I have had it Chromecast with Google TV (4K) it has been powering my living room tv for several years. It’s certainly better than the old webOS UI installed on the old LG TV, but it’s a nearly six-year-old device, and the Google TV UI just feels clunky and slow. Thankfully, you can replace it.
Kyu Launcher is one Android TV app that can replace the default Google TV experience with one that feels more like Roku’s TV OS. Apart from here, there are no ads: this is just my content and it works faster than the default launcher.
The Roku experience, but better
Much better than Google TV
Google TV may think a lot about it, but it’s not an unpleasant UI to navigate on this hardware. Chromecast with Google TV was quite slow on this interface, taking a while to load and still stuttering when navigating or exiting apps. Plus, the Google TV UI focuses heavily on horizontal navigation, which can make it take longer to get to what I’m looking for.
Q Launcher It mimics Roku’s own TV OS UI, and it’s great. I haven’t used a Roku TV extensively before, but this mimics the look very well. The main advantage here is that it is very easy to access your content. You always see your categories on the left, and your apps are displayed in a three-column grid, so you can quickly get to a specific one instead of endless scrolling.
Unlike a proper Roku TV, there are no ads or suggested content here that I don’t want. The default groups include my apps and a list of previously viewed content so I can pick up where I left off, and that’s it. It’s simple and, most importantly, fast. My TV goes through the categories and everything Chromecast works like new. It changes how I feel about this device.
Android TV doesn’t allow you to change the default launcher by default, but Kyu Launcher makes it easy by using the accessibility options. Just turn on the app’s accessibility service and it’ll hit the Home button and you’ll open Kyu instead of Google TV. There is an option to “enhance” home detection, which I enabled, and with those two options enabled, Kyu Launcher always responded perfectly to my Home button presses.
It can also be customized
Especially if you’re paying
By default, the Kyu Launcher offers a “clean” Roku vibe with a purple theme, but there’s actually quite a bit you can change to make it feel more unique. The free version of the app already includes many preset themes, some of which have photo backgrounds that make your screen look really beautiful. I like some dark themes for readability, but there are plenty of options.
You can also change the primary and secondary theme colors, which define the background of elements and the color of the UI text. You don’t have full control over things like transparency, so there are some limitations, but you can start with a theme that has the level of transparency you want and change the color from there.
If you want more options, you need to pay for the full version of the app, which allows you to set a custom theme, including your own photo background. Plus, if you go this route, you can also change app icons. I didn’t think it was necessary, but it’s also a way to support a great program.
Better than the alternatives?
I’m tempted to say yes
Kyu Launcher may be better than Google TV, but other developers have also admitted that Google TV is bad and that alternatives are needed. I’ve tried Arc launcher and Projectivy Launcher myself and I love them both, especially Projectivy. Can Kyu get any better? I’m tempted to say yes.
Projectives it’s great and, for better or worse, feels closer to Google TV; it removes all ads and is faster to use and navigate, but doesn’t feel as good as Kyu in my opinion. The Kyu seems faster and smoother, and while I experienced minor slowdowns in both (you can’t do miracles on this hardware), the Kyu seems less prone to issues. It almost always runs smoothly; It doesn’t seem to slow down even when I open apps and go back to the home screen.
Plus, I really like the more grid-based layout and all the theme options it offers. I think the themes look great, even better than Projectivy. Maybe I’ll change my mind in the long run, but for now, Kyu Launcher is the default on my Chromecast.
An easy recommendation
Since Kyu Launcher is available on the Play Store and is easy to install, I’d say there’s no reason not to give it a try. Based on my time with it, it’s a huge improvement to the experience, and if you have a slower device like I do, the speed boost makes a big difference. I doubt you will regret installing it.
