Remove ads easily from Android TV / Google TV with the Projectivy Launcher ! No hacks or rooting!

Find it here: lon.tv/projectivy - The Projectivy launcher replaces the ad filled Google launcher on many Android TV and Google TV devices like the Nvidia Shield with a very simple launcher interface. No hacks or rooting required! See more like this: • Set Top Video Players and subscribe! lon.tv/s
VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:32 - Installation
02:28 - Interface
03:38 - Launch App on Boot
04:22 - Replacing the Default Google Launcher
06:40 - Appearance Settings
07:11 - Paid Features
07:39 - Customization options: categories and channels
09:41 - Manage Settings
10:33 - Conclusion
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[@burstnib4491]

I LOVE this launcher! I happily paid the asking price, even for the non-essential features, as it's not a requirement. I use it on both my sluggish Sony Bravia TV and, more importantly, my 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro. The randomized backgrounds are a nice perk, but what I truly appreciate is the snappy, minimalist interface without any ads, unlike Roku or Amazon. Everything is more efficient, faster, and simply more enjoyable! Just wanted to let you know that there are no ads, and paying for this app is entirely up to you.

[@SmokeMonster]

Great video, Shield TV and Android TV users are going to love this guide

[@pacificdash]

I miss seeing your own videos, @smokemonster ! I don’t say it to pressure you, it’s not like I was paying for you to make us content, but just so you know your work was very much appreciated.

[@Nearest_Neighbor]

I stumble upon a (for me) new launcher for my Shield and who's recommending it? The legend himself. Big up Smoke, hope you're doing good.

[@rogershark9223]

I have no use for premium but this is a million times nicer so I'm gonna donate to them anyway!

[@ticoss]

Excellent launcher. I use it since ~one year. It's so great that I bought it to help the developer. Free is good, but there's a guy behind the scenes who's helped us out a lot and developed a great application.

[@JasonWade]

Forcing ads on to a device or service you paid for should be criminal. Good job to this developer, but I kind of expect the next Google TV update to break this in some way.

[@CommodoreFan64]

That's what I'm worried about, or risk of bricking upon update.

[@CantankerousDave]

Look at how Plex has repeatedly tried to monetize users who paid up front for a lifetime pass to avoid that crap.

[@dangerfoxgaming110]

Probably not due to the integration path through accessibility. This is one of two reasons devs use accessibility. It gives greater access to the subsystem with user permission and if you were Google, would you want to be accused of breaking accessibility?

[@joester4life]

Why you think FireTV is so damn cheap? Ads.. ads everywhere!

[@diablorojo3887]

​@@dangerfoxgaming110if the company don't mind violate human rights, copyright and privacy laws, I don't think they give a fuck about break accessibility

[@rogershark9223]

Just followed the video and it works great, so much less clutter! Even shows my Plex continue watching movie and TV shows

[@Saturn2888]

One of your most relevant videos to me in a while :)

[@Tech-Mark]

There is also an 'apps only' mode that is accessible under the account settings. So glad I found that setting while poking around.

[@JeskidoYT]

yes that is for Google TV systems and televisions

[@animalhouse8849]

Plenty of things to criticize google about, but you aren't going to find a setting like this on a fire stick. I'm really glad they added this.

[@deepblueskyK]

Sadly, 'apps only mode' won't get rid of all the recommendations. Some of them are still shown on top of the app bar.

[@chemically16]

The Lil’ Yachty ad on my bravia tv triggered me to do this, I don’t mind sa show ads I just don’t like seeing the guys face everytime i turn my tv on. Stupid google tv.

[@lwkett]

Putting it in app only mode doesn't remove the ads. I got a Carl's Jr video ad a week after putting my Chromecast. I'm furious.

[@fattymcbucklesc4312]

This app is a game changer. I would encourage everyone to get the paid version to support the developer.A small price to pay for a great app with no ads!😀

[@Carolinakid1984]

Great app too pricey but I'll donate

[@mak868]

Great video! Installed this on my parents' google TV and wow so much better! Now they can finally watch TV normally again.

[@jacobloera4678]

I kept trying to get rid of the ads through the settings and was having no luck clearing everything out. Then I came across this gem of a video. Thank you sir!

[@nateavis5686]

Great video. One of my favorite launchers. I did buy it about a year ago to support the developer. I only wish the KZbin channels would show the length of the video. I sent the developer an email. They said maybe a future update. That was a while ago.

[@NikadoPlay]

I'm from Brazil and your video was very useful to understand all the features of this app, and thanks to the automatic translation of the subtitle into my language, I was able to understand what you are talking about.

[@pjlee7073]

Launched it on my Android Tv Box & worked great. Like the flexibility to customize & showing all the side loaded apps on the screen. Many thanks to the developer

[@SylvainMenard]

Thanks Lon for sharing this great app! It’s the launcher I’ve dreamed of. I installed it and it works perfectly fine. I hope it won’t be blocked by Google. I switched from Fire TV to Chromecast a year ago because the Fire TV menu was barely usable, all app buttons being buried under a ton of adds. Chromecast with Google TV was better, but still too clogged up in ads for me.

[@RickPaquin]

Great video Lon and an excellent launcher! I'm SO glad you showed us how to set it as the default in Android Accessibility. Never would have thought of looking there.

[@RareBear01]

Great video, Lon. I'm a devoted Shield fan and have been looking at some of the launcher replacement videos. I'm tech literate but just didn't want to go through all the trouble that most of them entail. This one seems very turnkey so will give it a try. Thanks again

[@yelowpunk]

You shouldn't feel illiterate, all tech can be turnkey, we're just getting ripped between a few different manufacturer silos (walled gardens/ecosystems/etc) over licensing fees.

[@CraigB801]

Thank you, we were tired of seeing Google's ads!

[@braydennturner]

Thanks for sharing Lon! Just what I've been wanting but didn't know this existed!

[@vcp93]

Wow! This is a fantastic app. I have a Google Chromecast and it drove me crazy with all the crap I wasn't interested in. This app is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you! 👽✌️ Update: If you use the Google TV on the Chromecast and the lagginess drives you crazy, this app completely resolves that nagging issue. 👍👍

[@geometry_quiz]

Thank you for this. Been trying to get rid of the ads on the home screen for months.

[@rogershark9223]

I noticed my newer shieldtv running really slowly when it first starts up. This fixed it!

[@cp1407]

As soon as I finished watching your vid, I installed it and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks for sharing Lon.

[@pjlee7073]

Yes. Launched it on my Android Tv Box & worked great. Like the flexibility to customize & showing all the side loaded apps on the screen.

[@justinibrahim1]

This is hands down the best launcher for Google TV I’ve seen so far

[@CML21]

Great vid, thanks Lon. Good timing, as I was just looking for a fix - now that Google wants to auto-launch fast food ads, with sound, when I turn my TV on. I don't need premium, but bought it to support the dev. Thanks again!

[@-Brunnen-G]

This looks like a must have launcher for my Fire TV. Google, in their predatory ad placements, has decided to make us view a full screen ad before even getting to any basic functionality of the device. I previously was able to bypass this by adding a Alexa routine to select the home screen twice so as to not see this ad when I turn my TV via voice. This app will eliminate that and other things I would rather not see when trying to use my Fire TV. Because their is no access to the Google Play Store on the Fire TV I would, unfortunately, have to side load it.

[@TenOfZero1]

I have not watched yet, but this seems very promising, thank-you for putting this together! I love my chromecast with google TV, but I do wish it had less ads and just my apps and content

[@g1bs0n60]

This is brilliant I seen this on Reddit first and came here as I started using it very easy and understandable thank you for tutorial. I'm buying it even thoe free version is working spot on! Just because I love people who do this stuff!

[@brandocalrisian6870]

This is awesome, thank you so much! I was getting so sick of the forced ads on a device I already paid for 🙄 I prefer simplicity, as I only use my tv for gaming, watching KZbin videos, and listening to music on Spotify, with the occasional foray into a streaming service.

[@the_beefy1986]

I use a Kodi system for almost all my TV needs, but we keep a Tivo Stream 4k on a secondary input for my wife to watch her KZbinrs on. This worked out great! Things just feel snappier. Thanks Lon!

[@john_in_phoenix]

I have a Tivo stream, so I will give it a try on that.

[@mistermac56]

Great video Lon. I love the Projectivy launcher. It was easy to setup on my Sony Bravia XR Google TV sets. I also have a Fire TV Cube 3rd Gen, so I hope you do a how-to video on how to setup the Projectivy launcher for Fire TV devices.

[@neddreadmaynard]

Installed it, configured it, loving it.❤

[@tomhoots]

Thanks for the video, Lon. I've got four of the original 2015 NVIDIA Shields -- bought two of the "hard drive" Pro models, then learned how screwed you would be when that hard drive fails, so I got a couple of the solid state memory versions. Since then, we've learned quite a lot about rebuilding the operating system, but still. Anyway, I've been aware of alternative launchers, but I never thought they were worth the effort, for my rather minimal needs. But, the Projectivy Launcher looks more suited for my needs, so I'm giving it a try. I'm quite happy with it so far, and I have paid for the Premium version -- I think it's well worth supporting the development of this software. There are a few improvements I would like to see, but that's why I paid for it -- let's work with the developer to make it better. And so on. At the least, I sure appreciate using my screen real estate for MY needs, rather than the always-irrelevant nonsense that Google was forcing down my throat.

[@Shm0by]

Thanks a bunch for this video. I was so annoyed by the stuff I didn't want to watch before this guide. Appreciate it!

[@JoseRamos-ip4bm]

Wow!! I was using atv launcher but still looking for something better! And now a found it. Thank u so much

[@freespace303]

Thank you for this. I've been tolerating and shrugging off the stock ads for a while since they were streaming related, but lately I've been getting fast food ads, which crosses the line IMO. I will definitely be going the projectivy route now.

[@nickf3242]

Yes! Please do a FireTV followup:) Thank you for sharing this tip

[@theMightyOne2]

This is exactly what I was looking for.. and it successfully overrides default launcher. Thanks for recommendation. But premium for this app!

[@TWISKED]

Wow! This is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for. Thank you so much for this video!!! ❤

[@Fando510]

Thanks for the app recommendation! I installed this on my Google tv. Here’s hoping the experience will be less laggy than the stock experience.

[@llama0788]

Was so sick of inappropriate ads for my children being forced on the main Nvidia screen. Have tried numerous times over the years to get rid of it. This is the solution I have been searching for! Thank you so much!

[@Mandy2u]

Thank you, I just came across a video when trying to find an option like this. I tried it for free then I bought it to support the developer.

[@SRBZZ]

Thank you. I've been looking for something like this since buying the Nvidia Shield. I was disappointed for all the money I shelled out for the device that it had so little configurations and the annoying ads. Again, thank you for bringing this to light. You're awesome!

[@sirjohndoeofpa3292]

This launcher is great. Neat and clean, easy to use. Great video on this as well

[@Alamo-cz5xc]

Thank you x 1000. So much better than stock Google TV

[@daveriley9467]

Great video and guide, I'm looking forward to the FireTV follow up. Tried installing it on my Firestick 4k and it's not running nearly as good as my SHIELD. Will definitely be paying for the Premium version if I can get it working as desired on my Firestick

[@CinnamonWilson]

Love Projectivity. I'd heard about it many times before watching your video but it made me pull the trigger. My Shield and all my Onn. boxes all run it now. Can't go back. Tnanks, Lon.

[@maxtv1189]

Niice, My Onn boxes dont launch it on start up for some reason and I did the whole Accessibility Enabling as instructed in video. Was there an additional step? Thanks in advance :)

[@CinnamonWilson]

@@maxtv1189 No. Followed Lon's directions on each box.

[@TheWax70]

Thanks for this! My TV is slow, it loads the ads before loading the favorite apps section. This should speed things up for me. 👍

[@Sydney2217]

Great find .., thanks from Sydney.

[@eckobase5807]

Hey Lon it's pronounced Project IVY Launcher, it's a Final Build for an English Based Launcher for Chinese Branded Projectors. It has come a long way I'm glad it's the main stream now. Good luck with Google TV Working properly 😅

[@gumbyx84]

This is so much better than ATV Launcher and is in active development. Installing it right now

[@Apollopayne25]

Great launcher, just setup on 4k chromecast. Thank you for video

[@iant720]

My dream come true.. Switching to Android TV after the disgusting amount of ads and pride stuff on my Firesticks.. Only to find it's not much better.. Thank you!

[@dickfirm9849]

Look forward the the next video that shows how to do on 4k firestick max ,Cheers from England

[@phillip008]

If you save the configuration to Dropbox or any cloud storage then you have effectively rolled your own sync feature. The developer doesn’t need to add one

[@angelgil577]

it work great on my 32'' Hisense google tv. seen faster now thank you.

[@LamonWillis]

This is great. I need something like this for my Amazon Firestick.

[@donnaten2]

I'm going to give this a try. thanks for sharing!

[@brendendas]

Thanks for this. I went from not knowing to having this run on my TV about 2 minutes.

[@willm127]

Amazing video! Thanks for making it easy to follow along with.

[@Weeem]

100% Less is more Now I'm using this launcher I'm finding I want to use the TV more instead of watching on a tablet. Didn't realise how much the Google launcher ads were putting me off. The developer is a good lad too. I raised a feature request and it was quickly put in a later release.

[@danerpelding4337]

Thanks for sharing this. Great functionality!

[@AinzOoalG0wn]

another modification you could also do is reconfigure the buttons on your physical tv remote e.g. youtube. why do this? because you would replace the youtube app for smarttube which doesn't have adds, then rebind the tv button to open that app rather than the default youtube. that in combination with this projectivity launcher pretty much covers most of what you need for a decent tv experience ^^;

[@mikedw6748]

Totally agree with you it's fantastic! It's a nitpick but the issue imo with projectivy is that it doesn't allow the renaming of apps so smarttube still shows as smarttube. Other launchers out there allow smarttube to be renamed as youtube

[@ryuhayabusa6776]

My first custom launcher on Fire Stick. I now prefer Wolf Launcher, which is a tad simpler, but Projectivy is fabulous. Thanks for the Android info. Planning to switch if Amazon removes custom launchers.

[@spyke562]

Great update thanks for sharing. I have been using Sideload Channel Launcher for quite sometime now. But I am going to give this a try. Would love to see a comparison ;)

[@dickfirm9849]

Hi sir,I'm in Uk,informative video many thanks 👍

[@jmr]

Letting it have accessibility permissions is a big deal. That's a powerful setting.

[@workstudy8118]

Can you explain more

[@jmr]

@@workstudy8118 Accessibility features can allow an app to read anything on the screen. It's like another person looking over your shoulder all the time. There can be other issues but to me that's the biggest issue.

[@RejectedManiac]

Powerful for the developer to collect your information too!

[@jmr]

@@RejectedManiac That's exactly what I meant. It should be used with extreme caution.

[@jmr]

@@workstudy8118 Sorry, I just now saw my reply was moderated by YT so you probably never saw it. The problem is the accessibility feature lets an app see everything on your screen. It's been commonly used by bad actors to steal credentials and spy on users.

[@Glokk40Chris]

Thanks for this video I loved the launcher it works great

[@daveinthailand]

Works PERFECT on xaiomi 2nd gen Thanks

[@Poorgeniu5]

Might sideload it on my Fire TV Stick and I think this work well on Android Game Handheld.

[@jrazrjjb]

Excellent. Tried this app and got it working in 5 minutes. I also run pihole in the house to try and block telemetry. Why do we need to fight our products

[@Kirby5588]

Can you do a video of a fire stick/fire TV using the app? I'm sure the extra steps are just sideloading but I want to see the performance before I go about it myself.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I might have to give this a look on one of my older ONN boxes that running Android 10 but it does not have the Live channel guide so that's a bummer if you're a KZbin TV user like myself, same for quick profile switching if you have family that uses the same TV.

[@rs.matr1x]

Cool, gonna install this on my Fire TV sticks

[@Dizzy0214]

I love the optimism! 😂😂😂 To believe Nvidia will push device updates makes me laugh. Great vids though! 💪

[@US_Joe]

Good one Lon. I fear the parties to be will find a way to fight or disable this if it becomes too popular. Thanks 👍

[@novelh]

This is perfect!! Thank you

[@DesertForaging]

AWESOME!!! I had gotten so annoyed by the add banners in my ShieldTV and FireTV that I switched to using my 8 year old Roku. Welcome back ShieldTV! Now I just need to get it working on the FireTV.. THANKS Lon. (BTW, even if I had known this app existed, I don't think I would have figured it out how to configure it without your video)

[@nachobroryan8824]

I have a Shield and put a launcher on it long ago but bought my Mom an Apple TV 4k since that's what they had in the store locally. It works well, costs less, and has none of these bullshit ads.

[@tiagoj8020]

This is amazing! Download time!

[@Glokk40Chris]

Thanks for this video I loved the launcher it works greay

[@iGoldeneYe]

Happy New Year Lon! I finally Subscribed to your channel. Sorry it took me so long. Fully Disclosure 😀I though I did. My apologies. Anyway, this hack is a beautiful thing. Thanks for sharing. See you soon on Amazon Prime Day Deals. Be safe.

[@hardkhora6306]

If you use ADB you don't need to root to disable the default launcher BUT don't do that if you don't have another launcher already installed. Once the default (Google) launcher is disabled Android asks you to pick the default when you click the home button if you don't have one set.

[@sloggy64]

Great tutorial 👍

[@nikosaek781]

thanks lon you are the man.

[@MjrNiGhTmArE]

Thank You! Easy install and it works. Screw their ads. You earned my subscription!

[@briianhebert]

Thanks for the video!

[@TheGlibster]

Thanks for this, game changer!

[@Guitario666]

This is fantastic 👏

[@Viper1171]

Thank You Lon! Can you do a video on how to install on Firestick devices please?

[@yyycma3]

Yes, please do a FireTV video on this launcher.

[@mikedw6748]

Pretty nice setup lon. There's a few dealbreakers for me that have forced me to use other launchers instead of this one. The biggest is the fact that this launcher cannot rename apps or change app icons. For example I use the ad free KZbin app called SmartTube Beta. With Projectivy Launcher it still shows as SmartTube Beta meanwhile on Sideload Channel Launcher 3 I was able to give it a KZbin icon and the KZbin name. One video idea for you if you want to take it to the next level is to show how to use ADB and use it to uninstall the default launcher as well as most junk apps that come preinstalled such as Google, Google Assistant, default KZbin, Netflix or any other app the use doesn't want to use. And one can also use ADB to connect to a private DNS that blocks ads and trackers. There are also ways to change the app that launches when one presses the Netflix icon on the remote for example.

[@chadderbox671]

I use the "Apps Only" on my Android TV/devices. Settings - Accounts & Sign-in - User Account. It's reduces to an add at the top with the launcher looking more like an Apple TV display.

[@kumarp3074]

This is one reason I kind of like Roku even though it has it's own set of problems. I have both my elderly parent's using a Roku and it's a lot easier for them vs the cluttered interface of a Fire TV or Google TV device.

[@tdome3000]

Very nice video. I will try this app for a while because Google TV on a Chromecast 4K is horrible, a big downgrade from my two Shields.

[@JeskidoYT]

turn on Apps Only mode in the settings

[@tdome3000]

@@JeskidoYT Why?

[@SantoValentino]

thanks

[@topperdude2007]

Great video again, @LonSeidman! However, Google TV seems to have an option to switch to "App only" mode - which effectively does the same thing as removing ads etc. compared to the default launcher? I have done this with Google TV on my "Chromecast 4K w/ Google TV" as well as my 2022 Sony OLED TV w/ Google TV. I have not looked for the "Apps only" option on my Shield TV though. If the "Apps only" option is not available on Shield TV, I am wondering if "Apps only" might be on newer versions of Google TV than the version of Google TV that is on the Nvidia Shield? Regardless, this launcher (even in the free version) DOES seem to provide more configuration options for end users than the "Apps only" option in Google TV - kudos to the developer for that! Keep up the great work! 👍

[@2Bad.]

Great video... will have to give this one a try. 🍻

[@davidtheinspector]

I absolutely love this! I'm so happy I found it! I'm going to tell everyone I know who uses Google TV to use this launcher. I had no clue this was possible and it's been bothering me for so long. Thank you

[@bbgarnettTotallyNotABot]

Keep up the great work