Getting Started with Harmony Companion

Walk through our setup tutorial: adding your home entertainment devices, home control devices, setting up one-touch Activities and learning more about the usage of your remote. Already set up and something's not working? Our troubleshooters and support articles will help set things right.

Lets get started.

What's in the box
Positioning Harmony Hub
Downloading the Harmony mobile app
Adding devices and Activities
Product features
Support articles
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What's in the box

Harmony Companion remote

Harmony Companion remote enables one-touch Activity based control of your home entertainment and home automation systems. It complements the Harmony mobile app and will keep in sync, regardless of where you start or stop an Activity.

Harmony Hub

Harmony Hub is the center of your home entertainment and home control solution. Placed near your television, cable/satellite box, game console and other equipment, it uses Infrared (IR), Bluetooth and Wi‑Fi to control your various devices.

Power adapter

Connect a power adapter to your Harmony hub. It takes 30 seconds for the hub to power on.

IR mini blaster

The IR mini blasters connect to the back of the hub and helps extend the coverage area for IR controlled devices.

Use this if your entertainment system has closed cabinets and you have devices behind cabinet doors.

Use of the IR mini blaster may or may not be required, depending on your setup.

USB cable

If your mobile device doesn't support Bluetooth LE technology, the USB cable can connect Harmony Hub to your computer so your homes Wi‑Fi credentials may be saved to the hub. Harmony Hub uses Wi‑Fi to communicate with the Harmony mobile app which is used for both setup and additional control.

Use of the USB cable may or may not be required, depending on your setup.

Positioning Harmony Hub

Open Cabinets
  • Position Harmony Hub on top of your cabinet, or on a large, open shelf that's unobstructed.
  • IR signals sent from the hub will reflect off of walls and other surfaces before reaching your devices. Direct line of sight is generally not required.
Closed Cabinets
  • Position Harmony Hub inside the cabinet, on or beside the majority of your devices.
  • IR signals sent from the hub will reflect off of walls, cabinet interiors and other surfaces before reaching your devices. Direct line of sight is generally not required.
  • Plug the IR mini blaster into the back of the hub and position it on top of your cabinet so it may send IR signals to your television.

Powering on Harmony Hub

Plug the supplied power adapter into Harmony Hub. The hub takes 30 seconds to power on.

 

 

Downloading the Harmony app and Wi‑Fi setup

  1. Visit the iTunes App Store or Google Play and search for the Harmony app.

  2. Launch the app and select Set Up New Hub.

  3. Continue through the various screens following the instructions:

    • Ensure Bluetooth is enabled on your iPhone.
    • Ensure your phone is connected to your home's Wi‑Fi network.
    • Ensure Harmony Hub is powered on.
    • The Harmony app should find your hub after several seconds.
    Having trouble?

    Try disabling and re-enabling Bluetooth on your phone.

    View our support article:
    The Harmony app is unable to discover Harmony Hub.

  4. Once your phone and hub have paired over Bluetooth you will be asked to enter your Wi‑Fi credentials.

Adding Devices, Activities and Home Control

  1. If you already have a Harmony account, sign in.

    Otherwise, select CREATE ACCOUNT.

  2. You'll be guided through several screens explaining how Harmony Companion works.

  3. If you have a previous Harmony remote and want to import its devices and Activities, you'll be able to copy them over to your new Harmony. If you don't have a previous Harmony remote, select No, Set Up New.

  4. Enter your devices:

    • Harmony will first try to detect some of your connected devices such as Sonos, Roku and Philips hue.
    • Press the Add Device button at the bottom of your screen to add additional home entertainment and home automation devices.
    • If required, Harmony will ask you to enter the username and password for some of your services so we may communicate with them.
    • Having trouble finding your model number? This article may help: Finding your device's model number

  5. Harmony will either automatically create Activities or guide you through creating them based on the devices discovered to help set up your one-touch experience. If you'd like to further modify any of these Activities by adding additional commands, please take a look at our article regarding adding commands to your Activities.

  6. You'll now be able to configure up to 50 Favorite TV Channels. Enter your zip code to help find local service providers, then select from a pre-populated list of channels.

  7. That's it!

Product features

Harmony Companion features

Press the Off button to power off all your entertainment devices.

Tip: You do not need to press Off when switching between two Activities. Harmony will remember what is already powered on and only change what's needed.

One button, two actions; press to fast forward or hold it a little longer to skip forward. All buttons on your Harmony remote can be customized with different short and long press actions.

Configure the four home automation buttons to quickly control lights or plugs, regardless of the Activity you're in.

The Harmony Companion buttons are automatically mapped based on the Activity you're in. While watching TV, the channel buttons will control your cable/satellite box. While listening to music, the channel buttons may change radio stations.

Customize your Harmony

Setting up Favorite Channels

Add up to 50 Favorite Channels to the Harmony mobile app. Learn more about Adding Favorite Channels.

Adjust and tweak each of your buttons.

Create as many Activities as you'd like and tweak what each button does or which commands appear on the screen.

Using your Harmony

Understanding Activities

Unlike other universal remotes that may control devices individually, Harmony controls an Activity such as Watching TV or Playing a Game. You don't need to choose which device you want to control. Start your Watch TV Activity and your volume will automatically control the stereo, and channels will automatically change your TV or cable/satellite box. Watch this video to learn more.

Keep your devices in sync

To help keep your Harmony in sync with your devices, avoid turning your television, cable/satellite box and other devices on and off manually or by using their original remote control. If something didn't turn on then use the help feature available from within the Harmony mobile app.

Download the setup software

Depending on your remote, you can set up and configure Harmony using either the Harmony software or Harmony mobile app for iOS and Android.

Download

Harmony community forums

Post a question to the Harmony forums. Our Harmony product managers also actively participate and provide technical advise.

Explore

Contact the Harmony Team

Harmony comes with a period of free email and phone support. You also have unlimited access to our online support community.

Contact Us

Harmony Helper

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