{"slug": "smarttube", "name": "SmartTube", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Open-source, ad-free third-party YouTube client for Android TV and Google TV devices.", "recommenders": 7, "commenters": 8, "warners": 0, "score": 5.992, "rising": 1.69, "first": "2025-11-19", "latest": "2026-10-07", "why": "Loved as an ad-free YouTube front-end for Android TV and Chromecast that lets you customize almost everything, from grid size to hiding Shorts.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [2, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 2, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Ad-free viewing", "Deep customization"], "caveat": "Requires sideloading", "short_quote": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/yuliskov/smarttube", "official_url": "https://smarttubeapp.github.io/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["SmartTube", "SmartTubeNext"], "verdict": [{"text": "Loved as an ad-free YouTube front-end for Android TV and Chromecast", "cites": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 736884832, "item_id": 46055302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055302", "by": "guillevg", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it.", "excerpt": "Yes, YT UX is awful, specially on TV. I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it. You can choose the grid size, among many other things (most importantly, no ads!).", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV without ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled"}, {"id": 757334416, "item_id": 47333401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47333401", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything", "excerpt": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything, I don't think I have ever tried original Youtube app, but just out of curiosity I tried competition - TizenTube, which is basically default Youtube app minus ads and it was absolutely horrible experience, on home page you see like 2 giant thumbnails and that's it, can't understand how can someone stand such UI, the most basic settings are setti", "context": "Android TV user", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "YouTube ads are about to get even longer and they'll be unskippable"}, {"id": 735767731, "item_id": 45985483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985483", "by": "mrandish", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On set top (Android TV sticks) I use an app called SmartTube", "excerpt": "On Firefox you can block short form content from YouTube as easily as adding one extension or a few uBlock Origin filter lines. With a bit more work it's possible to fix a lot of other stuff using various browser extensions and userscripts on desktop/laptop. On mobile (Android) I use an app that patches the YT executable called \"Revanced Extended\" (https://github.com/inotia00/ReVanced_Extended). On set top (Android T", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cognitive and mental health correlates of short-form video use"}]}, {"text": " that lets you customize almost everything, from grid size to hiding Shorts.", "cites": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 757334416, "item_id": 47333401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47333401", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything", "excerpt": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything, I don't think I have ever tried original Youtube app, but just out of curiosity I tried competition - TizenTube, which is basically default Youtube app minus ads and it was absolutely horrible experience, on home page you see like 2 giant thumbnails and that's it, can't understand how can someone stand such UI, the most basic settings are setti", "context": "Android TV user", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "YouTube ads are about to get even longer and they'll be unskippable"}, {"id": 736884832, "item_id": 46055302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055302", "by": "guillevg", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it.", "excerpt": "Yes, YT UX is awful, specially on TV. I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it. You can choose the grid size, among many other things (most importantly, no ads!).", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV without ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled"}]}, {"text": " The main caveat is that it is a side-loaded APK", "cites": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 796763872, "item_id": 49797742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797742", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic.", "excerpt": "Sure! On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic. Installation instructions are in the GitHub repo. For Apple TV the best option I have found is MuTube. It's basically a YouTube repack without ads and with SponsorBlock. The catch is that it requires sideloading or an Apple developer account. Sideloadly etc can automatically refresh certificates while on wifi, but I ended up purchasing a dev account because it works fo", "context": "", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions"}]}, {"text": " that needs an Android-based TV device, and commenters note those are getting rare.", "cites": [{"id": 793629328, "item_id": 49601833, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49601833", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And install alternative software like smarttubenext.", "excerpt": "It'll be difficult. It's webos of which there's very little custom development. You'd be better off with an android tv which you can poke at using adb and disable services. Maybe even root it. And install alternative software like smarttubenext. Unfortunately there very few Android based TVs left. Phillips recently switched to Titanos, Samsung has tizen, Amazon has a new OS. I think it's just Sony that's left on andr", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "216M Spy TVs \u2013 The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Ad-free viewing", "summary": "Removes YouTube ads, and one commenter says it also handles sponsor segments in most videos.", "quotes": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 736884832, "item_id": 46055302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055302", "by": "guillevg", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it.", "excerpt": "Yes, YT UX is awful, specially on TV. I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it. You can choose the grid size, among many other things (most importantly, no ads!).", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV without ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled"}]}, {"label": "Deep customization", "summary": "Commenters say you can configure practically everything, including grid and thumbnail size.", "quotes": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 757334416, "item_id": 47333401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47333401", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything", "excerpt": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything, I don't think I have ever tried original Youtube app, but just out of curiosity I tried competition - TizenTube, which is basically default Youtube app minus ads and it was absolutely horrible experience, on home page you see like 2 giant thumbnails and that's it, can't understand how can someone stand such UI, the most basic settings are setti", "context": "Android TV user", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "YouTube ads are about to get even longer and they'll be unskippable"}, {"id": 736884832, "item_id": 46055302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055302", "by": "guillevg", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it.", "excerpt": "Yes, YT UX is awful, specially on TV. I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it. You can choose the grid size, among many other things (most importantly, no ads!).", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV without ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled"}]}, {"label": "Better TV interface", "summary": "Preferred over the stock YouTube TV app and over TizenTube, whose UX commenters call awful.", "quotes": [{"id": 736884832, "item_id": 46055302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055302", "by": "guillevg", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it.", "excerpt": "Yes, YT UX is awful, specially on TV. I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it. You can choose the grid size, among many other things (most importantly, no ads!).", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV without ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled"}, {"id": 757334416, "item_id": 47333401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47333401", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything", "excerpt": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything, I don't think I have ever tried original Youtube app, but just out of curiosity I tried competition - TizenTube, which is basically default Youtube app minus ads and it was absolutely horrible experience, on home page you see like 2 giant thumbnails and that's it, can't understand how can someone stand such UI, the most basic settings are setti", "context": "Android TV user", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "YouTube ads are about to get even longer and they'll be unskippable"}]}, {"label": "Hides Shorts", "summary": "Shorts can be disabled entirely, which the stock YouTube app does not allow.", "quotes": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Requires sideloading", "summary": "It is installed as a side-loaded APK from the GitHub repo, not from an app store.", "quotes": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 796763872, "item_id": 49797742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797742", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic.", "excerpt": "Sure! On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic. Installation instructions are in the GitHub repo. For Apple TV the best option I have found is MuTube. It's basically a YouTube repack without ads and with SponsorBlock. The catch is that it requires sideloading or an Apple developer account. Sideloadly etc can automatically refresh certificates while on wifi, but I ended up purchasing a dev account because it works fo", "context": "", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions"}]}, {"label": "Android TV only", "summary": "It needs an Android TV device, and commenters note few Android-based TVs remain, so Apple TV users turn to other apps.", "quotes": [{"id": 793629328, "item_id": 49601833, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49601833", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And install alternative software like smarttubenext.", "excerpt": "It'll be difficult. It's webos of which there's very little custom development. You'd be better off with an android tv which you can poke at using adb and disable services. Maybe even root it. And install alternative software like smarttubenext. Unfortunately there very few Android based TVs left. Phillips recently switched to Titanos, Samsung has tizen, Amazon has a new OS. I think it's just Sony that's left on andr", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "216M Spy TVs \u2013 The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"}, {"id": 796763872, "item_id": 49797742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797742", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic.", "excerpt": "Sure! On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic. Installation instructions are in the GitHub repo. For Apple TV the best option I have found is MuTube. It's basically a YouTube repack without ads and with SponsorBlock. The catch is that it requires sideloading or an Apple developer account. Sideloadly etc can automatically refresh certificates while on wifi, but I ended up purchasing a dev account because it works fo", "context": "", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions"}]}], "who": [{"by": "leptons", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "date": "2026-10-07"}, {"by": "dlcarrier", "context": "subscribes to 400+ channels locally", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48457688", "date": "2026-06-09"}, {"by": "Markoff", "context": "Android TV user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47333401", "date": "2026-03-11"}], "tags": ["for Android TV", "for Chromecast", "for ad-free YouTube"], "use_cases": ["youtube on android tv", "ad-free youtube on chromecast", "ad-free youtube on android tv", "youtube on tv", "watching youtube on tv", "video streaming"], "compared": [{"slug": "youtube", "name": "YouTube", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "firefox", "name": "Firefox", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ublock-origin", "name": "uBlock Origin", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49983703", "title": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49784336", "title": "Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49592375", "title": "216M Spy TVs \u2013 The LG Smart TV Problem [video]", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523754", "title": "Play Store blocks AuroraStore, hurting GrapheneOS users", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514878", "title": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49483816", "title": "Stopping the smart TV from being used against you", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 799777744, "item_id": 49986109, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49986109", "by": "leptons", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I wouldn't want to watch Youtube without it.", "excerpt": "I watch Youtube on a Chromecast using the SmartTube app, which is a 3rd party front-end (side-loaded APK) for Youtube that eliminates all the ads, and lets you configure practically everything. Don't like \"shorts\", just disable them and they are gone. That's the main reason I sought out an alternative to the Youtube app, I hated the shorts and there was no way to get rid of them in the Youtube app. I used to pay for ", "context": "has 5 Chromecasts on 5 TVs", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Chromecast", "switched_from": "YouTube", "story": "Paramount Skydance has completed its $111B merger with Warner Bros. Discovery"}, {"id": 796763872, "item_id": 49797742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49797742", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic.", "excerpt": "Sure! On Android TV, SmartTubeNext is fantastic. Installation instructions are in the GitHub repo. For Apple TV the best option I have found is MuTube. It's basically a YouTube repack without ads and with SponsorBlock. The catch is that it requires sideloading or an Apple developer account. Sideloadly etc can automatically refresh certificates while on wifi, but I ended up purchasing a dev account because it works fo", "context": "", "use_case": "ad-free YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions"}, {"id": 793629328, "item_id": 49601833, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49601833", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-09-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And install alternative software like smarttubenext.", "excerpt": "It'll be difficult. It's webos of which there's very little custom development. You'd be better off with an android tv which you can poke at using adb and disable services. Maybe even root it. And install alternative software like smarttubenext. Unfortunately there very few Android based TVs left. Phillips recently switched to Titanos, Samsung has tizen, Amazon has a new OS. I think it's just Sony that's left on andr", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "216M Spy TVs \u2013 The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"}, {"id": 792546624, "item_id": 49534164, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49534164", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-09-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "only for smarttube and app updates", "excerpt": "btw. you can get prepaid physical SIM cards in Czechia for free send by mailbox, you just need some available mailbox wheere you can pick it up, like put Donald Duck sticker on your mailbox and address it to Donald Duck I used android sign up process to create my other dummy account I use in TV only for smarttube and app updates, that seems like great option if it still works", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Play Store blocks AuroraStore, hurting GrapheneOS users"}, {"id": 792308051, "item_id": 49519253, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49519253", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-09-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "using only dummy account in Android TV for Smarttube", "excerpt": "This summer when visiting father I noticed he is using Firefox with uBO as his default browser on desktop, it made much easier to switch from Chrome to Firefox also on his phone since there was not Google sync across browsers argument present, but I can imagine this can make switching for people invested too much into Google account troublesome, since 3rd party Chromium browsers don't support Google Sync, neither doe", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Has Removed MV2 Extensions from the Chrome Web Store, Including UBO"}, {"id": 791800720, "item_id": 49487545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49487545", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "watching Youtube through Smarttube with dummy account signed in", "excerpt": "what privacy? my smart TV/Android TV stick both don't have camera/mic and only thing I use them for is watching Youtube through Smarttube with dummy account signed in and to watch freely available IPTV streams you can find online, only reason I use the Android TV stick is because the TV OS was not updated at all, slow and didn't even allow to install anything with basic Android system apps removed", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stopping the smart TV from being used against you"}, {"id": 775323009, "item_id": 48457688, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48457688", "by": "dlcarrier", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I watch YouTube videos on FreeTube, SmartTube, and PipePipe, from my computer, TV, and phone, respectively.", "excerpt": "I watch YouTube videos on FreeTube, SmartTube, and PipePipe, from my computer, TV, and phone, respectively. Really, I use PipePipe on my phone for podcasts, and the computer and phone for video. I subscribe to over 400 channels (locally, not through a Google account) and use a chronological feed, so I just see what I'm interested in. Both video and podcasts are a mix of educational, edutainment, entertainment, and ne", "context": "subscribes to 400+ channels locally", "use_case": "watching YouTube on TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where do you like to consume content anymore?"}, {"id": 757334416, "item_id": 47333401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47333401", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-03-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything", "excerpt": "I use on my Android TV SmartTube, you can customize pretty much anything, I don't think I have ever tried original Youtube app, but just out of curiosity I tried competition - TizenTube, which is basically default Youtube app minus ads and it was absolutely horrible experience, on home page you see like 2 giant thumbnails and that's it, can't understand how can someone stand such UI, the most basic settings are setti", "context": "Android TV user", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "YouTube ads are about to get even longer and they'll be unskippable"}, {"id": 749555522, "item_id": 46847220, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46847220", "by": "bergheim", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Use it for streaming (smarttube, some apps)", "excerpt": "I'm not even sure which one I have, it's old but it's great. Use it for streaming (smarttube, some apps) and moonlight/sunshine. It does 4k with a ps5 controller so well. Love it. I think it was like a 100 bucks 8 years ago? I use my desktop 5090 and basically stopped using ps5 for couch gaming because it looks so much better. Great value! Also, not that this is better probably (it is Google and Nvidia after all), bu", "context": "", "use_case": "video streaming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device"}, {"id": 736884832, "item_id": 46055302, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055302", "by": "guillevg", "date": "2025-11-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it.", "excerpt": "Yes, YT UX is awful, specially on TV. I found about SmartTube and it is great, I recommend it. You can choose the grid size, among many other things (most importantly, no ads!).", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on TV without ads", "switched_from": "", "story": "Someone at YouTube Needs Glasses: The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled"}, {"id": 735767731, "item_id": 45985483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45985483", "by": "mrandish", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On set top (Android TV sticks) I use an app called SmartTube", "excerpt": "On Firefox you can block short form content from YouTube as easily as adding one extension or a few uBlock Origin filter lines. With a bit more work it's possible to fix a lot of other stuff using various browser extensions and userscripts on desktop/laptop. On mobile (Android) I use an app that patches the YT executable called \"Revanced Extended\" (https://github.com/inotia00/ReVanced_Extended). On set top (Android T", "context": "", "use_case": "YouTube on Android TV", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cognitive and mental health correlates of short-form video use"}]}