How to customize the android tv home screen

The switch from Android TV to Google TV brought a massive change to the home screen experience. The focus is on recommendations and surfacing content from your streaming services. We’ll show you how to customize the home screen on devices like the Chromecast with Google TV.

There are three ways in which we can customize the Google TV home screen experience. First, you can rearrange the order of your apps and games to put your favorites front and center. Second, you can share which streaming services you pay for with Google. Lastly, we can turn off recommendations entirely.

Rearrange and Organize Your Favorite Google TV Apps

Your installed apps and games are shown in a row on the “For You” and “Apps” tabs. Only 12 apps and games can be shown without expanding the full list. It’s a good idea to put your favorites at the front of the line.

To rearrange your favorites, navigate to the “Your Apps” row and highlight the app or game you’d like to move. Select “See All” for the full list if your app isn’t showing.

Now, hold down the “Select” or “Enter” button on your remote for a few seconds.

A pop-up menu will appear with a few options, select “Move.”

You can now use the D-pad on your remote to move the app shortcut left or right. Move it left to bring it to the front of the list.

When the app shortcut is in the spot you want, click the “Select” or “Enter” button on your remote to confirm. You will still be in app rearrangement mode. Select another app to move it, or tap the “Back” button on your remote to finish.

If you’re moving apps from the full app list, keep in mind that the highlighted rows indicate the apps and games that will appear without selecting “See All.”

Get Better Movie and TV Show Recommendations on Google TV

The recommendations on the Google TV home screen take a few things into account. First, the services you selected when setting up the device for the first time. Second, the movies and TV shows you’ve added to your Watchlist and rated. Lastly, Google’s suggestions that you can’t control.

To make changes to the services you’re subscribed to, go to the “For You” tab at the top of the home screen.

Now scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the tab and select “Get Better Recommendations.”

You can now toggle the switches on or off for the various services available. Streaming services at the top of the screen are linked to your Google account and can be removed using Google’s webpage.

The next thing we can do is add movies and TV shows to your Watchlist and rate titles. Adding content to your Watchlist can be done from a Google Search on any device.

To add something to your Watchlist from the Google TV device itself, first, highlight a movie or TV show and hold down the “Select” or “Enter” button on your remote.

This will bring up a menu with a few options, one of which is “Add To Watchlist.”

In this same menu, you’ll notice options for “Watched It,” “Like,” and “Dislike.” You can use these to tune the recommendations as well.

If you do this enough over time, the recommendations will get better.

Enable Apps Only Mode on Google TV

The Google TV home screen is mostly filled with recommendations, but it is possible to turn them off almost completely. The “Apps Only Mode” boils everything down to the Highlights row and the “Your Apps” row.

First, select your profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen.

Select “Settings” from the pop-up menu.

Next, click “Accounts & Sign In” from the menu.

Select your Google account (the account responsible for the Home screen).

Scroll down and toggle the switch on for “Apps Only Mode.”

A confirmation screen will appear to tell you that this mode will hide Google’s recommendations and your ability to use the Watchlist features. You will also not have access to any content you purchased from Google Play Movies or the Google Assistant. Select “Continue” to proceed.

Your Google TV Home screen will now look like this:

While not as customizable as Android TV, the Google TV Home screen has the potential to get better the more you use it. Hopefully, these customization options can help.

Take back control of your home screen on the Xiaomi Mi Box, Nvidia Shield Android TV, and Nexus Player with these tips.

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When I reviewed the Xiaomi Mi Box last week, one of my complaints was about the layout of the home screen. Instead of having just one section for all your apps, the Mi Box splits your app library in two, with a separate section of “Mi Box Recommends” apps that can’t be customized.

This isn’t the first time I’ve run into this problem. Last year’s Nvidia Shield Android TV, which runs the same operating system from Google, also has a separate row just for Nvidia’s pre-installed gaming apps and Netflix. As with the Mi Box, there’s no way to move those apps around.

Fortunately, there are ways to take control of your home screen on the Xiaomi Mi Box, Nvidia Shield Android TV, and Google Nexus Player. They’re just hidden out of sight from the average user. Here’s what you can do:

Xiaomi Mi Box: removing the “Mi Box Recommends” row

Getting rid of Xiaomi’s bloatware first requires a settings tweak:

• Go to Settings
• Under the Device heading, select Apps
• Under the System apps heading, scroll to and select XiaomiLeanbackCustomizer
• Select Disable, then select OK

Removing this row doesn’t get rid of the apps themselves, it simply moves them to the main app section so that everything’s in one place. To remove these apps completely, you launch them first, as this takes you to the Google Play Store to complete the installation. After this step, uninstall the apps through Settings > Apps or through the Google Play Store, and the icons should disappear. (Thanks to Android Box Reviews for the tip.)

Nvidia Shield Android TV: removing the “Shield Hub” row

The weirdest thing about the Nvidia Shield Android TV is how it relegates the Netflix app to the same row as Nvidia’s own gaming services. If this bothers you as much as it bothers me, follow these steps for relief:

• Go to Settings
• Under the Device heading, select Apps
• Under the System apps heading, scroll to and select Nvidia Customizations
• Select Notifications, then select Off

When you return to the home screen, both Netflix and the Shield Hub app will appear inside the main apps section. You can press and hold the “A” button on those apps to rearrange the icons.

There’s just one downside: Launching the Shield Hub takes you straight to Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service, with no apparent way to access GameStream (for in-home streaming from a PC) or Nvidia’s native game store.

Extreme measure: Set a new default launcher

If you’re still unhappy with the Android TV home screen—for instance, you don’t like the Recommendations row, or don’t want your games and apps separated, you can install an alternative home screen launcher.

Alternative home screen launchers for Android TV provide more freedom to customize.

With Android 6.0, Google made this a lot harder on Android TV devices. Even if you install an alternative launcher like HALauncher or TVLauncher, there’s no built-in way to set them as the default. Fortunately, there is a workaround, discovered by the XDA developer forums. All you need is a laptop and USB cable, and it doesn’t even require rooting your device:

• Install your alternative launcher of choice
• On your PC, download and install Minimal ADB and Fastboot
• Nvidia Shield owners may need to install Shield Open Source drivers on the PC, though this shouldn’t be necessary in Windows 10
• On your Android TV device, go to Settings
• Under the Device heading, select About
• Scroll down to Build, and press the “A” button eight times. (A message will tell you that you are now a developer.)
• Return to the main Settings menu
• Under the Preferences heading, select Developer options
• Select Debugging, then select USB Debugging, then select On
• Connect the Android TV device to the PC with a USB cable
• On the Android TV device, approve the connection
• On the PC, launch Minimal ADB and Fastboot
• In the command prompt, type adb devices
• Verify that a device is detected (it should appear as a string of numbers)
• In the command prompt, type adb shell pm hide com.google.android.leanbacklauncher
• Now when you press your device’s home button, it should return to your alternative launcher. To get the standard launcher back, return to the command prompt and type adb shell pm unhide com.google.android.leanbacklauncher.

I’ve confirmed that this works on the Nvidia Shield Android TV. And unlike the more basic workaround that eliminates Nvidia’s home screen section, launching the Shield Hub app from an alternative launcher preserves access to GameStream and Nvidia’s game store.

One of Android’s strengths has always been the ability to customize, so it’s a shame Google makes power users go through so many steps to change the home screen. But at least it’s still possible.

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Jared Newman covers personal technology from his remote Cincinnati outpost. He also publishes two newsletters, Advisorator for tech advice and Cord Cutter Weekly for help with ditching cable or satellite TV.