Supported Remote Controls /

Nintendo Wii Remote Plus

Limited macOS support

At the time of writing, this remote only works with macOS versions up to and including macOS 11.

macOS compatibility / experimental support

Prior to macOS 11.0 (Big Sur), macOS could not pair with the Wii Remote Plus, making it impossible for Remote Buddy 2 to support it.

Since at the time of writing (December 2020) support for the Wii Remote Plus on macOS is still so new, support for the Wii Remote Plus in Remote Buddy 2 should be considered experimental and could be removed in future releases.

In our testing, macOS 12.0.1 (Monterey) was not able to pair Wii Remotes any longer. It is unclear if Apple will address that regression in the future.

The Wii Remote Plus is Bluetooth-based, offers high responsiveness and reliability. Its built-in motion and IR sensors enable the IR mouse mode also supported by Remote Buddy 2.

Infrared (IR) mouse mode

Remote Buddy 2 can use the IR camera built into the front of the Wii Remote to implement a virtual mouse that can be moved by pointing the Wii Remote itself to a different position. The IR Mouse Mode works by tracking the position of IR light sources - usually supplied by a Wireless Wii Sensor Bar located on top or below the display use with the Mac. A Wireless Wii Sensor Bar is physically required for using the IR Mouse Mode. If, however, you just want to use the buttons of the Wii Remote with Remote Buddy 2, you do not need a Wireless Wii Sensor Bar.

The Wii Sensor Bar (and why its name can be misleading)

The Wii Sensor Bar emits the IR light required by the IR camera ("sensor") inside the Wii Remote itself. The Sensor Bar - unlike its name suggests - does not contain any receiver or sensors at all. It consists of a simple array of IR light sources (and thus the physically exact opposite of a sensor). These IR light sources are seen by the IR camera located at the front of the Wii Remote. Their location is then sent to Remote Buddy 2 via Bluetooth. Remote Buddy 2 uses this data to track the location of the IR light sources. From this, it calculates the position of the Wii Remote and places the mouse cursor at the respective position on your screen.

Battery life

It's important to keep in mind that the Wii Remote was designed as a game controller. It's filled with high tech and has to maintain a Blueooth connection when in use. All of this of course consumes power, so that, depending on which hardware features you use, battery life of the remote can greatly vary and is generally not comparable with that of other remote controls. Remote Buddy 2's Bluetooth power saving options can help you increase battery life (slightly or significantly - depending on your use pattern). They can be found at Prefs > Hardware.

Apps supporting Nintendo Wii Remote Plus

macOS 11 - macOS 11
Remote Buddy 2.0

Last updated: 2021-10-26T18:18:05+00:00
Datasheet
VendorNintendo
ModelRVL-036
Technology Bluetooth
Device Type Remote
Buttons11
Minimum OSmacOS 11
Maximum OSmacOS 11
Availabilitydiscontinued