Open the Play Store on an Android TV or Google TV box and the front page is a wall of the same six streaming logos, a couple of games, and whatever your box maker cross-promotes that week. Everything else, the utilities that make the platform actually useful, sits behind search terms most people never type. We spent two weeks combing forums, F-Droid, and Aptoide TV to find the underrated smart TV apps that Android power users install on every fresh setup. The eight below cover ad-free YouTube, watchlist tracking across every streaming service, remote-friendly file transfer, Kodi control, and a way to launch the apps the Play Store hides. Most are free, several are open source, and none of them show up in the default recommendation row.
What to look for in a smart TV app
Not every phone or tablet app translates to a 10-foot screen. A few things separate the ones worth installing from the ones that quietly break the moment you pick up the remote.
- D-pad UX. The app must be fully navigable with a directional remote. Focus rings on every element, no hidden touch-only gestures, no floating action buttons off-screen.
- No per-account paywall for basics. Free tier should cover the core loop, not just a seven-day trial. Reserve paid tiers for real extras like cloud sync or cross-device history.
- Low CPU and memory footprint. Most Android TV boxes have 2GB of RAM and an eight-year-old ARM chip. Anything that stutters during scroll is dead on arrival.
- Sideload-friendly or store-listed. Half the good stuff is not on the Play Store because of Google policy, not quality. Look for signed APKs on GitHub, F-Droid, or a maintained mirror.
- Works offline or degrades gracefully. Home networks drop. An app that hangs on a blank screen instead of caching state is not TV-ready.
- Real remote support, not phone-mirrored buttons. Menu, back, and play/pause should map to the physical remote, not require a virtual overlay.
Quick comparison
| App | Best for | Distribution | Free | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmartTube | Ad-free YouTube on TV | Sideload (GitHub) | Yes | Yes |
| Simkl | Tracking movies and shows across services | Google Play, Aptoide | Yes, Pro from $3/mo | No |
| Send files to TV | Quick file transfer from phone or PC | Google Play | Yes, Pro $4 one-time | No |
| Kore | Official Kodi remote | Google Play, F-Droid | Yes | Yes |
| X-plore | Full file manager with cloud mounts | Google Play | Yes, donate $2.99 | No |
| Aptoide TV | Finding TV-shaped apps outside Play | Direct APK | Yes | No |
| LibreTube | Private YouTube frontend | F-Droid, sideload | Yes | Yes |
| Sideload Launcher | Reaching sideloaded apps hidden by the launcher | Google Play | Yes | No |
The 8 best underrated smart TV apps for Android TV
1. SmartTube, best for ad-free YouTube
SmartTube is what the YouTube app on Android TV should have been. It strips every ad, sponsored card, and shorts row, keeps a proper 10-foot UI with a D-pad-first grid, and adds SponsorBlock so the intros and self-promo segments creators bake into videos also skip automatically. Playback tops out at 8K on hardware that supports it, PiP works, and you can sign in for subscriptions and history without giving the app your Google password (it uses the same TV code flow as the official client). It runs happily on a Chromecast with Google TV, a Shield, an Nvidia box, a Fire TV, or any Android TV stick from the last five years.
Where it falls short: Not on the Play Store. You install the APK from the developer’s GitHub releases, and updates need a manual download unless you set up an updater like Obtainium. Google’s TV client can also break the sign-in flow for a week or two after major changes.
Platforms: Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV, Chromecast with Google TV.
Pricing: Free, open source.
Download: GitHub releases
Bottom line: If you only install one app from this list, install SmartTube. YouTube without ads or algorithmic pushiness is worth the sideload alone.
2. Simkl, best for tracking what you watch
Simkl answers a question the streaming services refuse to: what have you actually watched, and what do you still owe yourself an episode of. It tracks movies, TV, and anime across Netflix, Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and roughly a hundred smaller services, and the Android TV app is one of the few trackers built specifically for a 10-foot screen. Mark an episode watched from the couch, see what is up next in a single row, and get notifications when a followed show drops a new episode. It also imports from Trakt if you are switching over.
Where it falls short: The free tier limits sync frequency and hides some stats behind Pro. The design is dense, closer to a spreadsheet than the polished cards you get on the phone version.
Platforms: Android TV, Google TV, Android, iOS, tvOS, web.
Pricing: Free. Pro from about $3 per month for faster sync, calendar view, and unlimited watchlists.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The tracker to install if you have more than two streaming subscriptions and keep forgetting which show you paused three weeks ago on which service.
3. Send files to TV, best for quick transfers
Send files to TV is a tiny utility that solves a real problem, moving a video file, PDF, APK, or photo from your phone or laptop onto the TV without a cable, a cloud account, or a USB stick. Both devices need the app open on the same network, you pick the file, and it lands in the TV’s Downloads folder in seconds. There is no login, no ads on the free tier, and no upload to a third-party server. The whole transfer is peer-to-peer over your LAN.
Where it falls short: Both ends have to be on the same Wi-Fi network. It does not resume interrupted transfers, so large files over spotty Wi-Fi can force a restart.
Platforms: Android TV, Android, iOS, and a web sender that runs from any desktop browser.
Pricing: Free with an unobtrusive banner. One-time Pro purchase around $4 removes the banner and lifts the file-size cap.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The app to install the first time you want to sideload an APK the box maker’s launcher does not surface, or watch a downloaded video the streaming apps do not support.
4. Kore, best for controlling Kodi
Kore is the official Kodi remote, and it turns any Android phone or tablet into a proper 10-foot controller for a Kodi instance running on the TV, a mini PC, or a Raspberry Pi. Browse the library from the couch, queue up episodes, adjust subtitles and audio tracks without pausing, and control multiple Kodi machines from one app. It is open source, has no telemetry, and the codebase is maintained directly by the Kodi Foundation.
Where it falls short: Only useful if you actually run Kodi. The UI is functional rather than pretty, and it has not had a design refresh in a while.
Platforms: Android, Android TV.
Pricing: Free, open source.
Download: Google Play · F-Droid
Bottom line: If your media server is Kodi or LibreELEC, Kore is the remote you install and forget about because it just works.
5. X-plore, best for file management
X-plore is a dual-pane file manager that has been around since the Symbian days and quietly became one of the best Android TV utilities on the platform. Two panels side by side make it easy to copy between internal storage, a USB stick, a network share, and a cloud account (it mounts Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Mega, and any WebDAV or SMB target). It reads inside APKs and ZIPs, has a built-in text editor, and can serve files from the TV over a web browser on your phone.
Where it falls short: The interface is information-dense, which is exactly what power users want and exactly what casual users bounce off. Free version shows a small banner ad.
Platforms: Android, Android TV, Google TV.
Pricing: Free with a banner. A one-time donation of about $2.99 removes it and unlocks the encryption and Wi-Fi transfer extras.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The file manager to install if you sideload, transfer, or want to mount a NAS share and stream from it directly on the TV.
6. Aptoide TV, best for finding TV-shaped apps outside the Play Store
Aptoide TV is a store built for the 10-foot screen, and it lists apps that are either not on Google Play or hidden by the Play Store’s Android TV filter. Browse with the remote, install with a click, and get update notifications for anything you sideloaded from an APK. It surfaces IPTV clients, emulators, launchers, and utilities that the default Play Store buries because they are not from a partner. Every APK is signature-verified before install, and you can see what permissions an app requests before you commit.
Where it falls short: Because it lists community uploads alongside official ones, you do need to check which developer signed a given build. Search results are less polished than Google’s.
Platforms: Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV.
Pricing: Free.
Download: Aptoide TV
Bottom line: The store to install second after the OS setup, because it is how you find most of the other apps on this list without hunting for APK links.
7. LibreTube, best for a private YouTube alternative
LibreTube is a lightweight YouTube frontend that never talks to Google’s servers. It routes video requests through the Piped project, so YouTube (and Google) do not see your IP address, watch history, or subscription list. On Android TV it runs cleanly with a D-pad, supports SponsorBlock for the same auto-skip behaviour SmartTube offers, and lets you subscribe to channels without a Google account. Playlists, downloads, and history stay on the device.
Where it falls short: Because it depends on the Piped instance you point it at, playback can hiccup when a public instance is under load. Live streams and premieres are less reliable than in the official client.
Platforms: Android, Android TV (via sideload).
Pricing: Free, open source.
Download: F-Droid · GitHub releases
Bottom line: Install alongside SmartTube if you want a second option that is stricter about privacy and does not require signing in to anything Google-adjacent.
8. Sideload Launcher, best for reaching hidden apps
Sideload Launcher by Chainfire fixes a specific and long-standing Android TV annoyance: the default launcher hides any app that does not declare itself as a TV app in its manifest. Install a phone-only utility like a specific IPTV player or an Android build tool and it vanishes from your home screen even though it launches perfectly. Sideload Launcher lists every installed app on the device, sorted alphabetically, and lets you open them with the remote. It is the fastest way to reach a sideloaded app without going through the Settings app menu.
Where it falls short: It is a raw list, not a curated home screen. There is no way to reorder or hide entries.
Platforms: Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV.
Pricing: Free.
Download: Google Play
Bottom line: The five-second install every Android TV user should do the first time a sideloaded APK does not appear on the home row.
How to pick the right one
- If you install one app: SmartTube. Ad-free YouTube is the single biggest quality-of-life change you can make to a stock Android TV box.
- If you have three or more streaming subscriptions: Simkl. Trackers turn juggling services into a single feed instead of five apps you check in rotation.
- If you already run Kodi: Kore plus X-plore for network-share management. That combination replaces most set-top-box UIs.
- If you care about privacy: LibreTube for YouTube, Aptoide TV for sourcing apps without a Google account tied to the TV.
- If your box maker’s launcher hides half your installs: Sideload Launcher and Aptoide TV together.
- If you move files onto the TV more than once a month: Send files to TV for one-offs, X-plore for the rest.
The right combination for most people is SmartTube, Aptoide TV, Send files to TV, and Sideload Launcher on day one, then Simkl once you notice you have started re-watching pilots you already finished.
FAQ
What is the best free app to remove ads from YouTube on Android TV?
SmartTube. It is free, open source, and blocks both YouTube’s own ads and the sponsor segments inside videos (via SponsorBlock). Install the latest APK from the developer’s GitHub releases. It is not on the Play Store because Google does not allow YouTube clients that block ads.
Is Aptoide TV safe to install?
Yes, when you download the APK from the official Aptoide TV site. Aptoide has been shipping an alternative Android store for over a decade and signature-verifies APKs before install. As with any app store, check the developer name before installing individual apps, especially community uploads.
Can I use Android phone apps on Android TV?
Sometimes. Many phone apps install and run on Android TV boxes, but they do not appear on the default launcher because they lack the required TV manifest entry. Sideload Launcher lists every installed app so you can reach them, and Aptoide TV surfaces TV-friendly builds when they exist.
What is the best watchlist tracker for Android TV?
Simkl. It is one of the few trackers with a dedicated Android TV app rather than a phone app scaled up. It syncs across services, tracks movies, TV, and anime, and imports from Trakt if you are moving over.
How do I move a video file from my phone to my Android TV?
Install Send files to TV on both devices, connect them to the same Wi-Fi network, open the app on both, pick the file on the phone, and pick the TV as the target. The transfer runs peer-to-peer over the local network without going through a cloud service.
Do I need root to install these apps?
No. Every app on this list installs on a stock Android TV or Google TV box, including the sideloaded ones. You do need to enable “install from unknown sources” for the specific installer app (Aptoide TV, or the Files app) the first time you install an APK from outside the Play Store.
