TV Remote — Samsung The Frame (2020)

A local-first React Native (Expo) app that turns your phone into a remote for a Samsung Smart TV, tuned for The Frame (2020, model LS03T) and other 2019+ Tizen TVs that use token authentication.

Everything runs on-device: discovered TVs and pairing tokens are stored locally (tokens in the OS secure enclave). There is no account, no cloud sync, and no analytics.

Features

• 📺 Discovery — finds Samsung TVs on your Wi-Fi via mDNS with an IP-scan fallback
• 🔐 Secure pairing — token handshake over wss://…:8002; the token is stored in the Keychain/Keystore and reused so you only approve the popup once
• 🎛️ Modern Samsung remote — power, a D-pad with OK, Back/Home, a volume rocker (mute in the centre), a channel rocker (guide in the centre) and play/pause
• 🚀 App shortcuts — one-tap Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ via the TV's REST API

Architecture

Layered and dependency-inverted: domain/ has zero RN/Expo imports; adapters implement I-prefixed interfaces; the composition root (src/di/) registers the concrete adapters and the UI resolves them with useService.

app/                     Expo Router screens (thin)
components/              Presentational React components (SamsungRemote, …)
src/
  domain/
    models/              RemoteKey & SamsungApp catalogues, ConnectionState, TVDevice, TVModel
    validators/          HostValidator
  repositories/          interfaces/ (ITVRepository, ITokenStore) + implementations/
                         (AsyncStorage TV repo, secure token store) + RepositoryContainer
  services/
    remote/              interfaces/ (IRemoteTransport, IAppLauncher, IDeviceInfoProvider)
                         + providers/ (Samsung WebSocket transport, REST app launcher,
                         device-info) + RemoteSession
    discovery/           IDiscoveryService + Zeroconf/IP-scan + DiscoverTVs
    tv/                  SavedTVsService
    logging/             createLogger
  di/                    ServiceContainer + providers + ServiceContext + useService
  hooks/                 useRemoteSession, useDiscovery, useSavedTVs
  utils/                 base64, http

Pairing protocol

1. GET http://<ip>:8001/api/v2/ → detect the model and token support.
2. Open wss://<ip>:8002/api/v2/channels/samsung.remote.control?name=<base64>.
3. On ms.channel.unauthorized the TV shows an Allow/Deny popup.
4. On approval the TV returns ms.channel.connect with data.token; the token is persisted and reused (&token=…) so future connections skip the popup.
5. Keys → ms.remote.control (SendRemoteKey); app launch → POST /api/v2/applications/<appId>.

On iOS the NSAllowsArbitraryLoads exception in app.json lets the app talk to the TV's self-signed wss certificate. On Android the platform WebSocket may reject self-signed certs — iOS is the primary target.

Getting started

npm install
npm start            # then press i (iOS) / a (Android)

Testing

npm test             # run the unit suite
npm run test:coverage  # with coverage (src/** ≥ 80%)
npm run type-check   # tsc --noEmit
npm run lint

The Samsung protocol is covered by unit tests that drive a mocked WebSocket through the full handshake (unauthorized → token → connected → sendKey), so the wire format is verified without a physical TV. Validate against your own Frame on the same Wi-Fi network.

Building

Uses EAS with local signing credentials (credentialsSource: "local" in eas.json). Copy the template and fill in your own certificate paths and passwords; the real files are git-ignored and never committed:

cp credentials.json.example credentials.json    # then edit with your values
# place the referenced files under ios_certs/ and android_certs/

npm run build:development-device
npm run build:production

There are no runtime secrets to configure: the app is local-only (no Supabase/analytics), so there is no .env. If you ever add a cloud key, inject it via app.config.js → extra and read it through a config provider.

License

MIT