An Android TV Box is the closest thing to a real multimedia center for the living room or TV at home. A great device with which to squeeze the possibilities of Android on the big screen. Obviously, not all apps are designed to work on a TV – the “touch” factor is lost, among other things. Therefore, it is essential to make a good sieve. What are the best apps to fully enjoy a TV Box?
Top 20 Apps for your Android TV Box
Undoubtedly, most applications for this type of device are aimed at playing 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 . Essentials.
Square Home 3
Unless you have a device with Android TV, most TV Boxes -especially if they are of Asian origin- have a rather unattractive interface and a wallpaper that is often non-existent. The best way 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 today is SquareHome 3. It offers a fully customizable format that is much more pleasant than most standard launchers. We can change the wallpaper, organize desktop icons, widgets, colors, etc. Highly recommended.
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Square Home
Developer: ChYK the dev
Price: Free
If you want to try other quality alternative launchers I would also recommend
ATV Launcher . It is one of the most attractive on a visual level and also allows you to change the wallpaper. Functional and practical.
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ATV Launcher
Developer: DStudio Canada
Price: Free
Related: Top 10 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. It is not only 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 . Great.
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Kodi
Developer: Kodi Foundation
Price: Free
PLEX
If we talk about multimedia players, we can’t forget about PLEX either. It is not only an excellent tool to watch videos and anything else that we have stored on a flash drive or USB memory. The best thing about PLEX is that for some time 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.
Furthermore, 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.
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Plex: Live TV, movies and more
Developer: Plex, Inc.
Price: Free
sideload launcher
For an application to be installed on a TV box, it must first be declared compatible with Android TV. If not, it will simply not appear available in the Google Play Store. What’s more, if we install one of these “unsupported” apps in other ways, such as through an APK, the app won’t even appear in the app drawer on our Android TV.
Sideload launcher is a really useful application, since it allows us to view and run apps that don’t 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.
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Sideloader Launcher – Android TV
Developer: Chainfire
Price: Free
PuffinTV
Surfing 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 the searches more forced.
Puffin TV is a browser adapted for TV boxes . Instead of offering the typical interface that we see on mobiles and PCs with its search bar and others, we find an environment made up of packs. We can also synchronize the browser with our mobile and use QR codes to create bookmarks. It looks more like a media center than a browser as such, something that gives us an idea of what web browsers should look like in TV boxes of the future.
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Puffin TV Browser
Developer: CloudMosa Inc.
Price: Free
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 that was 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 on purpose –you can log in with Facebook- to have free access to the Spotify catalogue, and its content is simply amazing.
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Spotify: music and podcasts
Developer: Spotify AB
Price: Free
Recently, they have published a specific version for Android TV that should facilitate navigation on this type of device.
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Spotify Music for TV
Developer: Spotify AB
Price: Free
Nostalgia NES
The best NES emulator. If we want to play games like Mario, Castlevania, Tetris or Megaman, Nostalgia NES is an application that we cannot ignore. The best way to enjoy this type of game is with a classic controller, if possible wireless. The one I liked the most among all the ones I’ve tried, both in terms of finish and design, is the 8bitdo NES30 Pro . One last.
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Nostalgia.NES (NES Emulator)
Developer: Nostalgia Emulators
Price: Free
Bonus: Of course there are also other Android emulators for retro consoles like
Snes9X (Super Nintendo), Matsu PSX Emulator (multiplatform) or MAME4Droid (Arcade).
Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Disney+ and the like
Streaming platforms to watch series and movies are one of the main reasons to use an Android TV Box. Whether you are a fan of Stranger Things on Netflix, or The Rings of Power on Prime Video, the Marvel series or The House of the Dragon, all platforms have their corresponding app with a compatible version for TV Box.
Next, I leave you both the standard version and the specific version for Android TV of Netflix:
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Netflix
Developer: Netflix, Inc.
Price: Free
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Netflix
Developer: Netflix, Inc.
Price: Free
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HBO Max: Movies and series
Developer: WarnerMedia Global Digital Services, LLC
Price: Free
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Amazon Prime Video
Developer: Amazon Mobile LLC
Price: Free
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Disney+
Developer: Disney
Price: Free
If we like boxing, MMA, motorcycling, soccer or any other sport , we can’t ignore DAZN either , a streaming platform dedicated exclusively to sports events and competitions. They have a very powerful catalog and a pretty decent Android app that is also compatible with Chromecast and many other devices.
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DAZN: Live Sports
Developer: DAZN
Price: Free
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. Best of all, 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 available channels on Pluto TV in THIS POST . If you are interested in this type of application, do not miss the post “ The 10 best apps to watch TV online and for free “.
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Pluto TV – Movies and Series
Developer: Pluto, Inc.
Price: Free
CetusPlay
CetusPlay is another one 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 little app store for the TV Box, called “Application Center”.
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CetusPlay-Best Android TV Box, Fire TV Remote App
Developer: CetusPlay Global
Price: Free
steam link
Have you ever dreamed of the day when we can have a good time with our favorite Steam games directly on our mobile 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, in such a way that we can play on the TV screen via Wi-Fi. All compatible with gamepad. We can find more information on how to install in THIS OTHER POST .
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steam link
Developer: Valve Corporation
Price: Free
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 mobile, but in theory we could also use it with a TV Box connected to a monitor or a second television.
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PS RemotePlay
Developer: PlayStation Mobile Inc.
Price: Free
Stadia and Nvidia GeForce NOW
Another option to enjoy video games on the big screen of a television is to resort to streaming. Both Stadia 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 lag, otherwise the playability can be very low.
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Stadia
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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NVIDIA GeForce NOW
Developer: NVIDIA
Price: Free
Skype
Skype on TV. Sounds pretty logical, right? We can use the television screen to hold videoconferences in considerable dimensions and sitting quietly on the sofa in the living room. For this, of course, we will need to get a webcam for the TV Box . Quite an interesting plan, to say the least.
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Skype
Developer: Skype
Price: Free
Microsoft Word
Another of the utilities that we can extract from an Android TV Box is the word processor. Some time ago Microsoft published the corresponding version for Android 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.
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Microsoft Word: Edit Documents
Developer: Microsoft Corporation
Price: Free
Youtube
YouTube is another one of those applications that we have to have yes or yes on our Android TV. Hours and hours of entertainment on the world’s largest online video platform. Enjoy the videos of your favorite YouTubers in the same way that you watch the news, soccer or Sunday mass on La 2.
Here we have both the standard version and the Android TV version itself:
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Youtube
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
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YouTube for Android TV
Developer: Google LLC
Price: Free
File Commander
If at any time you need to access the internal memory of the TV Box or manage the files on a USB stick, 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 access to files stored in the cloud , as well as content that we may have stored on another device connected to the same network.
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File Commander Manager & Cloud
Developer: MobiSystems
Price: Free
In addition to File Commander, you can also use other file explorers that are compatible with the landscape format of Android TVs, such as Solid Explorer.
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Solid Explorer File Manager
Developer: NeatBytes
Price: Free
Loupe
If you are someone who appreciates art and enjoys beautiful photography, maybe you should take a look at Loupe. It is an application that shows you different works of art, illustrations and photographs as if it were a screensaver. It is classified by categories and the truth is that it has really interesting images.
Loupe can be a good application to leave it in the background in those moments when we are not watching anything on TV, thus turning the screen into a digital frame for the works of art that will be shown. The application is free, but if we like some work we can also buy it to support the artist.
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Loupe
Developer: Loupe LLC
Price: Free
To finish, a small recommendation: replace the remote control that comes standard (normally they are not very good) for one
with an integrated keyboard -much more practical-, an air mouse or a gamepad with a crosshead . The experience improves substantially.
Here you have a post that I wrote recently, an interesting list with some of the best recommended remote controls for Android TV Box .
