wi-Fi password.

By TV Remotely · Updated · Sources and testing policy

Work out how the phone got access

  • Approved on the TV: Samsung, LG and Android TV ask you to accept a prompt or PIN the first time. The TV remembers the phone.
  • Through an account: SmartThings, ThinQ and similar apps tie the TV to your account, so anyone you added to that household or location can use it.
  • Just by being on the network: some TVs (Roku in Permissive mode) accept commands from any device on the local network without per-phone approval.

Remove access at each layer

  1. On the TV, open its device or connection list. Samsung documents Device Connect Manager → Device List on supported TVs; remove the old phone.

    The entry disappears from the list.

    If your model has no list (Android TV/Google TV doesn’t offer one), go to the next step.

  2. In the manufacturer account (SmartThings, ThinQ, Roku or Amazon) remove the person or device. Check what else the person has access to before removing them.

    The phone loses account-based control.

    If the phone isn’t in the account, its access wasn’t account-based.

  3. Change the Wi-Fi password and reconnect your own devices, including the TV, to the new network.

    Any phone that doesn’t have the new password is no longer on the network, so it can’t reach the TV at all.

    Don’t forget smart speakers and plugs that also need the new password.

  4. On Roku, open Settings → System → Advanced system settings → Control by mobile apps and choose the most restrictive access level that still lets your own phone work (the Roku guide in the related links explains the options).

    Unknown apps can’t send commands.

    This isn’t a per-phone list. It controls the whole network.

The old phone itself

If the old phone is yours, delete the TV from the app and, on iPhone, turn off the app’s access under Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network. That only changes that phone. It doesn’t revoke anything on the TV or in your account. For a lost or stolen phone, change the password for the TV account (Samsung, LG, Google, Amazon, Roku) and sign out of the lost device from the account’s device list.

Android TV and Google TV

Google doesn’t publish a list of paired phones for the Android TV Remote Service. Owners commonly report that clearing the remote service’s app data on the TV (Settings → Apps → See all apps → Show system apps → Android TV Remote Service → Clear data) forgets all paired phones, so you pair your own again afterwards. This isn’t documented by Google and menu names vary, so treat it as a last step, not a first one.

Related guidance

Sources for these instructions