An Android TV Box is the closest thing to a real multimedia center for the living room or television at home. A great device with which to take advantage of the possibilities of Android on the big screen.
If we don’t have a Smart TV, it is the best way to have access to streaming applications like Netflix , Spotify and other apps directly on the TV, and also one of the cheapest. In any case, not all apps are designed to work on a TV – the “tactile” factor is lost, among other things. Therefore, it is essential to do a good screening. What are the best apps to fully enjoy a TV Box?
The 20 best applications for your Android TV Box
Without a doubt, the majority of applications for this type of device are oriented towards the reproduction of multimedia content. A TV Box is synonymous with series, movies and music, but it is also much more than that. These are the 20 best apps for your Android TV Box . Essential.
Square Home
Unless you have a device with Android TV or Google TV, there are still many TV Boxes – especially if they are of Asian origin – that have a rather unattractive, generic interface and often non-existent wallpaper. The best thing to solve this is to install a launcher to give it an elegant and much more attractive touch.
After trying several launchers, the one that best adapts to the interface of a TV Box and the one that has given me the best results to date is Square Home. It offers a fully customizable format that is much nicer than most standard launchers. We can change the wallpaper, organize desktop icons, widgets, colors, etc. Highly recommended.
Square Home | Download on Google Play
Related: The 10 best launchers for your Android TV Box
KODI
What would my TV Box be without KODI? If there is an essential app that cannot be missing from a multimedia box, that is the XBMC Foundation app. Not only is it a multimedia player that allows you to play practically any video, audio or image format. Thanks to its “ Add ons ” or complements, we can add third-party services to view streaming content in a centralized way, or even from our own network server . Big.
KODI | Download on Google Play
PLEX
If we talk about multimedia players we cannot forget PLEX either. Not only is it an excellent tool for watching videos and anything else that we have stored on a pendrive or USB memory. The best thing about PLEX is that for some time now it has also been a platform to watch live TV – currently more than 80 channels – as well as series and movies on demand . All free and without registration.
In addition, if we install Plex Media Server on our PC we can also turn our computer into a multimedia server to watch content via Wi-Fi from the TV Box. A marvel.
PLEX | Download on Google Play
Sideload launcher
In order for an application to be installed on a TV box, it must first be declared compatible with Android TV. If not, it simply will not appear available in the Google Play Store. What’s more, if we install one of these “unsupported” apps by other means, such as through an APK, the app will not even appear in the application drawer of our Android TV.
Sideload launcher is a really useful application, since it allows us to view and run apps that do not have a compatible version for our Android TV Box . Thus, if we install an application in APK format (or in its mobile version), it will appear in the list of apps along with the rest of the applications.
For more information you can take a look at THIS TUTORIAL where we explain in great detail how to install applications compatible with Android TV on a TV Box.
Sideload launcher | Download on Google Play
Puffin TV
Browsing the Internet on a TV is not the most practical thing in the world. And unless we have a remote controller with a keyboard, the remote control makes searches very forced.
Puffin TV is a browser adapted for TV boxes . Instead of offering the typical interface that we see on mobile phones and PCs with its search bar and so on, we find an environment made up of boxes. We can also synchronize the browser with our mobile phone and use QR codes to create bookmarks. It looks more like a multimedia center than a browser as such, something that gives us an idea of what web browsers should be like on TV boxes of the future.
Puffin TV | Download on Google Play
Spotify
The Spotify client for TV Boxes is not the best in the world in terms of usability – I prefer the mobile version or the one they launched for the PS4 – but if we want to listen to music on TV this is an app that cannot be missing from our library. . Remember that you don’t need to create an account specifically – you can log in with Facebook – to have free access to the Spotify catalog, and its content is simply amazing.
Spotify | Download on Google Play
Recently, they have published a specific version for Android TV that should facilitate navigation on this type of device.
Spotify Music for TV | Download on Google Play
NES Nostalgia
The best NES emulator. If we want to play games like Mario, Castlevania, Tetris or Megaman, Nostalgia NES is an application that we cannot overlook. The best way to enjoy these types of games is with a classic controller, preferably wireless. The one I liked the most among all the ones I have tried, both in terms of finish and design, is the NES30 Pro from 8bitdo. One last.
NES Nostalgia | Download on Google Play
Bonus: Of course there are also other Android emulators for retro consoles such as Snes9X (Super Nintendo), Matsu PSX Emulator (cross-platform) or MAME4Droid (Arcade).
ADB TV
If you have a TV Box with Android TV or Google TV system, this app will interest you. It is a tool designed to uninstall all those apps that come from the factory and that cannot be deleted by hand. With ADB TV you can get rid of them, and if an app cannot be uninstalled you can disable it and hide it so that it does not bother you anymore.
Take a look at the post ” How to delete pre-installed apps on Android TV and Google TV ” to see how it works. The app is available for download from both the Play Store and its official website in APK format. We have tested it and it works wonderfully.
Download ADB TV from its official website
ADB TV | Download on Google Play
Pluto TV
What about free streaming apps? The truth is that not all streaming platforms work under subscription, and some like Pluto TV offer live and on-demand television completely free. The best of all is that the Pluto app is perfectly adapted to Android TV, so its navigation and usability is one of the most comfortable we can find.
Series, movies, comedy, MTV shows, music, children’s cartoons and much more. You can see a list of all the channels available on Pluto TV in THIS POST . If you are interested in this type of applications, don’t miss the post ” The 10 best apps to watch TV online for free .”
Pluto TV | Download on Google Play
CetusPlay
CetusPlay is another of those apps that cannot be missing from an Android TV Box. On the one hand, it allows us to synchronize the phone with the TV Box, and use the mobile screen as a mouse . It also offers the possibility of playing videos and photos from the phone, as well as being able to send files, and a really useful small app store for the TV Box, called “Application Center”.
CetusPlay | Download on Google Play
steam link
Have you ever dreamed of the day when we can play our favorite Steam games directly on our mobile phone or on the TV box in the living room? Today this is already possible thanks to Steam Link.
With this application developed by Valve we can synchronize our PC and the Android TV Box, so that we can play on the television screen via Wi-Fi. All compatible with gamepad. We can find more information on how to install in THIS OTHER POST .
Steam Link | Download on Google Play
Sony also has a similar service called ” Remote Play “, with which we can play PS4 games on Android . We configure the PS4 to enable remote play, install the app on the Android device and establish the connection. It is usually more practical to play on a mobile phone, but in theory we could also use it with a TV Box connected to a monitor or a second television.
PS Remote Play | Download on Google Play
Nvidia GeForce NOW and Amazon Luna
Another option to enjoy video games on the big screen of a television is to use streaming. Both Amazon and Nvidia have their corresponding app compatible with Android TV. Of course, make sure you have an excellent internet connection to avoid cuts and frame drops.
Finally, don’t forget to have a good gamepad and make sure that the connection has no delay, since otherwise the playability may be very poor.
NVIDIA GeForce NOW | Download on Google Play
Amazon Luna has a specific app for Fire TV devices, which is perfect if you have any of Amazon’s streaming devices. If we want to install the Amazon Luna app for Android, we will also find it available in the Amazon app store.
Download Amazon Luna from the Amazon Appstore
skype
Skype on TV. Sounds pretty logical, right? We can use the television screen to hold video conferences in considerable dimensions and sitting quietly on the sofa in the living room. To do this, of course we will need to get a webcam for the TV Box . A pretty interesting plan, to say the least.
Skype | Download on Google Play
Microsoft Word
Another utility that we can extract from an Android TV Box is the word processor. Some time ago, Microsoft published its corresponding Android version of its well-known office applications Word, Excel, Access, Power Point and Outlook .
If we have a wireless keyboard and mouse, we can use the TV Box and the generous screen of our TV to write, just as if we were in front of a PC.
Microsoft Word | Download on Google Play
Youtube
YouTube is another of those applications that we absolutely have to have on our Android TV. Hours and hours of entertainment on the largest online video platform in the world. Enjoy the videos of your favorite YouTubers in the same way you watch the news, football or Sunday mass on La 2.
YouTube for Android TV | Download on Google Play
File Commander
If at any time you need to access the internal memory of the TV Box or manage the files on a USB memory, you will have to install a good file explorer . Personally, File Commander is one of the ones that has given me the best results. One of its most interesting functions is that it allows you to access files stored in the cloud , as well as content that we may have stored on another device connected to the same network.
File Commander | Download on Google Play
In addition to File Commander, you can also use other file explorers compatible with the landscape format of Android TV, such as Solid Explorer.
Solid Explorer | Download on Google Play
Send Files to TV
Sending files to the TV Box can be quite a cumbersome task, since we have to copy the file to a pendrive and connect it back and forth every time we want to transfer a file to the TV Box. With this application compatible with Android TV we can make all that work much simpler and cleaner.
Simply install Send Files to TV on both your smartphone and the TV Box, and you can easily send files over Wi-Fi. Practical and very easy to use.
Send Files to TV | Download on Google Play
Finally, a small recommendation: replace the remote control that comes standard (normally they are not very good) with one with an integrated keyboard – much more practical -, an air mouse or a gamepad with a crosshead . The experience improves substantially.