iPad remote control for Keynote?

Ginny, the links you're providing here, in some excess, really don't answer the question, or the issues I noted.

And the obfuscation and unnecessary multiple posts don't give a positive impression of your company.

Hi Tulse: pls let me know if you find this airturn approach actually works. I too am suspicious of the ad blitz, but, like you, I need a solution better than the iPhone remote. Thanks again for keeping us all informed on this important topic.

btw, I had a chance to speak with an Apple engineer a while back, and he acknowledged the need for a sensible BT remote for iPad. He also hinted that Apple really was thinking abt ways to meet this need.

I bought a mini bluetooth keyboard which works well with the iPad to advance tracks, type and adjust volume, but the minute you go into Keynote the keyboard stops working. It seems Apple have chosen not to integrate Keynote with the basic inputs that work generally with the iPad - which is why you have to discover your remote within Keynote itself when using an iPhone as a remote. Surely this is nothing more than a software tweak to get any bluetooth device to connect?

I also took a chance and plugged the bluetooth dongle from my much loved and faithful Kensington remote into the camera kit. It comes up with the usual 'device not supported' nonsense, but unlike a regular usb keyboard plugged into an iPad it does not adnvance the slides. Very frustrating.

I just looked at the link last posted by Ginny (AirTurn). Their need was for a footswitch controlled remote for musicians (certainly sensible), and the video link provided shows that it indeed works. It would seem simple enough to devise a small hand-held BT switcher like the Logitec to replace the footswitch. How abt it Ginny (just one post pls)?

Dab, I think that you will find that although it may work with many other apps it still will not work with Keynote. My opinion is that Keynote is the issue, not iOS or hardware. You get adaptors that allow you to run vga out and usb memory devices simultaneously. If only Apple would open up the communication between USB input devices and Keynote the problem would be solved. Then even the Kensington which Apple sells will work.

The technical issue, as far as I can see, is simply that Keynote itself (and not iOS in general) does not support the standard Bluetooth "Human Interface Device Profile". This is a standard that defines basic keyboard and mouse input for Bluetooth, and is what devices like keyboards use. It is also the profile that some third parties use for alternate devices, mapping things like cursor controls and mouse clicks to other bits of hardware, like a handheld clicker.

Instead of supporting this common standard for Keynote remote control, Apple seems to have intentionally chosen to create its own solution, one that only works with iPhones. I say "intentionally", because the HID profile already works on iOS in general (which is why, for example, any third party Bluetooth keyboard works), and it would seemingly entail effort on Apple's part to prevent it from working in this case.

(This is also why I am dubious of Ginny's claims -- as far as I know, Apple has not released/licensed its proprietary Keynote remote method to anyone else, and no standard Bluetooth profile works.)

So in short, Apple could fix this situation with almost no effort, by allowing Keynote for iOS to be controlled by the standard HID Bluetooth profile, just like it is on OS X. Support for this profile already exists in iOS, so it would only be a matter of letting Keynote "listen" for such devices when in presentation mode. If Apple did this, a huge array of third party Bluetooth clickers and controllers would be available to presenters. Until it does so, we're stuck with only the iPhone.

Precisely, but instead they spend their time over-engineering a display and trying to get 4 times more pixels than the human eye can even perceive - that's what you get when you refuse to do market research and insist that "it's not the consumers' job to know what they want". I'm glad that I didn't jump in at the deep end with Apple. The iPad I bought to use for presentations is being used by my kids as a toy - totally useless to me. Will stick with my faithful Sony Vaio...

The ultimate presentation tool is not based on iOS, but on Mac OS X. Mostly if you need as much as possible compatibility with the Keynote and PowerwPoint created on a Mac or Windows desktop or laptop. And even then the compatibility is not always 100%. There are incompatibilities even between different versions of Keynote, between different versions of PowerPoint, and even more between Windows and Mac and iOS and Mac.

Currently the best presentation tool from Apple is the MacBook Air 11-inch. Hopefully a 400 to 600 g Mac (whatever form factor: clamshell, slider or tablet) will be available in the future, being as small as possible. The Mac in your pocket, purse or bag. Always. It is not for heavy work. Just for the Keynote and PowerPoint presentations.

Hi have you guys tried using your apple tv, with a wifi connection and your ipad...I currently connect my apple tv to my projector with an hdmi cable. I added the apple tv and my ipad to the wireless connection and in a crunch I use my wifi hotspot on my phone. I use the IPAD with keynote or any other program and use the airplay feature to wirelessly connect my ipad to the apple tv/ which is connected to the projector.

I can control the presentation and any other program on my ipad or itouch and how it displays on the overhead projector.

Thanks,

Steven Hernandez

Steven,

That's an idea a couple of us were talking about during a meeting last week. I had my iPad connected to a projector by VGA cable, as it's an older projector without HDMI input, and we were commenting on a need to do that wirelessly. Another use for this is at trade shows. Set up a large screen TV with an Apple TV and a local WiFi bubble. A show staffer with an iPad can walk over to the TV, activate mirroring, and show a visitor a much larger display of what is appearing on the iPad. I priced all the parts, including a portable TV stand, and this can happen for around $800. It's also usable again and again.

There are some very small, inexpensive routers available. One I saw on Cult of Mac is the TP-Link 702N, which is barely the size of a credit card. I don't know how effective this particular model is, but it's one of many small, reasonably priced routers. Although, if you have a new Verizon iPad with a hotspot, I suppose you don't have to worry about the router.

But still, everyone here keeps running around with duct tape and bungie cords trying to find a way around a simple need. Just give us the ability to have a small, hand-held clicker that works via Bluetooth so we don't have to hold an iPad/iPhone in our hand to give a wireless presentation. There are a thousand of these devices in the USB world. Geez, how hard can this be?

Hi all,

Got my iphone 4 to act as remote control for Keynote finally. Just get the application called Keynote remote from APPSTORE.

0. Turn on your iphone and ipad Bluetooth

1. Open up Keynote App on iPad (tested on new iPad)

2. Tab on the Tools icon on top right.

3. Tab on Advanced

4. You will see Remote at the bottom of the drop down menu

5. Tab Remote, "Enable Remotes" to ON. You should see your iphone

6. Launch your iphone Keynote App and go to SETTING. Select the Keynote Link to get the 4 digit passcode. At the same time, your iphone will appear on your iPad "Remote Settings" screen. Click the LINK button on the iPad.

Enter the 4-digit passcode

7. If all goes well, you should now have remote control on your iPad Keynote.

Problem remains on how to get the slide to fill up the whole screen. Any idea?

Great. But the iPhone is heavy, large and awkward as a presentation remote itself when compared to marvels like the Keyspan Presentation Remote by Tripp Lite model PR-US2:

http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/model.cfm?txtSeriesID=847&txtModelID=3904

Apple should allow kind of pesentation remotes (or equivalent) to worth with any iOS device, like the iPot touch, iPhone and iPad.

Just saw this Bluetooth remote on Cult of Mac:

http://www.cultofmac.com/169584/bluetooth-remote-for-your-iphone-isnt-as-dumb-as -it-seems/

The specs are kind of fuzzy when it comes to Keynote on iPad support. I've emailed the company for clarification that I'll share once I hear from Satechi.

I'm not holding my breath on this one. I would think that any company that comes out with a Keynote/iPad remote capability would push that hard in its marketing.

Jackreidy, that looks awesome. Just what millions have been waiting for. Now, we just need PowerPoint for iOS (iPod touch, iPhone and iPad): the ultimate presentation tool. Many thanks!

Just received an answer from Satachi. It only works with Keynote on the Mac, not with iOS.