iPhone Guru

The Apple iPhone Remote Application is a great way to control iTunes with your iPhone from anywhere as long as you are connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your iTunes library with your iPhone. Once you’ve downloaded the Remote App onto your iPhone for free from the App Store you can begin by making sure your iPhone is connected to the same network as your computer that contains your iTunes library. Open the Remote app and add a new iTunes library to the iPhone. You will see a four digit passcode on your iPhone screen which you will have to enter in iTunes. You will get a message stating that your remote is now able to control iTunes. Tap done and the iPhone should find your library. You can control your iTunes library wirelessly, pausing and playing media on your computer in iTunes or on your Apple TV all from the iPhone.

If you are having issues getting the iPhone’s Remote App to connect or find your iTunes library on your computer then you need to reconfigure your firewall. The computer I use is running 10.5.4 and apparently the default settings allowed my iPhone to pair with iTunes but it could not find the library when I went to use the Remote app. I would see the spinning gear for a few seconds followed by the message “Cannot find iTunes library”. To resolve this in OS X 10.5.x go to System Preferences > Security > Firewall > and choose Set access for specific services and applications. Click the plus in the bottom of the window and choose iTunes from the Application list. Make sure the iTunes application is set to allow incoming connections. Close System Preferences and close iTunes and relaunch iTunes and the remote should work like a charm.