How to setup Kore

Kodi launched their official remote control app, Kore, at the end of May 2015. Since the change from XBMC to Kodi, and all of the internal code changes that went along with it, the original Android remote app needed a complete overhaul.

Now, with the release of Kore, our favorite remote control app is back in business. We鈥檒l take you through a little history of the official Kodi remote app, and how to install Kore so you can control Kodi with your smartphone.Contents hideSo why would you want a remote app?Kore FeaturesWhat about Yatse?How to setup KoreUsing Kore: The Official Kodi RemoteThe Verdict

So why would you want a remote app?

Seriously?

How many times have you lost your TV鈥檚 remote control?

My girlfriend has a habit of putting the remote in the most absurd places like the kitchen counter, dining room table, or even in the bedroom. I鈥檇 be willing to bet that there鈥檚 someone in your house who doesn鈥檛 put the remote back where it belongs.

If you can鈥檛 think who that person is, then it鈥檚 probably you. 馃檪

On a more serious note, one of the big features of any media centre is to make all your media as easy to access as possible.

Since we鈥檝e usually got our phones with us at any moment, it makes sense to have a remote on your phone 鈥?at least as a back up. Kore isn鈥檛 going to have as many features as a dedicated air-mouse, but it鈥檚 also not going to end up three rooms away from your TV, either.

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Kore Features

So what are some of these features? We鈥檒l let Team Kodi tell you about them from their official announcement blog post:

With Kore you can

Control your media center with an easy to use remote
Including several colour themes
See what鈥檚 currently playing, including relevant information聽(movies, TV shows, music, pictures and add-ons)
Change, sync or download subtitles
Switch to the desired audio streams
All the usual playback and volume controls at your disposal
Toggle back and forth between windows or full screen playback in Kodi
Add, check and manage the current playlist
View what is in your media library with details about your movies, TV shows, music and add-ons
Direct link to relevant IMDb website for extensive information
Library maintenance like clean and update
Wake-on-LAN and other power control actions that the selected device supports
Send YouTube videos to your currently selected media center

Essentially it gives you complete control over your media library without having to move, all from the phone in your pocket.

Since Kore is open-source, there are many more features in the works. This is an app that will just keep getting better in time.

What about Yatse?

Yatse is another Kodi remote control app, however they are not authorized by Team Kodi.

That doesn鈥檛 mean that Yatse doesn鈥檛 work very well. Quite the opposite, actually. Yatse has a very devoted following and even has a few features that Kore does not.

However, Yatse is not an open source software project. Since Kodi was founded on the belief that anyone should be able to modify and improve upon their source code 鈥?which is why XBMC and Kodi have always been open source. As such, Team Kodi will not team up with them.

Download the app

Kore is available through the Google Play store, but oddly enough not the Amazon app store. If you鈥檙e interested in older Kore builds, the manual download page is here.

Please note, at the time of this article, there are two versions of Kore on the Google Play Store. One is made by Synced Synapse, the other is by the XBMC Foundation.

Synced Synapse created the app and was publishing it on their own before being officially integrated with Team Kodi. Their version of the app is no longer being updated, but is still online for legacy support.

Be sure to install the version published from the XBMC Foundation.

Installation is as simple as any other Android app. Simply do a search to find the app and click install.

There will be a few things to watch out for once we get to the configuring stage, but we鈥檒l make sure you know how to handle them.

Find your Kodi installation

The first screen you鈥檒l come to is the 鈥淎dd Media Center鈥?page.

Here Kore will automatically search your wireless network for your Kodi installation. So there are a couple of things to keep in mind first:

Have your Kodi device turned on and running Kodi. This should go without saying. After all, you can鈥檛 expect it to find the device is it isn鈥檛 turned on, right?
Make sure your phone and your Kodi device are on the same network. If you don鈥檛 connect your phone to your home wireless network, you鈥檒l need to do so before you setup Kore.

Click Next to continue.

Searching鈥?/h4>
Kore will then search your network for your Kodi installation, as I stated before.
This process should only take a few seconds, but you may run into a snag here. If Kore doesn鈥檛 immediately find your Kodi installation, don鈥檛 worry. It didn鈥檛 work right off the bat for me either.
Fortunately, it鈥檚 an easy fix, and I鈥檒l take you through how to fix it in the 鈥淜ore setup problems鈥?section below. It will involve going into your Kodi Settings screen and making three quick adjustments.
Nothing harder than clicking a couple of option boxes 鈥?i promise.
For now, I鈥檒l assume that Kore found your Kodi installation and you get the following message:
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If you have multiple Kodi installations on your network, you can set up Kore individually for each device. If you only have one, like the screenshot above, make sure the device is highlighted and click Next.
You鈥檒l be taken to this screen and congratulations! You鈥檙e all set up.
I鈥檒l go through a few of Kore鈥檚 features and menus below, but first, here鈥檚 what to do if the installation didn鈥檛 go as smoothly as this.

Kore setup problems

If Kore couldn鈥檛 find your Kodi installation, you鈥檒l be greeted with this polite, but slightly depressing message.

I鈥檝e been around computers long enough to know that configuring a device on your network can be a royal pain in the butt. Think about how long it can take to install a printer on your network. That was what I was expecting when I got this message.

Thankfully, I couldn鈥檛 have been more wrong.

The link under the 鈥淚f you need help configuring it鈥?line will take you to the official Kore help file. However, that file doesn鈥檛 include any screenshots, so if you skim over the instructions (like I did), you could end up missing a key step.

With the in mind, here are the two things you鈥檒l need to configure inside your Kodi installation for Kore to see your Kodi device. Both will be found in the Settings screen under Services.

Under Remote Control:

Enable 鈥淎llow programs on this system to control XBMC鈥?li>Enable 鈥淎llow programs on other systems to control XBMC鈥?/ol>
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Under Webserver:
1. Enable 鈥淎llow control of XBMC via HTTP鈥?li>If you want to enable a username and password in this section, I would highly recommend it. If you do, you鈥檒l need to enter those into Kore.
After those settings are enabled, go back into Kore and retry the Searching step. You should be able to rerun the Searching phase successfully.
Using Kore: The Official Kodi Remote
Kore is simple and intuitive to use, which makes sense if you鈥檝e used Kodi at all.
The Kodi menu settings have all been integrated into a left-side toolbar on the Kore remote app. As with Kodi, you can enter this menu while you鈥檙e watching a movie and it won鈥檛 interrupt playback.
The look-and-feel of Kore is somewhere between the standard Android 鈥淢aterial Design鈥?/a> and the more graphic, 鈥渟kinned鈥?feel that Kodi users have come to know and love.
To give you an idea what I mean by that, the menus are very simple, as you can see on the image at the left here. There鈥檚 not a whole lot of detail to distract you from what you really want, which is to watch your movie, right?
During playback, Kore will load some of the file鈥檚 thumbnail images as a background for the Kore remote. You can see in this image it used a small thumbnail for Sintel as the main image, and also used a larger, more muted version of the image as a background as well.
If there aren鈥檛 any images, then it will default to the basic remote image as shown at the top of this article instead.
Functionality
The remote is basic, which matches with Kodi鈥檚鈥?a href=https://kodi.wiki/view/Archive:10-foot_user_interface target=_blank rel=noopener>10 foot user interface鈥?philosophy.
Everything you need can be controlled using the 鈥淒-pad鈥?in the center of the screen. There are also quick-launch buttons on the bottom row to take you to the Kodi Home screen, Movies tab, TV Shows tab, Music tab and Pictures tab. Playback buttons are conveniently at the top of the screen, easy to reach with your thumb.
The Verdict
Kore is a convenient and versatile Kodi remote control app which lets you easily navigate around the media center. The one drawback I can see is that it only works within Kodi. If you鈥檝e lost your remote and your device doesn鈥檛 boot directly into Kodi, you鈥檒l still need to find a way to launch Kodi before you can use Kore. This isn鈥檛 too big of an issue since there are Android remote apps already available, but it鈥檚 worth mentioning.
What do you think of Kore? Do you like it? Hate it? Prefer Yatse?聽
Let us know in the comments below!
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