How to Install an APK on Android TV, Google TV or a TV Box

Android TV and Google TV are Android, so an APK installs on them much as it does on a phone. Three things are different: the settings menus, how you get the file onto the TV, and two problems that phones rarely have. A TV box may run a 32-bit system that can’t install a 64-bit-only app, and an app made for phones may install fine but not appear on the home screen.

The menu names below come from Google’s help pages and from the source code of Android TV’s Settings app. TV makers change these menus, so yours may differ. We haven’t tried every device.

Before you start: will the app run on your TV?

Many TV devices run a 32-bit system, even when the chip inside could do 64-bit. Amazon’s Fire TV specification page gives the ABI of every Fire TV Stick on it as “32-bit”. Google, announcing in August 2025 that TV apps on Google Play must also include 64-bit code from August 2026, called it support for “upcoming 64-bit TV devices”, and said that “Google Play will continue to deliver apps to 32-bit devices”.

An app whose native code is only 64-bit (arm64-v8a) won’t install on a 32-bit system. The TV’s installer then says “This app isn’t compatible with your TV.” (in Portuguese, “Este app não é compatível com sua TV.”).

• To check your TV, connect with adb (see below) and run adb shell getprop ro.product.cpu.abilist. If the list has no arm64-v8a, the system is 32-bit. Our guide to arm64-v8a and armeabi-v7a explains the list.
• To check an app, look at “About this file” on its page here, which says whether it runs on 32-bit ARM.

When we checked on 3 October 2026, 102 of the 132 apps on this site ran on a 32-bit ARM system. Some popular TV apps are among the exceptions: the copies of Kodi, VLC and Next Player we host are 64-bit only. For Kodi, the project’s own download site has a 32-bit ARM (armeabi-v7a) build.

Step 1: allow installs from unknown sources

Since Android 8.0 there is no single “unknown sources” switch. Permission to install goes to one app at a time, the app that opens the APK: a browser, a file manager or a downloader. You can take it back at any time.

Android TV. Go to Settings > Apps > Security & restrictions > Unknown sources and switch on the app you will install from. In Portuguese the path is Configurações > Apps > Segurança e restrições > Fontes desconhecidas.

If you open an APK before doing this, the TV says “For your security, your TV currently isn’t allowed to install unknown apps from this source. You can change this in Settings.” and offers a Settings button that leads to the same switch.

Google TV (Chromecast with Google TV, Google TV Streamer and TVs with Google TV). Google’s help pages don’t describe this setting for Google TV. Guides such as AFTVnews say the list of apps allowed to install is not directly reachable, and that you have to turn on Developer options first:

1. Go to Settings > System > About.
2. Select Android TV OS build seven times, until the TV says “You are now a developer!” (“Você agora é um desenvolvedor!”).
3. Now open the APK from your browser or file manager; when the TV asks, allow that app to install.

We haven’t tested these steps on a Google TV device ourselves.

Fire TV. Amazon’s instructions: Settings > My Fire TV > Developer Options, then turn on Apps from Unknown Sources. If Developer Options is missing, Amazon says some versions show it after you press the select button in the middle of the remote’s D-pad seven times on Settings > My Fire TV > About > Your TV.

Step 2: get the APK onto the TV

Download it on the TV. Any browser or downloader app on the TV can open a download page and fetch the file. Typing a web address with the remote is slow; the Google TV app on your phone works as a remote and lets you “Type on your TV with your phone’s keyboard”.

Send it from your phone. Apps such as LocalSend send files over your home Wi-Fi to a receiving app on the TV. The copy of LocalSend we host is 64-bit only, so check the TV first.

Use a USB drive. Android TV reads only FAT-formatted drives, according to Google. A Chromecast with Google TV or a Google TV Streamer needs a USB-C hub with a power-delivery port and a charger of more than 7.5 W, and Google notes that these steps “aren’t intended for the general use” of its streaming devices; the TV may also offer to reformat the drive, which erases it. Then open the APK with a file manager such as Material Files, which runs on 32-bit systems and appears on the TV home screen.

Install it from a computer with adb. This is the most reliable way, and it shows errors in full:

1. Turn on Developer options (above), then USB debugging in them.
2. Google’s Cast documentation says retail Android TV devices don’t accept adb over the network by default: connect a USB cable once and run adb tcpip 5555. Then, over Wi-Fi: adb connect <TV’s IP address>:5555.
3. Install with adb install app.apk. The TV asks you to allow the computer the first time.

Wireless debugging with a pairing code, without a cable, needs Android 13 or later on a TV. On Fire TV, turn on ADB Debugging in Developer Options and connect with adb connect <IP address>:5555.

Step 3: find the app after installing

An app shows up on the TV home screen only if it declares a launcher entry for TV. Google’s developer documentation is explicit: without it, an app loaded with developer tools “does not appear in the TV user interface”. Apps made only for phones install fine but don’t get a tile.

To open such an app:

• Android TV: Settings > Apps, pick the app, then Open. On Google TV the list is under profile icon > Settings > Apps > See all apps (Portuguese: Configurações > Apps > Ver todos os apps). In the source code of Android TV’s Settings app, Open starts an app’s TV entry if it has one and its phone entry if not.
• Fire TV: Settings > Applications > Manage Installed Applications, pick the app, then Launch application.
• Or install a launcher-type app that can start anything, such as Activity Launcher.

Phone apps opened this way are built for touch, so some screens may be hard to use with a remote.

When we checked on 3 October 2026, 40 of the 132 apps on this site declared a TV home-screen entry, and 29 of those also ran on 32-bit ARM. Among them are SmartTube, NewPipe, Nova Video Player, Moonlight, RetroArch, PPSSPP and Flicky, an app store for open-source apps made for TV remotes.

Play Protect and developer verification on TV

• Play Protect works on Android TV as on phones: Google says it checks apps when you install them and scans the device from time to time. If it warns about an app, read the warning before deciding.
• Developer verification, which since 30 September 2026 checks installs from 7 app stores in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, does not apply to TVs for now. Google’s FAQ says enforcement “will only apply to mobile and tablet form factors in the selected regions”. Apps installed with adb never need it, and Google’s help page says AOSP and non-certified devices are exempt. See our guide to Android developer verification.

Fire TV models that can’t install APKs

Amazon’s newest sticks run Vega OS, which Amazon built on Linux components rather than on Android. Its device list names the Fire TV Stick 4K Select (2025), the Fire TV Stick HD (2026) and the Fire TV Stick 4K (3rd Gen, 2026). The only route Amazon describes for Android apps on these models is its cloud streaming program, in which the APK runs in an Amazon cloud container; Amazon documents no way to install an APK on the device itself.

In Brazil: TV boxes and Anatel

Anatel, Brazil’s telecoms regulator, lets anyone look up a device’s certificate in its homologation database, by the homologation number on the box. It also warns that an advert promising free, unrestricted access to lots of channels is a strong sign of an uncertified, pirate TV box, “even if it has a seal or homologation code”, which may be forged. Its 2024–2025 anti-piracy report recalls an August 2025 warning: the BadBox 2.0 malware had already infected more than 1.8 million pirate TV boxes in Brazil. Anatel advised using only certified devices and avoiding untrusted sources of software and firmware.