TL; DR
- Google has made a few changes to the For You Google TV home screen.
- App icons are now smaller and rounder, free TV channels have their own dedicated shortcuts, and the order of your apps can be easily changed and added.
- This refreshed home screen is rolling out today, but it will take the next few months to appear on all devices.
Google TV has become increasingly popular as a recommendation engine alongside Android TV. But the changes to this interface are slow and deliberate, especially compared to how quickly and often drastically things change on Android phones. Google is now making a bunch of small changes to the For You Google TV home screen, and we hope they add up to a better experience.
As Google announced via its support forums (via 9to5Google), the Google TV home screen has a new look, but it’s only slightly different from before. For one thing, apps now come with a smaller circular icon instead of a larger rectangle, meaning you can see more apps at once. The “Your Apps” row now also contains more of your most-used apps, so you don’t have to go to All Apps to see some less-used options.
Next, Google TV’s free TV channels now get their own dedicated shortcut in the “Your Apps” row instead of being in the “Live” tab. Google reiterates that free channels from Google TV include options for local news, movies and sports, all of which within this short content are available to watch without any additional payment.
The “Your Apps” row on the Home screen For You Google TV also gets a “reorder” button that makes it easy to arrange the Home screen exactly how you want it to be. There’s also a new “add apps” button, which will let you discover and install new apps, presumably from the Google Play store.
Google says this new home screen refresh is rolling out today, but it will take the next few months to roll out to all devices.
Have you received the new look on your Google TV device? Do you like it? Let us know in the comments below!