iOS Airplay Browser for Apple TV

[jameslikeness]

I've been trying to find a browser app for iOS that has this functionality ever since iOS mirroring came to the Apple TV, but I've yet to find exactly what I'm looking for. There are apps that come close, but nothing that nailed it. For a long time I thought my idea was so brilliant that I shouldn't tell people about it, but that I should find someone to help me develop the app, but now I've decided that I should just talk about it and hope that someone would make what I'm looking for.

A little background: The racing game Real Racing 2 HD does something cool when you use Airplay mirroring on an Apple TV. Instead of just mirroring the display of the iPad, it actually streams the game content to the Apple TV and lets you use the iPad as your controls. Then on the iPad's display you get a map of the track you're on, your position, your speed, and other info. So that's what got me thinking about this browser idea for the Apple TV.

The idea: A browser app that runs on your iOS device, and it streams the browser window to the Apple TV. The iOS device displays a location bar at the top, a tracking area on the majority of the display, and a button to bring up a keyboard. Then you use the iOS device like a trackpad and a keyboard. The browser on the Apple TV would display like a browser on a computer.

Someone please develop and release this!

 

[Donka]

I've been trying to find a browser app for iOS that has this functionality ever since iOS mirroring came to the Apple TV, but I've yet to find exactly what I'm looking for. There are apps that come close, but nothing that nailed it. For a long time I thought my idea was so brilliant that I shouldn't tell people about it, but that I should find someone to help me develop the app, but now I've decided that I should just talk about it and hope that someone would make what I'm looking for.

A little background: The racing game Real Racing 2 HD does something cool when you use Airplay mirroring on an Apple TV. Instead of just mirroring the display of the iPad, it actually streams the game content to the Apple TV and lets you use the iPad as your controls. Then on the iPad's display you get a map of the track you're on, your position, your speed, and other info. So that's what got me thinking about this browser idea for the Apple TV.

The idea: A browser app that runs on your iOS device, and it streams the browser window to the Apple TV. The iOS device displays a location bar at the top, a tracking area on the majority of the display, and a button to bring up a keyboard. Then you use the iOS device like a trackpad and a keyboard. The browser on the Apple TV would display like a browser on a computer.

Someone please develop and release this!

Interesting concept. Essentially using your iPad as a social browser for a few people at a time. I guess the main issue is most people would just be using the iPad as a personal device and not having much need to display their browsing for others. It would be a great feature to add to one of the existing browsers as a unique selling point. I guess as things stand, screen mirroring does a similar job, albeit not quite as efficiently.

 

[gjrevans]

Interesting Idea

I agree that it would be cool to do this. However, I just don't see the market for something this intricate being large enough to support the idea. As a developer of this tool, one would need to create an entire web browser to support the server necessary to carry out this idea - correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there are any Apple API's that would allow the Safari browser to work in this sort of context. I'm also wondering, (as already mentioned) why one would need to share his/her browser with others while only using the ipad as a mouse/keyboard combo? You would need to look at the iPad to type stuff anyways and you wouldn't be able to see what you were typing unless you were looking at the TV.

All that all said, the closest app I've seen to providing these features is Mobile Mouse Pro which actually works with a laptop instead of the apple TV. Essentially you use the iPad as the mouse/keyboard and the TV and the monitor. I use it to browse around, watch moves and what not, but it's not very easy to use despite it being "industry standard" or above it for that matter. Like I said though, it's not for the Apple TV and you will need a laptop and an HDMI convertor (30 bucks at future shop).

Best of luck - I'll definitely be following this post to see ideas from others!