Like pretty much everyone on the planet, I like to avoid advertisements as much as I can. One way I do this on my Google TV is by using Apps Only mode, which only loads a singular background ad, and gets rid of all the sponsored results and recommended videos from my home screen in favor of a singular banner ad that is easy to scroll away from.
However, while I love the clean, easy-to-navigate interface provided by this mode, there is a big drawback: the Google Play Store seemingly disappears, and you can no longer download new apps.
And while the simple solution when you want to download a new streaming app might be to turn Apps Only mode off and deal with the ads while you’re using the store, I refuse to give up my ad-lite experience even for a few moments to download new apps. Instead, I found a workaround that allows me to still access the store without leaving the sanctity of my preferred Google TV interface.
There are plenty of things on your TV you might not know about
If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time digging through random menus on your devices, and one area where you might be a little scared to tread is your TV’s system apps menu. This area shows all the invisible apps running in the background (including spyware) on your TV. And while you are scrolling past all of these system apps and background processes, you might notice something familiar: the Google Play Store!
While this isn’t as convenient to access as the one-touch access from the ad-filled standard home screen, I don’t personally mind a small inconvenience if it means I can see fewer ads. Here’s the full process for accessing this hidden Google Play Store on Google TV when Apps Only mode is enabled:
- Go to Settings (the gear icon) on your Google TV home screen.
- Select Apps.
- Select Show all apps.
- Select Show system apps (you’ll have to scroll to find this option).
- Scroll down through all the spyware and background processes until you see the Google Play Store icon.
- Select Open to access the Google Play Store, which will appear as it normally does on your home screen, and you can download whatever apps you want.
Getting rid of all the ads in your TV’s OS may be possible with AI
Several tools have popped up with this goal
My extreme hatred of ads has been leading me down a rabbit hole recently where a community of AI enthusiasts are working on developing tools that can get rid of ads on not just Google TV but also Roku and Fire TV platforms as well. And though some have advised caution when it comes to using these tools, it seems like more and more folks are willing to risk bricking their TVif it means they can reduce or remove all the adware and spyware that comes preloaded on modern TVs.
