Android TV is an

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

that runs on

smart TV A smart TV, also known as a connected TV (CTV or, rarely, CoTV), is a traditional television set with integrated Internet and interactive Web 2.0 features that allow users to stream music and videos, browse the internet, and view photos. Smart T ...

s and related entertainment devices including soundbars,

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

es, and digital media players. Developed by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

, it is a

closed-source Proprietary software is software that grants its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner a legal monopoly by modern copyright and intellectual property law to exclude the recipient from freely sharing the software or modi ...

Android distribution. Android TV features a user interface designed around content discovery and voice search, content aggregation from various media apps and services, and integration with other recent Google technologies such as Assistant,

Cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William ...

, and

Knowledge Graph In knowledge representation and reasoning, a knowledge graph is a knowledge base that uses a Graph (discrete mathematics), graph-structured data model or topology to represent and operate on data. Knowledge graphs are often used to store interl ...

. The platform was unveiled in June 2014, as a successor to Google TV, available first on the Nexus Player in October. The platform has since been adopted as smart TV

middleware Middleware is a type of computer software program that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to imple ...

by companies such as Hisense,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, Sharp,

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

Toshiba is a Japanese multinational electronics company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, elevators and escalators, electronic components, semiconductors ...

and TCL. Android TV products have also been adopted as set-top boxes by a number of

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

television providers. The "Operator Tier" certification allows operators to distribute their own custom devices based on the Android TV platform.

Overview

The Android TV platform is an adaptation of the Android OS for set-top boxes and as integrated software on

hardware. It supports media and games apps from

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...

, although not all Google Play apps are compatible with Android TV. Some Android TV devices, such as the

Nvidia Shield Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis ...

and Razer Forge TV, are also marketed as microconsoles and are bundled with a Bluetooth wireless gamepad. ''The Verge'' characterized Android TV with leveraging Google's

project;

Chromecast Chromecast is a discontinued line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streaming media, streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The u ...

compatibility; a larger emphasis on search; closer ties to the Android ecosystem including

and Android Wear; and native support for

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

gamepad A gamepad is a type of video game controller held in two hands, where the fingers (especially thumbs) are used to provide input. They are typically the main input device for video game consoles. Features Some common additions to the standar ...

s, and the Google Play Games framework. Subsequent releases of Android TV brought new features to the operating system, e.g. camera support (with Android TV 9), Auto low-latency mode for gaming (with Android TV 11), 4K UI,

Refresh Rate The refresh rate, also known as vertical refresh rate, vertical scan rate or vertical frequency in reference to terminology originating with the cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), is the number of times per second that a raster-based display device displa ...

switching & Text scaling (with Android TV 12) among others. A special certification, called Android TV "Operator Tier", is available for pay television and other service operators allowing them to customize the home screen; manage UI as well as available apps, content or services on the Android TV devices that they provide to their subscribers; thus, differentiating from other operators and devices running Android TV as well. By May 2022, Android TV has over 10,000 compatible apps available on the Play Store, up from the 6,500 available at launch.

History

Android TV was first announced at

Google I/O Google I/O, or simply I/O, is an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California. The name "I/O" is taken from the number googol, with the "I" representing the first digit "1" in a googol and the "O" representing the s ...

in June 2014, as a successor to the commercially unsuccessful Google TV. Some attendees received the platform's development kit, the ADT-1. '' The Information'' reported that the ADT-1 was based on a scrapped "Nexus TV" launch device that was being developed internally by Google. Google unveiled the first Android TV device, the Nexus Player developed by

Asus ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (, , , ; stylized as ASUSTeK or ASUS) is a Taiwanese Multinational corporation, multinational computer, phone hardware and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. Its products include deskto ...

, at a hardware event in October 2014. The ADT-2 development kit device was released before the release of Android TV 9.0. Android TV 10 was released on December 10, 2019, together with the ADT-3 development kit. Android TV 11 was released for the ADT-3 on September 22, 2020, while rollouts were planned for original equipment manufacturer partners in subsequent months. In September 2020, it was announced that Google TV experience that was designed to browse and discover content, will be available on televisions from Android TV OS partners starting in 2021. In February 2021, an update to Android TV home screen was announced which added three new tabs at the top: Home, Discover, Apps. The 'Discover' tab presents personalized recommendations for movies, shows and live TV. Android TV 12 was released on November 30, 2021, with rollouts planned for late 2022. Android TV 13 was released on December 2, 2022 for developers using the ADT-3 development kit.

Features

Content recommendations

Available since February 2021, the 'Discover' tab on updated home screen presents personalized recommendations for movies, shows and live TV. Earlier, the Android TV home screen used a vertically scrolling, row-based interface, including a "content discovery" area populated by suggested content, followed by "Watch Now" rows that surfaced media content from installed apps.

Purchasing

Introduced in June 2023, the 'Shop' tab on Android TV home screen lets a signed-in user to explore movies to buy or rent and make purchases directly on the Android TV device. The tab also included 'Library' for accessing purchases made with same

Google Account A Google Account is a user account that is required for access, authentication and authorization to certain online Google services. It is also often used as single sign-on for third party services. Usage A Google Account is required for Gmail, ...

from YouTube, other Google TV and Android TV devices, and the Google TV mobile app.

Voice control

Android TV supports voice input commands allowing a user to search and discover content available through various apps and services as well as to control content playback using built-in

Google Assistant Google Assistant is a virtual assistant software application developed by Google that is primarily available on home automation and mobile devices. Based on artificial intelligence, Google Assistant can engage in two-way conversations, unlike ...

. With Google assistant, users can also control their Smart Home devices.

Casting

Android TV supports

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

via Google Cast from supported devices and apps.

Android TV hardware

Android TV has been used to power many types of devices, like smart TVs, smart projectors, set-top boxes and dongles. During Google I/O 2014, Google announced that

, Sharp, and TP Vision/

would release

s with Android TV integrated in 2015. It was noted that support for handling TV-specific functions, such as input switching and tuning, were natively integrated into the Android platform. Sony unveiled a range of Bravia smart TVs running Android TV at CES 2015. Sharp released two TV models on June 10, 2015. Philips announced that 80% of their 2015 TVs will run Android TV, the first two models of which were released in June 2015. Google announced other television hardware partners in January 2016, including Arçelik, Bang & Olufsen, Hisense,

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

TCL Corporation TCL Technology Group Corp. (originally an abbreviation for Telecom Corporation Limited) is a Chinese partially state-owned electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong province. TCL develops, manufactures, and sells consumer elect ...

, Vestel, OnePlus and Realme. Numerous commercial set-top boxes and dongles have been released using Android TV, most notably Google's Nexus Player, the

Nvidia Shield TV The Nvidia Shield TV (Shield Android TV or just Nvidia Shield) is an Android TV-based digital media player produced by Nvidia as part of its Shield brand of Android devices. First released in May 2015, the Shield was initially marketed by Nvid ...

, and

Xiaomi Xiaomi (; ) is a Chinese multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Beijing, China. It is best known for consumer electronics software electric vehicles. It is the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones in the worl ...

's Mi Box, Mi Box S, and Mi TV Stick. Also, several pay television providers have released

services using Android TV-based hardware as opposed to a proprietary set-top box. In July 2019, Android TV became available on soundbars. According to a report by

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...

in May 2023, several lines of budget-tier Android TV devices available for purchase from Amazon.com come preinstalled with

malware Malware (a portmanteau of ''malicious software'')Tahir, R. (2018)A study on malware and malware detection techniques . ''International Journal of Education and Management Engineering'', ''8''(2), 20. is any software intentionally designed to caus ...

Google TV interface

A modified Android TV OS

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fro ...

, branded "Google TV", was introduced on the new Chromecast that was released on September 30, 2020, coinciding with the rebranding of the Google Play Movies & TV mobile app to 'Google TV'. Google TV as well as the new Android TV interface is integrated with the Google TV service. The default ordering of content titles, apps, services including recommendations, watchlist or purchased titles appearing on Google TV is set by Google based on app popularity, installed apps, user saved services, and contractual agreements with Google's partners. The Shop tab on Android TV allows a user to explore and buy or rent video titles distributed under Google TV service. Starting with some set-top boxes, dongles, and smart TVs launched in 2021, Google TV replaced the Android TV interface on all new retail devices by the end of 2022. Devices launched with Android TV interface haven't been updated to Google TV but received a home screen redesign called the "Discover UI" with similar appearance to Google TV in February 2021. By the first week of September 2023, it was rolled out to more countries. Google TV organizes live as well as on demand content titles from various services and installed apps into genres and topics including titles trending on

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google or Google.com) is a search engine operated by Google. It allows users to search for information on the World Wide Web, Web by entering keywords or phrases. Google Search uses algorithms to analyze an ...

. It was announced as "a new entertainment experience designed to help easily browse and discover what to watch". It features sponsored content and also offers an apps-only mode.

Regional streaming services

Google TV organizes available content from Google as well as various apps and services partners including app developers and film studios. , it supports 50 streaming services in the US and various regional services:

United States

* A&E * ABC * Aha *

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

BET+ BET+ is a Video on demand#Subscription models, streaming service operated by Tyler Perry Studios and the BET Networks, BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. The service was first announced on June 24, 2019, ...

Brown Sugar Brown sugar is a sucrose sugar product with a distinctive brown color due to the presence of molasses. It is either an unrefined or partially refined soft sugar consisting of sugar crystals with some residual molasses content or produced by t ...

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

* Crackle *

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

* Discovery+ * DisneyNOW *

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

* Epix Now * FlixLatino * Fox Now * Freevee *

FuboTV FuboTV, Inc., formerly known as the FaceBank Group, and its subsidiary FuboTV Media, Inc., which operates as FuboTV or Fubo, comprise an American over-the-top sports streaming television service that serves customers in Canada, Spain, and the US ...

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

* Globoplay * Haystack News * HBO Go *

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

iQIYI iQIYI (, pronounced in English as ), formerly Qiyi (), is a Chinese subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Baidu. Headquartered in Beijing, iQIYI primarily produces and distributes films and television series. i ...

* Kocowa * Lifetime *

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

MGM+ MGM+ (formerly known as Epix; pronounced ''epics'' and stylized as eᴘix), is an American Pay television, premium cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by the MGMPlus Entertainment subsidiary of M ...

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

* NBC * Pantaya *

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

* Plex *

Pluto TV Pluto TV is an American free ad-supported streaming television service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Founded by Tom Ryan (business executive), Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in ...

* Red Bull TV * Showtime *

Sling TV Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor aim ...

Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...

* TBS *

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

* TNT * Tubi TV *

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

* Viki *

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

YouTube TV YouTube TV is an American Pay television, subscription Over-the-top media service, over-the-top streaming television service operated by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, which in turn is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., who announced YouTube TV ...

* YuppTV *

Zee5 ZEE5 or Z5 is an Indian subscription video on demand and over-the-top streaming service, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on We ...

Germany

* Joyn * Zattoo

Japan

Abema is a Japanese streaming service that launched on April 11, 2016, under the name It is majority-owned by CyberAgent, with a 55.2% stake, and TV Asahi, with a 36.8% stake, while the remaining ownership belongs to various other companies, mostl ...

* dTV * U-Next

Italy

RaiPlay RaiPlay is an Italian Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by RAI. The service primarily distributes films and television series produc ...

New Zealand

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, etc.)

* Viaplay * SVT Play * YouSee TV & Film

Turkey

* TRT * Digiturk *

TV+ Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

* tivibu * Exxen * BluTV * D-Smart GO * S Sport Plus

United Kingdom

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

DAZN DAZN (; pronounced "da zone") is a British Over-the-top media service, over-the-top sports Sports broadcasting, streaming and entertainment platform. Founded in 2007 as Perform Group via the merger of Premium TV Limited and Inform Group, it is o ...

ITVX ITVX is a British Over-the-top media services, over-the-top and ad-supported Streaming television, streaming service operated by ITV plc. The service offers original content from the broadcaster, livestreams of the ITV television channels, Free ...

* My5 * Hayu

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2014 software Android (operating system) Google software Smart TV Television operating systems