Brownout › Guides › Nvidia Shield

How to install an app on an Nvidia Shield TV

The Shield is the easiest of the lot. It has power to spare, plenty of storage, and Nvidia has never made a fuss about what you install on it.

Step 1: Turn on Developer options

  1. From the home screen open Settings (the cog, top right).
  2. Go to Device Preferences › About.
  3. Scroll to Build and press the middle of the remote seven times.
  4. “You are now a developer” appears at the bottom of the screen.

Newer Shield software calls that line Android TV OS build. Either way it is the bottom item on the About screen.

Step 2: Allow the app that installs

  1. Settings › Device Preferences › Security & restrictions.
  2. Choose Unknown sources.
  3. Switch Downloader on.

Not in the list? It only lists apps already installed. Do Step 3 first.

Step 3: Install Downloader

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 the Google Play Store, or press the Assistant button and say “Downloader”.
  2. Install the one by AFTVnews with the orange icon.

Step 4: Fetch it and install it

  1. Open Downloader, type the address into the top box, press Go.
  2. When it lands, choose Install, then Install again on Android's own screen.
  3. Done, then Delete to bin the installer file.

The new app appears in the Apps row. Hold the middle button on it to move it where you want it.

Prefer not to type on the remote? The Shield can take the file over your home network instead. In Settings › Device Preferences › Storage, switch on Network access, then copy the file from your computer into the Shield's Download folder and open it with a file manager on the Shield. It is a long way round, but it saves typing.

Installing Brownout Media Player

Same four steps. In Downloader, type this number:

4205862

or type the address brownoutapps.com/tv

On a Shield the app has more hardware than it needs, so everything is immediate: the guide, the posters, 4K playback. Open it and scan the QR code with your phone to put your provider in without typing.

If it will not play ball

“App not installed”

An older copy signed by someone else is still on there. Uninstall it and try again.

Nothing happens after the download

Downloader has not been allowed. Go back to Step 2.

Developer options disappeared

A Shield software update sometimes hides it again. Repeat Step 1; the seven presses still work.

Other devices

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