How to turn off Android TV home screen ads

I think one of the best features of Android TV is its home launcher which is quite simple and intuitive. However, things seem to be going south because Google introduced something called ” Cinematic Highlights Which adds a new row of content recommendations at the top. It doesn’t automatically play audio or show video preview which is relief, but still takes up a significant portion of the screen. Not to mention, the so-called recommendations aren’t personalized because everyone gets the same suggestions, which means they’re mostly ads. So, if you want to turn off Android TV home screen ads, then follow the steps below.

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Disable Android TV Home Screen Ads (2021)

• Why show Google ads on the Home screen?

As Android TV’s user base grows larger, Google is trying to monetize the platform by showing sponsored content on the home screen. As we know Android is a free and open-source operating system, so Google needs to find a way to compensate for its free offering.

• How do I know which app is causing these ads?

It is difficult to find apps that cause ads because in most cases the TV manufacturer installs background apps on their own and allows intrusive ads to be served. These are mostly system apps and are stored in the Settings page which doesn’t look like adware. Nevertheless, you can try to catch such apps by side loading Popup Ad Detector ( free ) on your Android TV.

Remove ads from the Android TV home screen

1. To turn off Android TV home screen ads, open the Android TV Settings page and navigate to “Applications”, then scroll down a bit and click ” See all applications “.

2. Again, scroll down and click on ” View system apps “.

3. Now search for ” Android TV Home In the list and open it.

4. Here, click on ” Uninstall updates And you’re almost done.

5. Now, to stop Android TV to automatically update the Home app, you need to turn off automatic updates from the Play Store . Open the Play Store and navigate to your profile in the top right corner.

6. Here, open ” Settings And click on “Automatic application update”.

7. Finally, select ” Don’t automatically update apps And you are done. From now on, the Google Home app will not update and you will no longer receive announcements on the home screen of your Android TV. Having said that, keep in mind that from now on you have to manually update other apps on the Play Store.

READ ALSO: 5 best ad blocker apps for Android and iOS

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I remove ads from Android TV?

We’ve written a detailed guide above, so go through it and you can get rid of the ads on your Android TV. To briefly explain, you just need to uninstall the latest Android TV Home update and turn off automatic app updates.

Q. How do I stop ads on my Smart TV?

If you have an Android TV, you can follow our guide above. And if you have a smart tv Samsung, open Menu -> Smart Functions -> Terms & Policy -> SyncPlus Privacy Notice. Here, deactivate “I consent”. Likewise, on LG TV, open Settings -> General -> LivePlus and turn off the toggle.

Q. How do I get rid of TCL Android TV ads?

Since TCL TVs are basically Android TVs, you can follow the guide above to disable ads on your TCL Android TV.

Q. How do I block ads on YouTube Android TV?

To block YouTube ads on Android TV, you need to subscribe to YouTube Premium. You can subscribe to its paid plan from your smartphone or your desktop computer.

Q. Why do ads keep showing on my Home screen?

If you see ads on your Home screen, it means that your TV manufacturer has internally provided system permission to a few intrusive apps to loom over other apps. In this scenario, you can side-load the Pop-up Ad Detector ( free ) to find these offending applications. And then you can proceed to uninstall them from Settings -> Apps -> View all apps.

Q. How do you find out which app is causing the pop-up ads?

You can side-load the pop-up ad detector ( free ) on your Android TV to find apps that cause pop-up ads.

Q. How do I turn off Google Personalization Ads?

Just open settings and go to Google -> Ads -> Turn on the toggle for “Turn off ad personalization”. That’s it.

Q. Is there an ad blocker for Android TV?

You can download Blockada ( free ) on your Android TV to block all kinds of apps. Keep in mind that your Android TV needs to be updated to Android 9.0

Q. What is the best ad blocker for Android Box?

I would say the best ad blocker for Android Box would be to use PiHole. Apart from that, for an easy solution, you can install Blockada ( free ) on your Android Box.

List of Android TVs this method will work on

The list below shows popular TVs that you can use the above method to remove ads from. The list is by no means exhaustive and is only there to show you an example of TVs that suffer from the advertising problem.

Turn off cinematic selections on Android TV

This is how you can turn off cinematic highlights completely, including automatic app updates. Although this is a temporary fix for now, I think Google will be integrating this part of the mainframe in the near future and it won’t be uninstallable. In this case, you might need to upgrade to a separate Android TV launcher. Anyway, it all comes from us. If you found the article useful, comment below and let us know.