Android TV Home

The stock launcher with all the extra ads on the homescreen is still an absolutely terrible experience and an eyesore. All I want is the launcher shown in the images above, the one that came with all of my Android TV devices. Not the abomination Google turned it into.

There is no way to customize this to my liking. I don't need a reminder to add new channels to the home screen. I don't need to see disney+ ads. I want a clean slate that I can customize the way I want it. And the discoverytab I want to remove alltogether.

(Bravia Google TV version) What was functional and easy to navigate is now simply a mess of advertising coupled with an inability to customize or reorder content. Just a trash program. Use an alternative launcher, even though they are less pretty than the OG home screen.

Full of ads, that takes up most of your screen, some are highly inappropriate for children... finding a new device

Updated to show ads for shows on services I do not own nor have any desire to subscribe to. No way to turn the ads off. The update also removed useful buttons to open Netflix, Youtube and other apps without starting a video. The app anno December 2021 does not look anything like the pictures on the Google Play Store, very misleading. My recommendation is to restore this app to factory settings (uninstall updates) through Android Settings and disable auto-updates in the Google Play Store. This will restore the app to what's shown on this page, no ads and useful customisable shortcuts to the content you want to see.

Ads take up far too much space, make the interface more difficult to navigate, and constantly change the colour of the entire screen further making it more difficult to navigate. Fortunately I spend very little time in the launcher, but this is shockingly bad. Google continues it's decades long war on consumers.

My family and I are really upset about the new update. We pay almost every developer/app service the necessary fees to enjoy an ad-free experience. When we bought our really expensive Sony TV, there were no ads. This lead us to buy the new Chromecast with Google TV for the other room. It has worked well, but now there are ads. I hate seeing ads! So unfortunately the only to options are to either let Google know and ask them to revert the changes, or switch to something like a mini PC and use a different service.

Ads described as suggestions, poor customization, slowed down by unnecessary bloat. I find its easier and faster to just stream to a laptop and connect it to a TV with HDMI, which is saying something as that is hardly convenient. As soon as I find a viable alternative that respects its users more and can afford to do so, I'm switching and taking as many people with me as I can.

Up until last week, I would have given this 5 stars. Great interface, clean, and worked perfectly. Since the update, the user experience has been completely ruined by the massive ad section up top. I get the reasoning for it, but to simply have no option to turn it off is a very poor decision. I ended up going with a third party launcher to be able to customize my user experience to my liking. It's a shame though, that was not necessary previously, it used to be perfect. Now it is just bad.

This app now plays unwanted ads on the home screen, sometimes with unprompted sound, that can't be disabled by normal means. It reduces the usable screen space for viewing the content YOU choose and control to about 50%, and fills the other half with a billboard of ads that I really don't want to see. This is not okay. I seriously think I might switch to Apple with all the garbage Google is pulling these days, and I used to be a staunch Android user.

This was a fine smart TV launcher until they ruined it with the "sponsored content" row, which is actually advertisements for content on apps you might not even have. They know you'll hate it, which is why you can't remove the row. Also, after updating to the current version, you can't go back to a prior version either. Of course, there is no warning or opt-in for any of this...once you update your TV there is no going back. I notice that although this app listing now says that it contains ads, the screenshots haven't been updated to actually show the "sponsored content" which takes up the top half of the screen.

The update on Aug 31 really makes me wish I had not bought an Android TV based TV. The staff picks addition is not useful at all, takes up a large amount of screen, and generally makes me feel angry. I can deal with ads in content I pick to watch as the price paid for the content. But the 'ads' (and that's what they are!) displayed in the staff picks means that I'm forced to watch ads without getting any return value. I paid for the home screen when I bought the tv. Give me that space back.

Hate the new ads being served up. Not what I ever signed up for. Aslo, I have always had a problem with the Channels on the home screen where if i am long pressing to remove an item, the screen will refresh before I can click to remove and I wind up with the wrong selections, usually launching that item. Typically this is items from Youtube subs or recommends. The new update just refreshes the screen more andh as made that bad behavior worse. Also, I have that when I remove an item from a channel on the home screen, it will just come back the next time the screen refreshes. Some might say is the Apps fault but it seems to happen with all apps so it just seems to be a flaw in the way these channels are implemented. VERY FRUSTRATING.

This is a system app that very expensive hardware relies on to function. Google force feeds ads down the throat of everyone who paid money for a product that originally didn't show advertisements. Had that been part of the package I can tell you I wouldn't have bought said product. Something really needs to be done about after the fact changes in service from products that function perfectly well without those changes. At the least, it should be optional with a feature to disable or even snooze these terribly intrusive ads. Getting really close to removing all the Google products from my home the way this is going...

The new “Staff Picks” feature forces ads that take up the top half of the homescreen that cannot be disabled. This makes the platform more tedious to navigate because you have to scroll past the ads. This newest update has made the experience objectively worse while offering absolutely no improvements or benefits to the consumer. There needs to be an option to disable this for me to continue to use this.

I had just bought an Nvidia Shield, gotten used to its UI and really liked it. And then this update happened, adding advertisements for shows I'd never watch on apps I don't have and for which I don't have subscriptions, as well as a discovery tab that only works if you link your Google account. And now I have to uninstall all updates to the launcher every time I start the device just to get rid of this, and I've got to reconfigure the launcher every time too.

I bought an android TV device specifically to avoid the advertising-infested interfaces presented by the likes of Fire TV. Until recently, I was able to have exactly that: a home screen with what I choose to put on it, nothing more, nothing less. Imagine my dismay when, after the latest update, I'm presented with--you guessed it--advertising that takes up a huge amount of screen space and cannot be turned off, unlike every other element of the home screen. The screenshot currently shown in the store page is not at all representative of the home screen as it stands today. This is a scummy, underhanded move.

Please remove the new “Staff Picks” feature forces ads across the top of my screen. It is annoying and takes up room on my screen. Besides I would never subscribes to the ads or channels offered. I do not need to be reminded by ads on a streaming channel (or program) I will NEVER want. Also it is one more program (or CPU process usage) to slow down my TV while navigating or period. And last but not least it is forced ADS! if there is no ways to remove this feature to the latest update, please instruct how to disable.

Updated to now make a third of the screen an advertisement for services. It takes up half the screen when you move past it. I bought an expensive Nvidia Shield that didn't have these ads. I thought Microsoft was bad adding ad panels to the xbox interface but they didn't dare convert a third of the home screen to an ad. The settings have a place to turn off suggested apps but can't turn off these ads. I doubt these reviews will have any impact but at least people considering choosing an Android TV can see the truth. Look into all your options.

I used to be a huge fan of Android TV on my Shield - it was so easy to use and, best of all, minimalist and customisable. All I want to use it for is to launch apps quickly and efficiently. Now Google has updated it to basically be a giant billboard they make money from and get to hang in my house. The usability of the interface has taken a back seat - so much so that it advertises YouTube videos that aren't suggestions based on my history (just things that Google wants to push on you) and shows on subscription services that I don't subscribe to (like Apple+ and paid Australian TV apps). I understand Google is a business and needs to make money, but I paid money for the devices this OS comes on (and presumably Google got a cut from that). There were no ads when I bought it, and now I can't turn the ads off. I would not have bought these devices if I'd known this was the experience.

The screenshots in this listing are deceptive -- they show a previous version of Android TV. The current version fills the top third or more of the screen with ads that can't be turned off. And the ads aren't even well-targeted - they're for services I don't have and shows that I would never watch. The previous version of this app -- the one in the screenshots -- was pretty perfect. This new version turned it into run-of-the-mill bloated, ugly, obnoxious app. If you're looking for a streamlined, premium experience on your device, sadly Android TV no longer offers that. Don't pay premium for a device with Android TV on it; you no longer get a premium experience from it. I bought an $200 Android TV device because of it's streamlined, sleek, premium interface. This isn't me complaining about a free service having ads. I *bought* this product, and Google is adding obnoxious ads to it after the fact. They fundamentally altered the product after I bought it. It's deceptive and unethical, by both Android TV and the device's manufacturer. The previous version was 5 stars. The new version is 1 star, and only because it won't let me give zero.

Putting my word in to (hopefully) promote change. Please remove Staff Picks and all the ads. Stop populating my home screen with garbage and visual clutter on my expensive Sony TV. It looks nice but it's still annoying garbage. Nice-looking annoying garbage. I can care less about HBO, free kids movies, watching the news, etc. Here's a suggestion; if you can't remove it, put it at the bottom of the app list or the very bottom of the screen so I don't have to see it every time I turn on my TV. If you're not gonna at least show me content relative to my interests, bugger off. I've already uninstalled the updates for the app and disabled automatic updates in the store to (maybe temporarily) ensure that this won't reappear again. I now have a clean, simple interface with all of my apps and best of all, no ads. Companies can change. Google can change. Please undo this ad-sponsored mistake.

I've been using Android TV since 2015 when I bought my Nvidia Shield, it was simplistic and responsive. Since the latest update they're now using a good chunk of my TV real estate for ads and have turned the UI into a chunky mess, the preview images on this page are misleading and show the old more desired UI. To add insult to injury, even if you disable updates they still appear to push it anyway so you can't get away from it

My nVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro had been great. It had one of the best, if not the best, interfaces of any streaming device. Now, however, Google is plastering ads across the top 1/3 of the home screen and they can't be removed. The Shield is pricey enough as it is, but what's particularly galling is I subscribe to multiple Google services and GeForce NOW and I'm still stuck with the ads. I will no longer recommend any Android TV devices, and I won't purchase any in the future.

Nice before Google shoved irrelevant ads on my screen which I don't want and can't turn off. Back to the Roku player. Because we all know google does what they please and takes forever to acknowledge they screwed up and fix it. Shame I have to run a separate box when what I need is built into the tv. But no freaking 1/3 page ads that seem to be downloading a lot of stuff every time it shows one...there's a progress bar that on my 200MB/s internet is taking 7-8 seconds. Also slowed my tv down A LOT and when I restarted it last night after getting a weird error about 'no network', the tv wouldn't even power back on until I futzed with unplugging it, plugging it back in and holding reset buttons on the back.

The problem isn't so much that there are ads. All streaming platforms have them. The problem is, they are up top on the home screen and take up at least a third of the screen. Shouldn't my streaming box/stick open to something more like a continue watching type thing? If I wanted to discover new stuff to watch, then I could go to that section and find something, but don't shove it down my throat Google. I still love my Shield TV, but I won't be recommending it to people any longer. I guess I'll just start using WebOS apps on my LG TV instead.

After spending a lot of money on a new TV , Google decided to start placing advertisements at the top of my home page. The Home page is a private space, why on Earth are ads displaying? The only workaround is to switch the updates of which returns the device back to factory... so I can't enjoy any new updates either. If Google insists o including this function, the user should have the right to control it and switch it off without having to factory reset the damn device. This is a major flaw BUYER BEWARE!

It’s one thing to show recommendations from apps and services I have. But this latest update to the home screen is just ads. The fact that there isn’t a way to disable it is even worse. Adding on to the problem is that some of the ads play video with sound! I did not buy a tv to have advertisements on the Home Screen. Come on Google and do the right thing. Either get rid of the new ads at the top of the screen or give us the option to turn them off.