TellyGrid 0.8.2-alpha.8.2

A fix for Android 13 and newer.

Fixed in alpha 8.2

• Setup screen on Android 13+. On newer Android (for example a Xiaomi Mi Box on Android 14), the Home button override switch flipped straight back off, because Android blocks accessibility for apps installed outside the Play Store. The setup screen now shows how to allow it: open TellyGrid's App info, choose Allow restricted settings, then turn the switch on.
• Skip for now. You can now skip the setup and use TellyGrid without the Home button override. Your remote's Home button will open the TV's own home screen until you turn it on from Settings → Home override.

If you can't find Allow restricted settings, run this from a computer with adb:
adb shell appops set io.github.lozza.tellygrid ACCESS_RESTRICTED_SETTINGS allow

Installing

• On alpha 8 or 8.1: Settings → App updates will offer this update. Your settings are kept.
• On alpha 7 or new install: download the APK below and install it over the top, then follow the setup screen.

Please report problems, and which TV or box you use, in Issues.

TellyGrid 0.8.1-alpha.8.1

A small update to alpha 8.

New in alpha 8.1

• Remote buttons. Settings → Remote buttons lets you choose what a button on your remote opens: Home, Apps, TV Guide, Favourites or Settings. For example, make the Settings button open the Guide. It works anywhere on the TV, even inside other apps. Arrows, OK, Back, Home, volume, power and number buttons stay as they are.

Installing

• On alpha 8: Settings → App updates will offer this update. Your settings are kept.
• On alpha 7 or new install: download the APK below and install it over the top, then follow the setup screen.

Tested on a Philips Android 11 Freeview Play TV. Please report problems, and which TV or box you use, in Issues.

TellyGrid v0.8.0-alpha.8

TellyGrid 0.8.0-alpha.8

TellyGrid is a UK home screen for Android TV: recommendations from your apps, a live TV guide, and one click straight to the show.

New in alpha 8

• Favourites tab. Works like a Sky or Virgin record list. Hold OK on any Home card or the banner (or press Menu/Info) and pick Add to Favourites, or just press the Record button on your remote. Saved shows get a red dot. In the Guide, programme details have an Add to Favourites button, and it follows the series on any channel.
• In-app updates. Settings → App updates checks for new versions, downloads them and opens the installer. No more sideloading every release. TellyGrid also checks quietly at launch and tells you once when something new is out.
• Home button goes straight to TellyGrid. Pressing Home no longer flashes the TV's built-in launcher first.
• Guided setup screen. The first time you open TellyGrid it walks you through turning on the Home button override, and it comes back if the TV ever switches it off.
• Apps list refreshes itself. Install or remove an app and the Apps page updates straight away.
• Tidier Settings. The old discovery+ accessibility workaround is gone. discovery+ channels open through their direct links.

Installing

• Updating from alpha 7: download the APK below and install it over the top. Your settings are kept.
• New install: sideload the APK, open TellyGrid and follow the setup screen.
• For future updates: allow Install unknown apps for TellyGrid when asked (or in your TV's Security settings). After that, Settings → App updates does the rest.

Tested on a Philips Android 11 Freeview Play TV. Please report problems, and which TV or box you use, in Issues.

TellyGrid v0.7.0-alpha.7

What's new in alpha 7

Checked on the reference Philips Android 11 TV on 27 September 2026.

• Home looks like a broadcaster's launcher. A full-width banner rotates every 8 seconds
  through app recommendations, BBC iPlayer picks, recently watched titles and one live
  programme, with the artwork running behind the menu. Left/Right on its button skips
  between picks, and it opens that title in its app. Larger artwork is requested from
  known image CDNs so the banner stays sharp.
• Watch next is ordered by what you watched last (it previously showed the oldest
  12 entries), and Apps → Home app settings → Watch next apps chooses which apps may
  add to it.
• BBC iPlayer row of popular episodes that open the exact episode (from the BBC
  iPlayer thread's change), plus a crash fix for provider handoffs that also affected
  the guide.
• Faster artwork. Jellyfin pictures are fetched resized from the Jellyfin server
  rather than through its slow TV image provider, and all artwork is cached on disk.
• Pluto TV channels work again. Pluto 17 (Paramount build, 23 Sept 2026) rejected the
  old web route; TellyGrid now sends plutotv://live-tv/<channel id>.
• discovery+ opens the live channel for Discovery, TLC, Quest, Investigation
  Discovery, Quest Red, Animal Planet, Food Network, DMAX, Really, Discovery Science,
  Discovery Turbo and Discovery History, using
  https://play.discoveryplus.com/channel/watch/<channel>/<edit> links. HGTV was removed
  because the UK app does not carry it.
• Home live TV cards open the channel the same way the guide does (TV tuner for
  Freeview channels). Freeview channels such as Sky Mix no longer appear on the NOW row,
  and the "Ones to watch" row is gone.
• New look: Plus Jakarta Sans throughout (SIL OFL, see docs/PlusJakartaSans-OFL.txt),
  a new TellyGrid wordmark and Android TV banner/icon, one shared style for Settings,
  Guide filters, Guide preferences and Search, consistent spacing, and icon buttons on
  Home app settings.
• Remote fixes: Back on the guide returns to TellyGrid Home; the guide's day tabs
  always move to/from the selected day and programme; Home rows scroll fully into view.

TellyGrid v0.4.0-alpha.4

Alpha 4 fixes the three main TV issues:

• Freeview channels play through the television tuner inside TellyGrid; one Back press returns to the guide. Verified on a 2021/22 Philips Android 11 Freeview Play TV.
• NOW rows now send channel-specific live-TV links instead of opening the home page. Sky Atlantic was verified end to end; a suitable membership and profile are still required.
• The catalogue now contains 78 channels, including the current Sky One lineup, Sky News, the remaining NOW Kids channels, and the full discovery+ UK entertainment lineup.
• The hosted Sky guide has been refreshed. HGTV remains visible with a listings-unavailable placeholder because the Sky source has no HGTV schedule.

This remains a development-signed sideloading alpha. Tuner support on non-Philips televisions is not yet verified, and discovery+ still uses app handoff rather than channel-specific links.

TellyGrid 0.3.0 Alpha 3

Alpha 3 adds exact live-channel tuning on compatible Philips Freeview Play TVs and expands the curated guide from 41 to 67 channels.

Highlights:

• Selecting a configured Freeview row opens that exact station in the TV's native Live TV player.
• Verified end-to-end on a 2021/22 Philips Android 11 TV with BBC One, Sky Mix and ITV2.
• Adds ITV2/3/4, BBC Three/Four/News/Parliament, E4, Film4, More4, 4seven, U&Dave, U&Drama, U&W, U&Yesterday, U&Eden, 5USA/5STAR/5ACTION/5SELECT, DMAX, Food Network, Really, CBBC and CBeebies.
• Keeps the installed-app chooser and provider-app fallback on unsupported TVs and for subscription-only NOW/discovery+ channels.
• The hosted guide now publishes schedules for all 67 configured channels.

This is a development-key-signed sideloading prerelease. It can update Alpha 2 directly because both use the same preview signing key.

TellyGrid v0.2.0 Alpha 2

What changed

• Detects launchable Android TV and Freeview Play broadcaster apps instead of assuming retail Play Store package names.
• Adds a D-pad-friendly App setup screen so BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4, 5, NOW and discovery+ can be mapped to the preinstalled TV apps.
• Tries the official BBC/ITV/Channel 4/5 live-channel URL only when the selected installed app declares support, then safely falls back to the app home.
• Removes the incompatible Play Store redirect.
• Adds U&Gold, U&Alibi, MTV, Comedy Central, Sky Kids and Sky Mix to the NOW Entertainment guide.
• Refreshes the bundled two-day Sky UK guide (41 channels).

Known limitation
Exact channel tuning depends on intent support in each manufacturer's provider app. NOW and discovery+ do not expose stable public Android TV channel links, so those currently open at app home. Please use App setup on first launch and report the package names it shows on your TV.

This is a debug-signed sideloading alpha. SHA-256: C1547D546811493DF6F54BDAE1EFD9ADF57FBDBC42D5AD4D19014C0AC07E7693

TellyGrid v0.1.0 Alpha 1

First public TellyGrid preview for Android TV and Google TV.

Included:

• Current UK listings generated from the curated Sky XMLTV configuration
• BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, NOW and discovery+ channel groups
• D-pad-first live guide
• Handoff to installed official broadcaster apps, with Play Store fallback
• Automatic twice-daily guide updates from GitHub Pages

Requirements: Android TV/Google TV running Android 8.0 (API 26) or newer.

Preview warning: this APK uses a development signing key and is intended for sideload testing. A later production-signed release may require this preview to be uninstalled first. TellyGrid supplies listings and app handoffs, not television streams or subscriptions.

SHA-256: 5C132E7DFFEA0C6E4D7AEC3AE95268A084B1EBFBF6DF806C7F0BA1CAB3474D6B