We all love to catch up on cat videos, cooking shows, and lifestyle coverage of our favourite bloggers on YouTube. Some of us prefer large displays for that, which is where YouTube for Android TV comes in.
The official YouTube client for Android TV works, but it makes a bad name for the platform, especially when it comes to serving users with ads. We do not have the exact data or what happens at the core of the app, but the YouTube app for Android TV is notorious with ads and keeps getting worse in that department.
Of course, part of this ad-serving spree can be linked to its profit margins. YouTube as a whole made less money than Facebook in 2019, which is something most of us did not expect.
If the functions and corporate goals of the app are things you don’t want to know, and simply want a pleasant experience, then the official app is not your friend, especially on TV.
You can overcome this issue by using another third-party app named SmartTubeNext, which is still in beta but appears to work just fine on my end.
The app, which has a blue theme, does everything the official YouTube app for Android Tv does, and then more.
First, it knocks ads out of videos, which by itself is sufficient motivation to install it.
Its UI is pleasantly modern too, and used icons and a colour scheme that most of you will like.
You can browse games, music and news from the app.
The same thing can be done for subscriptions, playlists and history.
Besides, you can give a thumbs up to a video to love, and vice versa.
You can also change other settings, such as the quality of videos and audio. You can even make the app play content in the background.
There are a ton of other features, you can discover as you use it over time.
You can sideload it to your TV as we explained here.
