15 Best Apps For Android TV You Should Be Using (2018)

Android TV was first announced as a Smart TV platform back in 2014, and we’ve come a long way since then. 69 Android TV box, packs quite a punch. It comes with a quad-core processor clocked at 2 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, and 8 GB on internal flash storage. The Mi Box is also capable of streaming 4K HDR video over its HDMI 2.0b port. Things like these have made Android TVs a lot more accessible, and affordable, to a lot more people. HopWatch for Reddit is an Android TV app that will let you keep up to date with the latest images, GIFs, and videos, right from the comfort of your couch, and with the luxury of watching them on your TV. The app covers the “hot” threads from the “pics”, and “videos” subreddits, as well as the “movies” subreddit. It also comes with a built-in search function, that will let you easily search for videos, images, and GIFs on the front page of the Internet. The app is specifically designed with Android TV in mind, and works very well.

Android TVs don’t come with a web browser installed, which is understandable, but still quite disappointing. However, if you want a web browser on your Android TV, you can easily install a browser such as Google Chrome. With Google Chrome installed, you can browse the web, and do a lot more on your Android TV. Since we are installing a fully fledged Android app, it will have every feature that the Google Chrome app has on an Android phone. However, Google Chrome is not available in the Android TV Play Store, which means you will have to sideload it. You can read our article on sideloading apps on Android TVs to learn how you can do this. Android TV boxes such as the Mi Box come packed with a plethora of applications, ranging from music and video streaming apps, to news applications. However, if those news apps don’t meet your needs, you should check out Haystack.

Haystack is a news app that you can use to stay updated on a variety of topics, from Science and Technology, Politics and Current Events, to Games, and Movie Trailers. News items are presented in a nice fluid interface, which is perfect for an Android TV set up. Also, the way things are laid out is exceptionally well thought out. Haystack brings news curated from a number of sources, such as AP, BBC News, CBS, and many more. Plus, there is a handy “weather pane” on the bottom of the window to keep you updated with the weather in your location. Kodi is perhaps one of the most powerful media center applications out there. The app can be used to manage all your media into one central location, which can even be set up to be accessed remotely. Along with that, Kodi’s abilities can be enhanced with a number of Kodi add-ons that add on a lot of power to the application. You should definitely use Kodi on your Android TV if you have a lot of media stored on your Android TV, and are looking for a way to quickly organize all of it, with a proper hierarchy.

Any extra media that you may add to your device after you’ve set up Kodi, will automatically be sorted into the proper categories, and arranged into the locations you have decided. Kodi’s add-ons also help it support almost any audio, and video format that you may throw at it, making it a very versatile solution for consuming media on your Android TV. A file manager app is one of the most important things on any device. After all, how else will you transfer files between your Android TV, and your laptop, mobile, etc, Also, how will you manage stored files, screenshots, and more on your Android TV, Well, that’s where ES File Explorer comes in. ES File Explorer is a feature-rich application that can perform a plethora of functions on your Android TV. You can manage all your files (obviously), but you can also connect to a Cloud drive service, create an FTP, or SFTP session with your computer to transfer files, and more.

Having a VPN application never hurts. It helps to keep you anonymous while browsing the internet, and can be used to circumvent geographical restrictions placed on a lot of online content. Unless you want to pirate stuff, Tunnelbear is one of the best VPN apps you can use on your Android TV. Even though the app is not yet optimized for Android TV, it works perfectly fine, and actually looks rather good. Tunnelbear gives you 500 MB data free every month, and you can buy one of their paid subscriptions to increase this limit. For basic browsing, though, 500 MB will probably suffice you. Do note that Tunnelbear will not let you download items that use P2P protocols, for security, and legal reasons. There are a lot of other VPN apps for Android that you can use, as well, should Tunnelbear not meet your expectations. When it comes to streaming music, Spotify is undoubtedly the best way to go. With the Spotify app on your Android TV, you can stream music directly through your Android TV, itself.