Brownout › Guides › Android TV built in

Installing an app on a television with Android TV built in

Sony, Philips, TCL, Hisense, Xiaomi and Sharp all put Android inside the television itself, so there is no box to plug in. The steps are the same as any Android TV. The only trick is that each maker moves the menu.

Android TV or Google TV? If your home screen is rows of apps, it is Android TV. If it is rows of films and programmes with an Apps tab along the top, it is Google TV. Both are below.

Step 1: Turn on Developer options

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Android TV: go to Device Preferences › About.
    Google TV: go to System › About.
  3. Move down to Build or Android TV OS build (the last line) and press the middle of the remote seven times.
  4. “You are now a developer” appears.

Step 2: Allow the app that installs

Switch on Downloader. If it is not listed, install it first. The list only shows apps already on the television.

Step 3: Install Downloader, then the app

The Downloader app: an orange tile with a white D and a down arrow, and the word Downloader
Look for this orange tile. It is free.
  1. Open Google Play and search for Downloader. Install the one by AFTVnews, orange icon.
  2. Open it, type the address into the box at the top, press Go.
  3. Choose Install, then Install again on Android's own screen.
  4. Done, then Delete, to throw away the installer file.

Some televisions lock this down. A few models, certain Philips and hotel-mode sets in particular, have the switch removed by the maker. If it genuinely is not there, a £30 stick or box plugged into an HDMI socket sidesteps it entirely, and will be quicker than the television anyway. Older smart televisions are usually the slowest part of the room.

Installing Brownout Media Player

Same steps. In Downloader, type this number:

4205862

or type the address brownoutapps.com/tv

Once it opens, it shows a QR code. Scan it with your phone and type your provider's details on the phone. This is worth more on a television than anywhere else, because television remotes have the worst keyboards of the lot.

If it will not play ball

The television is slow, and so is the app

Built-in Android sets are usually the weakest hardware in the house. Brownout is built for that (it runs on Android 7 and up), but if everything on the set is sluggish, a cheap stick will fix all of it at once.

“App not installed”

Storage. Televisions ship with almost none free. Settings › Storage shows what is taking it up.

The app installed but is not on the home screen

On Google TV, go to the Apps tab, See all apps, and scroll to the bottom. Sideloaded apps land there. Choose Add to favourites to put it on the front row.

No Developer options after seven presses

You were probably on the wrong line. It must be Build or Android TV OS build, the very last item on the About screen, not the model name.

Other devices

The idea is the same everywhere, but the menus differ. Guides for each: