Alternative launchers for Android TV

Changing the launcher is probably what you notice most on an older television. The factory one loads thumbnails, recommendation rows and autoplay previews every time you return home. A light one does not.

Order matters#

This is the critical point of the whole article:

1. Install the alternative launcher.
2. Check it: go to home and confirm it works and that you can reach the settings.
3. Use it for a couple of days.
4. Only then disable the factory one.

Doing it the other way round leaves you looking at an empty screen with no obvious way out.

What to look for in a launcher#

• That it loads nothing from the network on startup.
• That it lets you order apps as you want.
• That it is navigable with a remote (many phone launchers are not).
• That it can be set as the default.

There are several free and paid options in the Play Store. We link to none specifically and host no files: install them from the store or from the developer's official site.

Setting it as default#

Pressing the home button should prompt Android to ask which to use. If it does not, clear the current one's preference:

adb shell pm clear com.google.android.tvlauncher

And press home again.

Disabling the factory one#

Once you are sure:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tvlauncher

We use disable-user rather than uninstall deliberately: if something goes wrong, going back is immediate.

adb shell pm enable com.google.android.tvlauncher

The package to watch#

com.google.android.tvrecommendations generates the recommendation rows. On some models it comes off cleanly; on others it is a launcher dependency and takes the home screen down with it.

That is exactly the per-model difference we are cataloguing in the directory.

How much difference it makes#

On a 1 GB television running Android 8, moving from the factory launcher to a light one can cut the return-to-home time from several seconds to near instant. It is the single biggest improvement you will get.