cleanyourtv guide

Do Lesson 1 first. This site does not host the cleanyourtv home-screen app. You install it from the Play Store already on the television. Read the cleanyourtv risks before Part 2.

Lesson 2

Replace the home screen, and the sponsored row goes with it.

On Android TV and Google TV, the ads you see before your apps are the stock home screen. This cleanyourtv tutorial removes that row by replacing the home screen. Ads inside Netflix, YouTube, and other apps stay. Samsung, LG, Roku, Vizio, and VIDAA cannot follow this cleanyourtv lesson.

Stop if you cannot factory-reset this set.

Part 1 is reversible from the new home screen’s own settings. Part 2 turns the stock home screen off. Doing Part 2 in the wrong order can leave a black screen that only a factory reset fixes. If you do not know that reset for this model, do Part 1 only. If Part 1 already changes Home, do not start Part 2.

Part 1 of cleanyourtv. A new home screen from the store on the TV

  1. On the television, open the Play Store. It is already installed. This site does not give you a file.
  2. Search for Projectivy Launcher and install that app. Open it when the store finishes.
  3. Step through its welcome screens and allow the permissions it asks for.
  4. Open its settings with the gear icon. Open Accessibility, select Projectivy Launcher, and turn it on.
  5. Back in Projectivy’s settings, open General. Choose Change default launcher, then turn on Override current launcher.
  6. Press Home on the remote.
You are done if Home now opens Projectivy.

You should see your apps and no sponsored recommendation row. Leave developer options alone. Skip Part 2 of cleanyourtv. To go back later, open Projectivy’s settings and turn Override current launcher off, then press Home.

A system update can ignore that override and show the Google TV home again. If Home still opens the old screen after the cleanyourtv steps above, that is when Part 2 applies. Read the risks page before you continue.

Part 2 of cleanyourtv. Only if Home did not change

This turns off the stock home screen so the television has to open Projectivy. It does not delete it. Write the restore lines on paper before you type anything. They put the original home screen back:

adb shell pm enable com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith
adb shell pm enable com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx
adb shell pm enable com.google.android.tvlauncher
Order is the whole risk.

On Google TV, turn off setupwraith first, then launcherx. Turning off launcherx alone can leave a black screen that needs a factory reset. If a command answers that the package does not exist, stop. Do not look for other package names. Do not turn off voice, casting, the store, or updates.

Let the television accept your computer

  1. Settings → Device Preferences, or System. Open About.
  2. Select Build, or Android TV OS build. Press select seven times, until developer options are on.
  3. Go back. Open Developer options. Turn on USB debugging. If you also see Network debugging, turn that on. Leave the TV on.
  4. Open Network settings and note the television’s IP address. If a port is shown next to it, note that too. If no port is shown, the port is 5555.
  5. On a computer joined to the same Wi-Fi, install Google’s platform-tools and open a terminal in that folder. This site does not host that download.
  6. Connect, using the IP and port from the television. Then look at the TV and choose Allow only for the prompt you just caused.
adb connect 192.168.1.50:5555

Replace that address with the one on your television. connected means you can continue. failed to connect means stop and recheck the IP, the port, and that debugging is on.

Google TV: two commands, in this order

Use this when About says Google TV.

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

Older Android TV: one command

Use this only when About says Android TV and does not say Google TV.

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tvlauncher
  1. Press Home. Choose Projectivy Launcher and choose Always, if the television asks.
  2. Confirm the sponsored row is gone and that an app you use still opens.
  3. Turn USB debugging and Network debugging off again.

If the screen goes black

  1. If the computer still says connected, run the three pm enable lines from the top of Part 2. You do not need to know which one was turned off. Enabling a package that is already on is harmless.
  2. If the computer cannot connect, unplug the television for a minute and plug it back in. If you still have no picture you can navigate, use the factory-reset method in that model’s manual. Do not type further disable commands.

Next: what this cleanyourtv tutorial did, and what it did not