Tech Vault

Android TV tools

Android TV and Google TV boxes let you install apps from outside the store, which makes them the most flexible thing you can plug into a television. These are the apps worth adding.

Checked 9 November 2026

Anything you watch or play on the TV must be obtained legally. This site won't help you find, install or play unlicensed content, including apps or boxes built for it.

Our pick

Projectivy Launcher

Replaces a home screen full of recommendations and adverts with a clean grid of your own apps. You choose the layout and what appears at all. It's in the Play Store on the TV, so there's nothing to sideload and no computer involved.

play.google.com
Cost
Free, paid extras
Good for
Any Android TV or Google TV device whose home screen has turned into a billboard.
Watch out for
To make the Home button open it, you switch on its launcher override, which uses Android's accessibility permission, and a system update can switch that off again. Custom wallpapers are part of the paid upgrade.

What Android TV and Google TV are

Android TV is the version of Android made for televisions and driven by a remote. Google TV is the home screen Google now puts on top of it. The name on the box differs, but underneath it’s the same system, and everything on this page works on both. It’s built into many TVs, including Sony’s and TCL’s, and into boxes such as the Google TV Streamer and the NVIDIA Shield.

Because it’s Android, it runs the same kind of apps as a phone, laid out for a remote. It can also install an app from a file, which is called sideloading. That flexibility makes these boxes the best match for a home server: your Jellyfin library, games streamed from your PC and files from a shared folder all play here.

Everything on this page is for media you own or pay for: your own recordings and home videos, files you have the right to keep, and legal streaming services. Tech Vault doesn’t help with anything else. Boxes and apps sold for free films and sport are illegal to sell in many countries, and some have carried malware.

Check what your box runs

Not every streaming stick is an Android TV, and it’s worth knowing before you buy one.

Device Runs Installs Android apps?
Google TV and Android TV boxes and televisions Android TV Yes, from the Play Store or a file
Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, 4K Max and older Fire TV devices Fire OS, Amazon’s version of Android Yes, from Amazon’s Appstore or a file, but there’s no Google Play
Fire TV Stick 4K Select, Fire TV Stick HD (2026) and future Fire TV Sticks Vega OS, Amazon’s newer system No. Only apps made for Vega
Apple TV, Roku, and Samsung and LG televisions Their own systems No

If you’re choosing a box for the ideas on this page, choose one that runs Google TV.

Installing apps on the TV, safest first

  1. The Play Store on the TV. Most of the options below are there, including Projectivy, Jellyfin, VLC, Kodi, Moonlight, Steam Link and Tailscale. It only shows apps made to work with a remote.
  2. From your phone or computer. Signed in to the same Google account, the Play Store website can usually send an install to the TV, which saves typing with the remote.
  3. Sideloading a file, only when an app isn’t in the store. An APK, short for Android package, is an app’s installer file. Take it only from the developer’s own website or GitHub page, never from a site that collects other people’s apps.

To sideload safely:

  1. Turn on Developer options: go to Settings, System, About, and select Android TV OS build seven times. Menus vary between makers. On some devices the setting in step 3 only appears after this.
  2. Install Downloader from the Play Store. It’s a browser and file downloader built for a remote.
  3. Go to Settings, Apps, Security & restrictions, Unknown sources, and switch it on for Downloader only.
  4. In Downloader, type the full download address from the developer’s site, download the APK, and choose Install.
  5. Switch Unknown sources for Downloader off again when you’re done.

Downloader also accepts short number codes that stand for web addresses. A code from a video or forum can point anywhere, so type the developer’s own address instead. If you’d rather not type with a remote, Send Files to TV, in the options below, moves an APK you’ve downloaded on your phone over to the TV. Give the TV’s copy of that app the Unknown sources permission instead of Downloader.

What it needs

  • An Android TV or Google TV device with its updates installed, and a Google account for the Play Store.
  • For your own films and shows, a home server running Jellyfin or Plex. See media servers and the Jellyfin guide.
  • A network cable to the box if it has a port. Wi-Fi is fine for most films, but game streaming wants a cable.
  • A phone nearby, which makes typing addresses and moving files easier.

How Projectivy fits in

The home screen is itself an app, called a launcher. Google’s fills most of the screen with recommendations and promoted shows. Projectivy is a replacement launcher that shows only what you choose:

  • Your apps, arranged your way. Group them into categories and rows, rename them, and change their icons.
  • No adverts or recommendations on the home screen.
  • Launcher override. An option that makes the Home button on the remote open Projectivy instead of Google’s home screen. It uses Android’s accessibility permission to do this.
  • Start-up choices. Open a chosen app or HDMI input when the TV turns on.
  • Parental controls to keep some apps out of reach.
  • Backups of your layout and settings.

It’s free. Custom wallpapers and advanced icon options are part of a paid upgrade.

The easy way to set it up

Everything happens with the remote, and nothing needs sideloading.

  1. On the TV, open the Play Store, search for Projectivy Launcher, and install it.
  2. Open it and go to its settings.
  3. Switch on the launcher override option. When the TV sends you to its accessibility settings, choose Projectivy and switch its service on.
  4. Press Home on the remote. Projectivy should open.
  5. Add your apps, arrange them, and hide the ones you don’t use.
  6. If a system update ever sends the Home button back to Google’s screen, switch the accessibility service on again.

To undo it, switch the override off in Projectivy’s settings and turn its accessibility service off. Some people go further and use a computer with Android’s adb tool to switch off Google’s home screen entirely. Projectivy works without that.

Apps that pair with a home server

  • Jellyfin. The Jellyfin app for Android TV is in the Play Store, F-Droid and Amazon’s Appstore, so it works on Fire TV models that run Fire OS too.
  • A shared folder. VLC and Kodi both browse folders shared from your server and play almost any file.
  • Your gaming PC. Moonlight needs a host program called Sunshine on the PC. Steam Link only needs Steam.
  • Away from home. Tailscale for Android TV signs in with a code shown on the TV, which you enter on Tailscale’s admin page from your phone. Then Jellyfin works at a holiday rental or a relative’s house.

Questions people ask

Can this break my TV?

No. These are ordinary apps that don’t change the system. Uninstall them and the TV is as it was.

Is Downloader safe?

It’s a browser and downloader, so it’s as safe as the address you type into it. Use the developer’s own website or GitHub page, and the Play Store whenever the app is there.

An app I want isn’t in the TV’s Play Store. Why?

Either it isn’t made for TV, or its developer publishes it elsewhere. Look on the developer’s site for a TV version. A phone app sideloaded onto a TV often expects a touchscreen and is awkward with a remote.

Do Google’s new app-verification rules affect my TV?

Not for now. Google’s checks on apps from unregistered developers, which began on phones in a few countries in September 2026, apply only to phones and tablets. The Android tools page explains them.

Will Projectivy remove adverts inside apps?

No. It replaces the home screen only. Adverts inside streaming apps, and anything those services show you, stay as they are.

Worth installing

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