Change default launcher on Android TV

Question

I was able to change the default launcher on Android Studio emulator but unable to do the same on the physical Android TV.

This is how I did it:

1. Add the following line to manifest <category android:name="android.intent.category.HOME" />, telling the system that my app is also a launcher.
2. Uninstall Leanback launcher by executing adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.leanbacklauncher and adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.tvlauncher. This is the extra step for Android TV only.

On my emulator it works as expected, pressing HOME key, clicking BACK keys repeatedly and resetting the device goes back to my app.

But on the physical TV, pressing HOME key works fine. Clicking BACK key repeately and resetting the device goes to a blank screen.

My question is, is there an official way of changing default launcher on Android TV just like Android Mobile?

thanks!

Answer 1

Removing AndroidTV Launcher and its ads

The way most people do it is to download two apps. One remaps the home button to a launcher app and the other is a launcher app that replaces the default AndroidTV launcher.

I used Button Mapper and ATV Launcher, but there are other choices. I specifically did this to remove the obnoxious Google ads from my device.

Then you can disable the AndroidTV launcher like this

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tvlauncher

I would disable rather than uninstall in case you ever need to get back the default launcher.

Note: This has been tested on a Xiaomi Mi Box S but should work on any AndroidTV

HTH someone regain control & agency over the device you own....

References

Disabling the default launcher: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiBox/comments/gfv4av/how_to_change_default_launcher_on_mi_box_s/

Installing button remapping & launcher: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/kgsn8e/how_to_sort_of_remove_home_screen_ads_from/