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Use a remote to control a Keynote presentation
You can use your iPad as a remote control to play a presentation on a Mac or on another device. This set-up is especially useful when iPad is connected to an external display. If you’re playing a presentation on your iPad, you can control the presentation using your iPhone (or its companion Watch), or another iPad as a remote control.
Important: To use an iPhone or iPad with iOS 14 or iPadOS 14 as a remote, Keynote needs permission to connect to other devices on your local network. Go to Settings > Privacy > Local Network, then turn on Keynote.
Set up iPad as a remote control for a presentation on a Mac
The Mac and the iPad need to have Keynote installed and have Wi-Fi turned on.
Open Keynote on the iPad that you want to use as a remote.
In the presentation manager, tap
, then tap Continue.
The device displays the Keynote Remote menu.
Note: Tap Allow if you’re asked to allow Keynote to find and connect to devices on your local network.
Open Keynote on the Mac, then choose Keynote > Settings (or Preferences in macOS 12 or earlier) from the Keynote menu at the top of your screen.
Click Remote at the top of the Settings window, then select Enable.
Click Link next to the device you want to use as a remote.
A four-digit code appears on the Mac and on the device.
Verify that the four-digit codes match, click Confirm, then close Keynote Settings.
After the devices are linked, you can control the presentation from the remote device.
Set up iPad as a remote control for a presentation on another device
The remote control device and the presentation device need to have Keynote installed and have Wi-Fi turned on.
Open Keynote on iPad.
In the presentation manager, tap
, then tap Continue.
The device displays the Keynote Remote menu.
Note: Tap Allow if you’re asked to allow Keynote to find and connect to devices on your local network.
Open the presentation on the device where you will play it.
Tap
, tap Keynote Remote, then turn on Enable Remote Control.
Note: Tap Allow if you’re asked to allow Keynote to find and connect to devices on your local network.
Tap Link next to the device you want to use as a remote.
A four-digit code appears on both devices.
Verify that the four-digit codes match, then tap Confirm.
After the devices are linked, you can control the presentation from the remote device.
Use iPad as a remote control
You must first set up iPad to be a remote control, as described in the previous task.
Play the presentation on a Mac, iPhone or iPad.
Do one of the following:
Turn iPad into a remote: Open Keynote on the iPad that you set up as a remote, tap
in the presentation manager, then tap Play.
Turn iPad into a remote for a Mac using Handoff: Swipe up on
in the bottom-left corner of the Lock screen. You can also double-click the Home button or swipe up from the bottom of the screen (on devices with no Home button) to reveal the multitasking screen, then tap
at the bottom of the screen.
Note: Handoff must be set up on the Mac and iPhone, and the presentation you want to control must be saved in iCloud Drive.
To control the presentation, do any of the following:
Advance to the next slide or build: Tap the slide or swipe left across the slide.
Return to the previous slide: Swipe right across the slide.
Skip to a specific slide: Tap the slide number in the upper-left corner, then tap the slide you want to display.
Stop playing the presentation: Tap
.
To change what you see on your remote device as you’re presenting, do any of the following:
View the current slide, the next slide or the presenter notes: Tap
, then select a layout.
Change the appearance of presenter notes: With presenter notes showing, tap
, then tap
to make the font larger, or tap
to make it smaller. Turn on Invert Colours to show white text on a black background or vice versa (other text colours aren’t affected).
Switch between a timer or current time display: Tap the time or timer at the top of the screen.
Set up another device as a remote control for iPad
The remote control device and the presentation device need to have Keynote installed and have Wi-Fi turned on.
Open Keynote on the device that you want to use as a remote.
In the presentation manager, tap
, then tap Continue.
The device displays the Keynote Remote menu.
Note: Tap OK if you’re asked to allow Keynote to find and connect to devices on your local network.
Open a presentation on iPad, tap
, tap Keynote Remote, then turn on Enable Remote Control.
Tap Link next to the device you want to use as a remote.
A four-digit code appears on both devices.
Verify that the four-digit codes match, then tap Confirm.
After the devices are linked, you can control the presentation from the remote.
Use another device as a remote control for iPad
The other device must be set up as a remote control, as described in the previous task.
Open your presentation on iPad.
Open Keynote on the device that you set up as a remote, tap
in the presentation manager, then tap Play.
To control the presentation, do any of the following:
Advance to the next slide or build: Tap the slide or swipe left across the slide.
Return to the previous slide: Swipe right across the slide.
Skip to a specific slide: Tap the slide number in the upper-left corner, then tap the slide you want to display.
Stop playing the presentation: Tap
.
To change what you see on your remote device as you’re presenting, do any of the following:
View the current slide, the next slide or the presenter notes: Tap
, then select a layout.
Change the appearance of presenter notes: With presenter notes showing, tap
, then tap
to make the font larger, or tap
to make it smaller. Turn on Invert Colours to show white text on a black background or vice versa (other text colours aren’t affected).
Switch between a timer or current time display: Tap the time or timer at the top of the screen.
Use Apple Watch as a remote control
You must first set up iPhone to be a remote control for iPad, as described above, and Keynote must be installed on Apple Watch and its companion iPhone. To install Keynote on Apple Watch, update the companion iPhone to the latest version of Keynote. Then on Apple Watch, confirm the Keynote installation.
Important: For best results, set Apple Watch to wake and display Keynote when you raise your wrist during the presentation. On Apple Watch, go to Settings, tap General, tap Activate on Wrist Raise and turn on Wrist Raise. Then tap Last Used App (swipe up to see it).
Open the presentation on iPad.
On Apple Watch, press the Digital Crown, tap
to open Keynote, then tap
.
To control the presentation, do any of the following:
Advance to the next slide or build: Tap
.
Return to the previous slide: Press firmly on the watch display, then tap
.
The Apple Watch screen updates to display both the Forward and Back buttons. To return to the previous slide when both buttons appear, tap
.
If you stop and restart the presentation, or if Apple Watch goes to sleep and then wakes up, the Apple Watch screen re-displays only the Forward button. To return to the previous slide on the presentation device and to the two-button screen on Apple Watch, press firmly on the watch display, then tap
.
Stop playing the presentation: Press firmly on the watch display, then tap
.
If you followed the directions in the introduction to this task, Keynote appears whenever you raise your wrist to control the presentation from Apple Watch.
To close Keynote on Apple Watch, press the Digital Crown.
Highlight on a slide from a remote control device
When you use Keynote Remote to control a presentation from iPhone or iPad, you can draw on your device to emphasise information on the slide. The drawing appears on the device that’s playing your presentation.
![A slide in slide illustration mode showing the laser pointer and colour selection controls.](https://help.apple.com/assets/65E614B0C470628E0802F4D9/65E614B2F3544CAA37084399/en_AU/581fe7f368c41fc99733a2dc0457dfa2.png)
Set up iPhone or iPad as a remote.
Play the presentation on a Mac or another device.
Tap
on the device that you’re using as a remote.
Do any of the following:
Draw with a colour: Tap a colour, then draw with your finger on the slide.
Use the laser pointer: Tap the laser pointer, then move your finger around the slide; the laser pointer follows your movements.
Erase the last highlight: Tap
. Continue tapping to undo all your drawing on the slide.
Return to the previous slide or advance a slide: Tap the left or right arrow on the slide.
Hide the drawing tools: Tap Done.
Change the presentation devices linked to a remote control device
Open Keynote on the iPhone or iPad you use as a remote.
In the presentation manager, tap
.
Tap Devices, then do any of the following:
Add another presentation device: Tap Add a Device, then follow the onscreen instructions.
Switch to a different presentation device: Tap a different device name, then tap Done.
Remove a presentation device: Swipe right across the name of the device, then tap Delete.
Unlink a remote control from a presentation device
Open Keynote on the device you use to show the presentation.
Tap
, tap Keynote Remote, then tap Unlink next to the device you want to remove.
If you don’t want to use any remote, but you don’t want to unlink devices you already linked, you can turn off Enable Remotes. Turn on Enable Remotes when you want to use a device again.
Unlink a remote control from a Mac
Open Keynote on your Mac.
Choose Keynote > Settings (or Preferences in macOS 12 or earlier) from the Keynote menu at the top of your screen.
Click Remote at the top of the settings window, then do one of the following:
Permanently unlink a remote: Click Unlink next to a device.
Temporarily unlink all linked remote: Deselect Enable so the device remains linked but isn’t functional as a remote. Reselect Enable when you want to use it again.
Keynote Remote uses Multi-peer Connectivity, which allows newer iOS devices, iPadOS devices and Mac computers that have the latest version of Keynote to connect over Wi-Fi whenever they’re in close proximity, even when they aren’t on the same Wi-Fi network. If you have difficulty using Keynote Remote with older devices or Mac computers over Wi-Fi, try adding them to the same Wi-Fi network.
Note: The old Keynote Remote app previously available from the App Store is no longer supported.