You’ve arrived to present. The clicker you borrowed last time is with someone else, the one in the drawer has dead batteries, or you simply never owned one. How do you advance slides without being tied to your keyboard?
A successful presentation is about engaging with your audience; looking at them, speaking with them. Being stuck behind your computer is the opposite of this. Additionally, asking someone “Next slide please” or “Go back one slide please” breaks not only your flow, but your audience’s concentration too.
How Clicker Solves This
Clicker is an iPhone and Mac app built specifically to free you from the computer during Keynote presentations. It connects your iPhone directly to your Mac over Bluetooth — no Wi-Fi, no cloud, no accounts.
Open the Clicker app on your Mac (it sits in your menu bar, always ready), open the app on your iPhone, scan the QR code shown on your Mac, and you’re connected. Select Keynote as your target app, open your presentation, and start presenting. The whole setup takes under a minute.
Then you’re free. Walk to the other side of the room. Stand near the screen. Face your audience. Tap on your iPhone to advance slides or go back; your phone becomes your remote, not your anchor.
See Clicker in Action
Setup for Keynote
What you need:
- An iPhone
- A Mac with Keynote open
- Clicker installed on both devices
The setup:
- Open Clicker on your Mac; it lives in your menu bar.
- Open Clicker on your iPhone and tap the QR symbol.
- Point your iPhone camera at the QR code displayed on your Mac.
- You’re connected; instantly, over a direct Bluetooth link.
- In Clicker, select Keynote as your target app.
- Open your Keynote presentation and start the slideshow.
- Tap the next button to advance slides, tap the back button to go to the previous slide.
That’s the whole process. No accounts. No Wi-Fi. No configuration beyond the QR scan.
Why This Matters
Most presentation remotes tie you to a single spot in the room. Clicker doesn’t. The connection is direct Bluetooth between your specific iPhone and your specific Mac; the QR code is how they identify each other and form that dedicated link.
While cheap Bluetooth devices often suffer from lag and interference in crowded RF environments, your iPhone and Mac use state-of-the-art Bluetooth technology. This gives you a far more reliable connection, even in conference rooms packed with other wireless devices competing for bandwidth.
That means it works:
- In conference rooms with locked-down corporate Wi-Fi.
- On stage in venues where guest networks are unreliable.
- In spaces full of other Bluetooth devices, where cheaper remotes drop out.
No dongle. No USB receiver. No shared network. Just you, your iPhone in your pocket, and the freedom to move.
What About Other Options?
Keynote does have a built-in remote feature accessible through Keynote settings on your Mac. However, the setup is not as straightforward as Clicker; you need to navigate through menus and settings to pair your devices before you can present. Additionally, the built-in remote fills your entire iPhone screen during use, making it impossible to check the time or glance at notes without leaving the remote view. If you ever present PowerPoint, that option disappears entirely.
Some Apple Watch apps support Keynote presentations if that’s your preference, though these require specific apps and tend to be limited in features.
For most presenters who need to move around the room and maintain audience engagement, Clicker removes the friction that other solutions impose. Open the app, scan the QR code, and you’re ready to present.
The Practical Case
If you present regularly — at work, at conferences, in client meetings — scrambling for a remote five minutes before you go on stage is the kind of stress you want to avoid. Having a reliable solution sorted beforehand changes the entire experience.
With Clicker, there’s no subscription. No batteries. No fumbling. Traditional hardware clickers cost €40-50 or more. Clicker costs a fraction of that, with none of the logistics. Just your phone, already in your pocket, already charged every night.
Less to Think About on Stage
The best presentation remote is the one you never have to think about.
With Clicker, you open the app, scan the QR code, and you’re live. Your phone is already something you know perfectly. Your hand knows its weight, its balance, where to swipe. You can advance slides without looking at the screen because the muscle memory is already there.
That’s one fewer thing between you and the audience you actually prepared to engage with.
Questions? Find us on Bluesky or drop us an email