I discovered the cleanest Android TV launcher, and Google did not make it

By the point I wrap up work, there’s just one factor I actually need to do: crawl into mattress, seize the distant, and placed on certainly one of my consolation exhibits. It’s how I change off after a protracted day. However when you personal a Google TV, that second of peace doesn’t all the time final.

Most of the time, the very first thing I hear after I activate the TV is a loud ad. And even after the ad is over, the interruptions don’t actually cease. The house display is filled with suggestions and promotions, making it more durable to get to the apps I truly use.

That’s after I determined sufficient was sufficient. I went on the lookout for a cleaner, easier Google TV house display different — one which places my content material first. Fortunately, I discovered precisely that, and it didn’t come from Google.

My seek for a cleaner, ad-free expertise finally led me to Projectivy Launcher, and it turned out to be precisely what I used to be on the lookout for. It’s extremely customizable, and, most significantly, it will get out of the way in which, letting me determine what deserves to be entrance and middle.

Higher but, it didn’t take lengthy to make the launcher really feel like my very own. I downloaded it from the Play Retailer, personalised a couple of settings, and inside minutes, I might already inform the expertise was going to be very totally different.

The very first thing that made me smile was the welcome display. True to its identify, Projectivy leans right into a projector-and-theater theme, greeting you with shiny purple curtains that slowly open to disclose the setup web page. It’s delightfully dramatic, and truthfully, I liked it. It nearly feels just like the curtains are opening earlier than film evening begins.

As soon as I bought previous the welcome display, the actual enjoyable started. As a substitute of rearranging my habits to suit Google’s house display, I might lastly form the interface to replicate how my dad and mom and I truly use our TV. I grouped our favourite streaming apps collectively, hid the pre-installed apps we’d by no means opened (good riddance), adjusted the grid to suit extra apps on display, and even tweaked the icon kinds till all the pieces seemed good. For the primary time, the house display mirrored our routine as an alternative of Google’s priorities.

The little quality-of-life enhancements stored including up, too. I created shortcuts for my HDMI inputs, so leaping to my set-top field or PS5 now takes only a single click on. And one function I didn’t know I’d admire a lot is that I can entry each Projectivy’s settings and my TV’s system settings from the identical house display. Meaning I now not must bounce between totally different interfaces simply to tweak my good TV’s settings.

However the greatest distinction isn’t any of these customization choices — it’s how peaceable the TV feels to make use of now. Each time I change it on, I’m greeted by a minimal house display with simply the apps my household and I truly use. Netflix and YouTube sit proper the place we count on them to be, and there are not any loud advertisements or limitless rows of suggestions making an attempt to seize my consideration earlier than I even determine what to observe. I merely activate the TV, open the app I need, and get on with my night.

Which may not sound like an enormous deal, but it surely’s fully modified my nightly routine. After a protracted day at work, all I need to do is sink into mattress and placed on certainly one of my consolation exhibits. It’s change into so acquainted that I barely have to consider it anymore. After months of utilizing it, I instinctively know what number of instances to press the distant to land on the app I need. I don’t even have to take a look at the display half the time. That form of muscle reminiscence is absolutely satisfying in day by day use.

The change hasn’t simply made a distinction for me, both. My mother begins an internet exercise class each morning at 5 AM, and when there are individuals in the home who undoubtedly aren’t morning individuals (me included), the very last thing anybody needs is for the TV to abruptly blast an commercial. Now she switches on the TV, jumps straight into her exercise app, retains the quantity low, and begins her class with out disturbing anybody else in the home. It’s one thing we’ve come to understand each single morning.

That stated, Projectivy isn’t good. As a lot as I’ve loved utilizing it, I did run into a few frustrations. The largest one has been the premium improve. I’ve no drawback paying for apps that make my life higher, and I absolutely meant to purchase Projectivy Premium. The issue is that I merely couldn’t. Each time I attempted to finish the acquisition, I bumped into the identical cost circulation situation. At first, I assumed it was one thing fallacious with my TV, however after making an attempt on three different Android TVs round my home, I stored hitting the very same roadblock. Months later, I nonetheless haven’t been capable of improve.

Fortunately, the free model already consists of all the pieces I truly use day by day, so I by no means felt just like the launcher was holding something again. Nonetheless, it will’ve been good to unlock the premium options and see whether or not customized wallpapers, further icon packs, and the opposite personalization choices have been definitely worth the $7 asking worth.

I additionally depend on a Plex-based media server for my native film library, and that’s the place I hit one other minor snag. Projectivy works completely effectively because the front-end, however putting in Plex from the Play Retailer on some units sometimes throws set up errors. It isn’t a deal-breaker — I merely sideload the APK as an alternative — but when your TV setup revolves round Plex, it’s value protecting in thoughts.

Neither of those points has been sufficient to tempt me again to Google’s default house display. Every bit of software program has its quirks, and Projectivy isn’t any exception. The distinction is that its tough edges are a lot simpler to reside with than the fixed interruptions I’d gotten used to on Google TV. I nonetheless hope the premium buy bug will get fastened, as a result of I’d genuinely wish to assist the developer and spend a while exploring the additional customization choices.

However even because it stands, this launcher rewired how I take advantage of my TV. Google spent years educating me to tolerate my own residence display, Projectivy took a day to make me overlook it was ever an issue.