Every so often you find an app making its way into the App Store, that you find absolutely irresistible. So much so that you get yourself on the private beta list just to be able to touch some of its UI goodness. It’s like before the app existed, you were happy with your iPhone. But once you knew about it, you feel like your iPhone needs it to be complete. Keymote is one such app that got my touchy fingers all rattled up.
The first app out of IcedCocoa, Keymote extends your Mac keyboard onto your iPhone. But not just a normal keyboard emulator as we’ve seen with so many remote apps out there. In a 3 column grid, you can place ‘keys’ ranging from single letters to complex shortcuts including modifier keys like Command, Option, and even the function keys. Keymote ships with a bunch of ‘keysets’ for basic Mac apps like Front Row, DVD Player, but it can be extended by creating your own keysets and even modifying existing ones. You can for instance create key sets for Photoshop Panels, Front-row, Garageband, or even the number pad that’s missing from most Mac keyboards nowadays. And no matter what you do, the end result is always beautiful, owing to the UI designed by Louis Harboe. Keymote reeks of beautiful pixels.
The final kicker of the app, is that it has its own built in ‘store’! Get into the ‘store’ tab and you can browser for keysets uploaded by other Keymote users. Keysets are organised into hot favourites, featured, categories, and even include the familiar iTunes Store like bricks on the top! Do a quick search and you can have yourself a keyset for Final Cut Pro, for free, all in a matter of seconds.
Does it work?
Yes, and no. I’ve been using the app for a while now 1, and it connected without any effort with my iMac. I did have a connection hiccup once later, but otherwise it has not thrown up any fits. The responsiveness of the keys is also almost native, so much so that the number pad can actually be used as a replacement for the shorty keyboards. Let me state this: As a key replacement app, this app works wonderfully well.
To add new buttons is the simplest thing in the world. You’re presented with a screen full of special keys like modifiers, arrow keys, and F-keys. Tap those in, and then add in whatever alphabet or character you want with the iPhone keyboard. To edit the arrangement just tap and hold any of the keys and you can move them about or delete them if you wish.
So what’s the “No” part then?
As with reviews, I think our job is more to tell you what the app doesn’t do rather than what it does. And even a brilliant app like this has its faults. The problem lies in the fundamentals of the app, namely, that it only deals with keys on your keyboard. You cannot go into the app, and trigger QuickTime, because there is no such systemwide keyboard shortcut for that. You cannot from within QuickTime control the systemwide volume because the app merely emulates keys you would strike on your keyboard—excluding any special media keys. I solved the app launching problem by using the app OneKey, which allows you to assign applications to the F-keys.
I also ran across the problem of space, especially when considering the app as a number pad replacement. While you can easily fit in the 9 numbers, you can’t fit in plus, minus, divide, multiply, equal-to, and backspace keys because of the contraints in space. Yes, the app allows unlimited rows, but that cannot be considered as a keypad replacement. Perhaps a different number placement allowing four columns would allow for a roomier workflow.
My third problem, is one that I’ll have with all iPhone remote apps. Yes, by no fault of its own, it’s sort of crippled. You can’t really hit the keys without looking at the screen, which is difficult to be used as a number pad, or turn out to be faster than mastering a bunch of keyboard shortcuts.
All said and done.
With all those complaints I’ve detailed, will I withhold my hearty recommendation? No way! The app is awesome. The other day we were watching a movie in VLC media player 2. I didn’t have the Mac remote in hand, but my iPhone was certainly within grabbing distance. I launched Keymote, went to the Store, and within a span of 3 seconds I had the VLC remote ready and waiting. I could increase the volume, adjust the crop ratio, and even change a bunch of shortcuts I didn’t think were needed.
The app performs exceptionally well as an Apple Remote replacement for Front Row, including launching and quitting the app. Was also good for Plex, although not as good as Rowmote Pro. I also tried it with Photoshop, which I think will help speed up a lot of workflows. Unfortunately, I know a whole lot of Photoshop shortcuts, so I found it slower than using the real thing. I’m sure there are many out there who would find using Keymote preferable to remembering complex keyboard shortcuts.
Keymote has a brilliant user interface, very easily customisable, functional, and most importantly, has active developers backing it. I’ve been assured an “Enter” key will be included along in the v1.0.1. At $3.99, it’s a no-brainer app to have for a Mac user.
