There are many users who use YouTube on their smart TVs every day to play all types of videos. Although the app has all the characteristic benefits of the platform, there is always room for improvement. More so if we have a television with Android TV, which allows us to install all types of appsregardless of whether or not they are in the official Google Play store.
In this article we will talk about SmartTubea compatible YouTube alternative app for Android TV that It has advanced functions for playing videosand even the possibility of viewing content without advertising, among other things.
Advantages of this alternative client to YouTube
In this open source YouTube client we can watch any existing video on the platform, and even log in with our Google account to access all saved content from playlists, subscriptions and history. In addition to the functions adapted to the television and the remote control, such as adjusting the video speed, playback quality and so on, we also have an option in which we can see additional informationsuch as the codec being used, bitrate, and more.
Lastly, it is also worth mentioning that we can watch any video without advertising involved, also including blocking promotional content found within some videos. All this in a simple, light interface, and without the need for Google services.
This platform also offers us the possibility of sending YouTube videos from the official mobile app to this client. This way you will not lose the convenient option of sending videos to the TV, since it will be played in this alternative app instead of the YouTube app for Smart TV. To do this, SmartTube would have to be added as a ‘television’ in the mobile app.
To perform this task, simply go to the ‘Watch on TV’ option in the YouTube mobile app and link STN with the code that appears on the screen. After that you will be able to send YouTube videos from your mobile to SmartTube without problems.
How to install SmartTube on your Android TV
To proceed with its installation, all we have to do is visit its official page at GitHub and download the APK file. Since it is not available in the Google Play store, we must resort to the method to install external APKs on our Android TV. Once the application is installed, we will only have to run it and we will have this alternative YouTube client ready for use.
If you end up convinced by the app, and your remote control has a dedicated button for the official YouTube application, We can make the SmartTube app run by pressing this button. To do this, we will only have to use any app to map buttons, such as Button Mapper.
A previous version of this article was published in 2022.