How to Build an Ad-Free Android TV Setup
Original: An ad-free Android TV
Why This Matters
Shows how persistent Google TV ad injection is, and that workarounds require real technical effort.
A developer shares a tested Android TV setup using Projectivy Launcher, SmartTube, and ADB commands to eliminate Google TV ads and replace YouTube, confirmed working on Chromecasts and Hisense TVs.
Google TV's home screen pushes promotional banners even in Apps Only mode, and there's no built-in way to swap launchers. This tutorial documents a working workaround stack deployed across multiple devices: Projectivy Launcher replaces the Google TV home screen entirely — no banners, fully customizable. SmartTube replaces the official YouTube app with an ad-free client that includes SponsorBlock. The author notes they still pay for YouTube Premium to support creators. Wholphin serves as a Jellyfin client, and Button Mapper reassigns the remote's YouTube button to open SmartTube instead.
The setup requires ADB access via wireless debugging (or USB debugging on older firmware). Key steps include disabling the stock launcher packages via `pm disable-user`, setting Projectivy as the default home activity, and either uninstalling or user-removing the YouTube TV app. One subtle gotcha: using Projectivy's short component name in the accessibility services string causes it to show "Enabled: No" even when running — the full name fixes it. The author also notes Android can silently disable accessibility services, and recommends granting Button Mapper WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS to let it recover automatically.