Vizio TV Without a Remote: Power On, Wi-Fi and Channels

The Vizio is dark, the remote is gone or dead, and you want the TV on, on the right channel or on Wi-Fi tonight. Each is a different problem. Don’t start with a phone app: it only works once the TV is on your network.

How do I turn on a Vizio TV without a remote?

Use the buttons on the TV. Vizio puts them on the back or underside of the set, usually near a lower corner, and some older models carry them on the side or front bezel. Run your fingers along the lower edge and both back corners.

Tap the power button once and give it five seconds. Holding it on a TV that is already on can switch it off again.

Turning on a games console or soundbar can also wake a TV over HDMI-CEC. The standby light and the other tricks are in how to turn on a TV without the remote.

Why won’t my Vizio remote turn on the TV?

If the button on the set works and the remote doesn’t, the TV is fine. Test the remote:

1. Swap in fresh batteries and look for a button stuck down.
2. Point the remote at your iPhone’s front camera and press Power. A white or purple flicker means it is sending. No flicker means it is dead.
3. If it flickers and the TV ignores it, unplug the TV from the wall for 60 seconds. A hung TV ignores every remote.

If the TV does nothing even from its own button, check the power cable and socket instead.

How do I connect a Vizio TV to Wi-Fi without a remote?

This is the one job your phone can’t do first. Every phone remote, ours included, talks to the TV over your network, so the TV has to get online another way:

1. Ethernet. Plug a cable from the TV’s Ethernet port to your router. The TV uses the wired link with no password to type, and your phone can reach it from then on.
2. The hotspot trick, if the TV was on your old Wi-Fi and you changed the router. Set your iPhone’s name under Settings > General > About > Name and the Personal Hotspot password to the old network’s exact name and password, then turn Allow Others to Join on. If the TV doesn’t see it, switch on Maximize Compatibility. The TV rejoins by itself. The full walkthrough has the details.
3. A cheap infrared remote, about $8 to $12 for a basic Vizio replacement. It needs no network, so it can open the network settings and take the Wi-Fi password.

The buttons on the set cover power, input and volume. How far they get you inside the menus depends on the model, so don’t plan a Wi-Fi password around them.

How do I set up a new Vizio TV without a remote?

A set that has never been online is the hard case. Switch it on with its button, connect Ethernet, and get through the first-run screens with an infrared remote. Vizio’s own free Vizio Mobile app can also add a TV from your phone, and it is worth one try, though whether it can start a set that has never been online depends on the model. Pair A Decent Remote after setup, not during it.

How do I change the channel on a Vizio TV without a remote?

Some Vizio sets have channel buttons on the TV itself. Many have only a few buttons, so check the diagram in your manual before you hunt.

With the TV online and paired, A Decent Remote has channel up and down, a previous-channel key and a number keypad. Two limits matter:

• They change the TV’s own tuner, meaning an antenna or coax cable plugged into the Vizio. A model without a tuner has no channel to change.
• A cable box or stick owns its own channels. Use its remote or app for those, and the Vizio only for the input.

For streaming, the phone has shortcuts for Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, Tubi, Plex and Apple TV.

How do I use my iPhone as the Vizio remote once it is on Wi-Fi?

Vizio is the easy case. Many TVs make you accept a prompt with a button on the remote. A Vizio SmartCast TV shows a PIN by itself, so nothing needs accepting.

1. Turn the TV on with its own button.
2. Put your iPhone on the same Wi-Fi network as the TV. If the app can’t find it, see why a TV doesn’t show up.
3. Open A Decent Remote and tap your Vizio in the list.
4. Type the PIN the TV shows into the app. The pairing is saved, so you only do this once.

Then open the TV’s menu from the phone, go to System, then Power Mode, and choose Quick Start. Vizio’s manuals say it is the mode that lets the TV turn on from another device, such as when you cast to it, while Eco Mode, the default, saves power when the TV is off. Pair with the TV switched on, because the app notes its address only then. After that the phone can turn it on from the couch. If it doesn’t, see TV will not turn on from the remote app.

Three honest limits:

• No typing. The phone keyboard doesn’t type into a Vizio’s search boxes or Wi-Fi password fields yet.
• 2010 to 2015 sets can’t be paired. Sets that run VIZIO Internet Apps (VIA or VIA+) have no network control, and the app says so on screen. A lowercase i or d right after the screen size in the model number marks one, as in E500i-B1E.
• Android. A Decent Remote is on iPhone today. The Android version is being built now. Leave your email and you get one message the day it is on Google Play.

If the PIN doesn’t appear, see lost your Vizio remote.