The 3 Best Universal Remote Controls of 2025

The Sofabaton U2 Universal Remote Control delivers the essential elements we look for in a good universal remote: the ability to control many assorted devices, a good physical design with all the necessary buttons, and the option to customize how those buttons work for the best experience. The U2 isn’t perfect, but it’s better than any other sub-$100 DIY remote we’ve tested.

It can control up to 15 infrared and Bluetooth devices. Most “universal” remotes under $50 can control only infrared devices, those that require line-of-sight between the remote and the device. That covers a lot of TVs, disc players, audio receivers, and cable or satellite boxes. But a growing number of new devices rely instead on Bluetooth control, which means you need a remote like the U2 if you want complete system control.

In our tests, we were able to program the U2 to control numerous devices in multiple AV systems, including Google Chromecast and Apple 4K TV media players that use Bluetooth.

Like all other remotes in this price range, the U2 can’t control RF or Wi-Fi gear, which includes smart-home devices and any Roku streaming device that comes with the Roku voice remote. Roku-device owners should check out our upgrade pick instead.

It has a clean, simple design, with almost all the buttons you need. The remote is a manageable size that’s not too wide, long, or heavy; even with my small hands, I could reach the essential controls with my thumb without having to shift the remote around in my hand. The U2 runs on two AA batteries, which are included in the package.

At the top of the remote is a simple OLED screen that shows the model names of the devices you’ve added (you can customize the text), plus a scroll wheel to quickly select the device you want to control. Browsing customized names is more intuitive than looking at the generically labeled device buttons you get on many other remotes, including our budget pick.

Because the U2 is not locked in to a set of prelabeled device buttons, it can control multiple models of the same type — say, two media players, two TVs, and two audio systems. And because it can control a total of 15 devices, you could set up one U2 to control multiple systems around the house.

Basic setup is easy, thanks to the app. Programming the remote requires the free Sofabaton app for iOS or Android. You have no option to use computer software or to program the remote manually, so if you don’t own an iOS or Android mobile device, this is not the remote for you; consider our budget pick instead.

The remote communicates with the app via Bluetooth. Once you’ve paired the two, you can start adding the devices you want to control by choosing from a list of preloaded devices or entering the manufacturer and device name. If Sofabaton has control codes for your device in its database, the software automatically and wirelessly updates the remote with the proper codes after you add each new device. If it has no codes, you can teach the U2 the control commands from your existing device remotes instead.

In my case, all of my devices were in the Sofabaton database, so initial setup was fast and easy.

The buttons are customizable, but doing so requires effort and patience. Once you’ve loaded all your devices into the app, you have the option to customize how the remote’s buttons behave. You can reassign almost any button to perform any task on any device that you’ve loaded into your system configuration.

Overall, I found this process to be straightforward but not necessarily quick. Your time investment will depend on how precisely you want to tweak your controls. The Sofabaton app makes you customize every little thing yourself. For instance, there’s no quick process for locking the volume and mute buttons to your AV receiver or soundbar; you have to manually reassign the volume buttons for every source device. This is easy enough to do in the app (here’s a helpful video), but if you have lots of specific desires for how things ought to work, be prepared to spend time making it all happen.

The good news is that you have to do all of the programming and customization only once (unless you upgrade your AV gear a lot). And any tweak you make uploads to the remote instantly via Bluetooth. In my tests, when all was said and done, the U2 successfully controlled every piece of gear the way I wanted it to.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Although we found a lot to like about the Sofabaton U2, it also has a few significant drawbacks. The hard truth is, you have only a smattering of DIY universal-remote options to choose from these days, and they all have notable flaws. We think the U2’s low price makes some of its flaws easier to overlook, but you may feel differently.

It lacks backlighting. Add in the remote’s black-buttons-on-a-black-shell design, and using it in a dark room is somewhat challenging. But the button layout is intuitive, and the main navigation, volume, and channel buttons are clearly distinguished by size and shape, both of which help to alleviate those challenges.

It has no dedicated activity buttons. Many remotes have “activity” buttons to launch a sequence of commands, such as “watch TV” or “watch a movie.” Sofabaton has inexplicably omitted them on this remote.

You can create your own activity button that does what a “watch TV” button would do, but you have to figure out the macro (or sequence of steps) and assign it to a random button. The process of creating these multi-step activities — for instance, to turn all your gear on, switch to the right inputs, and make sure volume control is assigned to the right device — is more mentally taxing than some people are willing to tolerate.

Don’t expect much help from the Sofabaton literature: Neither the setup guide nor the app provides instructions for macro or activity setup. Here’s a helpful video.

It can pair with only one Bluetooth device at a time. When you’re trying to add a Bluetooth-based source such as a Google Chromecast, you have to unpair the remote from the setup app to test the device control and then re-pair it to the app to proceed with setup. It’s kind of annoying, but here’s hoping you have to do this only once, during initial setup.