Without any doubt, all of us will accept that Android TV is the best smart TV that we can use at home to stream various media content. It brings a lot of features to enhance the users’ experience. The TV comes with an in-built Chromecast feature so you can cast the content from your smartphone to your TV. In addition to streaming media content, you can also play games on Android TV. It is compatible with wireless gamepads. Most interestingly, Android TV allows you to customize the home screen. By customizing the home screen, you can quickly access the streaming apps and services.
How to Customize Android TV Home Screen
On the Android TV home screen, you can see many tabs such as Search, Home, Discover, Apps, and Settings. You can customize the Android TV home screen in different ways.
Add, Remove, and Reorder Rows
How to Add Rows
1. Go to Settings on your Android TV.
2. Choose Device Preferences > Home Screen.
3. Click on the Customize Channels option.
4. Choose the channel that you want to turn on or off.
How to Reorder Rows
1. Go to the Home tab from the home screen of your Android TV.
2. Select the row that you want to reorder.
3. Now, scroll to the left side using the D-pad on the remote.
4. Tap the Reorder option.
5. Now, move the row to where you want to keep it.
6. And press the center of the D-pad button.
How to Remove Channel Rows from the Home Screen
1. Navigate to the left side to which channel row you want to move.
2. Choose the – button to remove the channel row from the home screen.
3. To move the channel row up and down, highlight the row, scroll to the left side, and choose the Move button.
4. Move up or down to mode the channel row.
5. Press the Enter button on the remote once you move the row to your desired place.
Control Suggested Shows & Movies
On the Android TV home screen, you will see suggestions for movies and TV shows. If you want to change that, you can do it easily.
How to Get Better Suggestions
1. Visit Google.com on your PC or smartphone.
2. Sign in with the same account that you have used on your Android TV.
3. Now, search for what to watch.
4. From the results, click on Services.
5. Choose the subscription from the list, and you will get suggestions from these services in your Google products.
6. Finally, click on Save to save the changes.
How to Turn Off Audio or Video previews
1. Navigate to Settings on your Android TV.
2. Choose the Device Preferences option.
3. Click on the Home screen and turn off Enable Video Previews or Enable Audio Previews.
To get more details about sponsored suggestions, choose the ad and press and hold the Select button on the remote and click Why this ad, and you will get the answer.
Control Personalized Recommendations
The Discover tab brings you personalized recommendations based on your watch history. If you don’t want to get certain recommendations, you can turn off the recommendations easily.
How to Set Up Personalized Recommendations
1. Click on the Discover tab and choose to Get Started.
2. Sign in with your Google account, and you will get to see the recommendations based on your account’s activity.
3. Enable the Turn on Web & App Activity option.
4. Now, choose the services you want to use and click Confirm.
How to Turn Off Personalized Recommendations
1. Go to Settings >> Device Preferences.
2. Click on Home Screen and choose Sign out under the Discover tab.
3. Choose Yes, Sign out for confirmation.
Manage your Watchlist
Sometimes you might want some media content to stream later. To discover them quickly, you can add them to your Watchlist. You will find Watchlist under the Discover tab.
1. Choose the content you want to add to your watchlist from the Discover tab.
2. Open the titles details page.
3. Choose the Add to Watchlist option, and the content will be added to your Watchlist.
Add & Find Apps
Under the Apps tab, you will see the apps you have installed on your Android TV. You can use the D-pad to select an app.
How to Add or Remove Shortcuts to your Favorite Apps
1. Under the Home tab, you will find the Favorite Apps row.
2. To add an app to this row, go to the end of the row and choose Add App to Favorites.
3. Choose the app that you want to add to the row.
How to Remove and Rearrange the App
1. Press the Select button on the remote and highlight the app you want to remove from the row.
2. Long press on the app, and you will get some options.
3. From the menu, choose the Remove From Favorites option.
4. If you want to rearrange the app, choose the Move option and move the app left or right where you want to move the app.
Customize the Play Next Channel Row
On the Android TV home screen, you will see Play Next. It is for resuming shows and movies that you didn’t complete watching. If you want, you can move or turn off this option.
1. Navigate to the bottom of the home screen and click on Choose Channels option.
2. On the following screen, choose the Play Next option.
3. Flip the toggle to the Off position.
4. If you want to customize this option, leave the Play Next option on and choose the apps you want to add to Play Next.
Related – How to Delete Downloads on Android TV
Frequently Asked Questions
You can customize the Android TV home screen in different ways. First, go through the above section thoroughly to know how to customize the home screen.
Using the screen saver app, you change the wallpaper on Android TV.
