My set up is a little different than yours. I use my iPad with a Lightning to HDMI cable to a TV and then I have the Companion App on my phone. I only use the Companion App for a couple of things. I look up races, group rides, or upcoming workouts before I get on. When I"m in the ride, I'll use the companion app to give "ride ons" to other riders or to look at the app. You can control the game from the app in the sense that you can turn up the intensity of a workout, skip to the next interval, or to change the camera, but there's really not much to do once you're on the ride. Maybe that's just my experience because I mostly just do workouts. All I'm trying to do is hit the wattage and cadence targets and then when I'm done, I hit exit on the iPad.