Sofa TV Browser 1.2.2

Sofa Player

• 4K and 60 fps on more TVs: Auto now plays the stream's best picture, such as 4K or 1440p at 60 fps, when the TV's hardware decoder says it plays it, instead of a smaller one at 30 fps. If such a picture drops frames, Auto moves to a smaller one and says so.
• Steps down instead of giving up: when the TV can't decode one of the stream's pictures, Sofa Player goes on from the same point with another one, and says which.
• One decoder per video: the page's own video rests while Sofa Player plays, which frees its hardware decoder and some memory.
• Open videos in Sofa Player straight from the page: a video you start yourself, with sound and a minute or longer, goes fullscreen in Sofa Player at once. Settings → "Open videos in Sofa Player" turns it off.

Watch

• Watch by itself (Settings, off by default): runs Watch on its own once a page has loaded, on every site or only on the sites you choose.
• Watch now reaches a video under an invisible ad layer.

Also

• Sofa offers Stronger ad blocking (EasyList and EasyPrivacy) once at start. Settings changes it any time.
• "Play in…" gives players that can't open Sofa's copy of a stream the site's address instead.
• A link sent from another app while Sofa's menu is open now closes the menu and loads.
• Refreshed ad and pop-up lists, and the old-WebView warning now starts below version 143.
• SECURITY.md says how to report a security problem privately.

All changes: CHANGELOG

Install

Download sofa-1.2.2.apk below and install it on the TV, for example with a file manager app or adb install. Sofa needs Android 7.0 or newer. It installs over 1.2.1 and keeps your bookmarks, history and settings.

On TVs with Google Play, Play Protect may say "App blocked to protect your device" because it hasn't seen an app from this developer before. Choose More details → Install anyway.

Verify

• APK SHA-256: 63589b72f0beeb9b8b6561a0a9d54d374b232db007cde1dcdaf48c65b7db7b83
• Signing certificate SHA-256: 74:E2:3F:09:BB:4B:01:16:00:C3:8E:7D:55:5F:B3:89:26:AC:C3:83:50:29:B7:FC:02:E4:84:66:C3:4C:8A:A9
• Built from the v1.2.2 tag. The build is reproducible: the same source gives the same APK contents.

Sofa TV Browser 1.2.1

Sofa Player

• Your choices stay: the quality, sound and subtitles you pick on the bar now stay for the next videos, on every site. Settings → Sofa Player → "Forget my player choices" goes back to Auto.
• Starts sharp: with HLS streams, Sofa Player starts at the quality the site's player was showing, instead of a lower one for the first seconds.
• Says why: when Watch leaves a video with the site's player (protected, no stream Sofa Player can open, or one it can't play), a short note in fullscreen says why, and Video info keeps the reason.
• Fixed: after a video Sofa Player couldn't take over, later videos in the same session could stay with the site's player.

All changes: CHANGELOG

Install

Download sofa-1.2.1.apk below and install it on the TV, for example with a file manager app or adb install. Sofa needs Android 7.0 or newer. It installs over 1.2.0 and keeps your bookmarks, history and settings.

On TVs with Google Play, Play Protect may say "App blocked to protect your device" because it hasn't seen an app from this developer before. Choose More details → Install anyway.

Verify

• APK SHA-256: 57155789d2856189df59a8086c147ead448cb274589320d220dd83ed29b59ed2
• Signing certificate SHA-256: 74:E2:3F:09:BB:4B:01:16:00:C3:8E:7D:55:5F:B3:89:26:AC:C3:83:50:29:B7:FC:02:E4:84:66:C3:4C:8A:A9
• Built from the v1.2.1 tag. The build is reproducible: the same source gives the same APK contents.

Sofa TV Browser 1.2.0

Sofa Player

• Sofa's own video player: in fullscreen, Sofa plays the site's stream itself when it can, with 4K at full resolution on 4K TVs, HDR when the stream and the TV have it, and a choice of quality, sound and subtitles. It takes over without a jump; "Site's player" on the bar goes back, and Settings → Sofa Player turns it off.
• Play in another app works on many more sites: Sofa hands over the whole stream with its subtitles and the position. Settings → Play in… chooses the app, or "Ask every time".

Fewer ads and pop-ups

• Filter lists in uBlock Origin, Adblock Plus and hosts format, which also hide the empty boxes ads leave. One switch in Settings adds EasyList and EasyPrivacy, and lists can update themselves if you want.
• Far fewer pop-ups: a press on a page no longer opens an ad in its place, even from ad networks no list knows yet. "Allow once" in the menu opens one you wanted.

Browsing

• Hold OK on a link or an image to open it in another app, copy or share its address, or download it.
• Game pads (Xbox, PlayStation, 8BitDo and others) work like in a console browser. Settings → Game controller shows every button.
• 0.75x playback speed, and Settings keeps the focus on the setting you changed.

All changes: CHANGELOG

Install

Download sofa-1.2.0.apk below and install it on the TV, for example with a file manager app or adb install. Sofa needs Android 7.0 or newer. It installs over 1.1.0 and keeps your bookmarks, history and settings.

On TVs with Google Play, Play Protect may say "App blocked to protect your device" because it hasn't seen an app from this developer before. Choose More details → Install anyway.

Verify

• APK SHA-256: 7c1869027a0c232d5a01244f56b347101622c6246a0cad50f1c344e556ced1cb
• Signing certificate SHA-256: 74:E2:3F:09:BB:4B:01:16:00:C3:8E:7D:55:5F:B3:89:26:AC:C3:83:50:29:B7:FC:02:E4:84:66:C3:4C:8A:A9
• Built from the v1.2.0 tag. The build is reproducible: the same source gives the same APK contents.

Sofa TV Browser 1.1.0

Watching video

• Watch: press Play on the remote and Sofa finds the video on the page and plays it fullscreen.
• New buttons in fullscreen: subtitles, picture-in-picture, Video info, and Play in another app (VLC, MX Player…).
• Continue where you stopped in long films.
• Sharper video on 4K TVs: in fullscreen, sites can now send their 4K stream.
• Smoother films (experimental): "Match frame rate" in Settings switches the TV to the film's frame rate, on TVs that support it.
• The screen stays on while a video plays.

Fewer ads and pop-ups

• Pop-ups and pages that jump to ad sites are blocked, now with a second list made for pop-up ads. "Allow once" in the menu opens something that was blocked.
• Fewer "please turn off your ad blocker" messages, and the Ad block button shows how much was blocked.

Browsing and settings

• Find in page, typed or spoken.
• Keep history for 7, 30 or 90 days, always or never. Your choice from 1.0.0 carries over.
• Protected video (the kind streaming services lock): ask for each site, always allow, or always block.
• Sofa tells you when your TV's web engine is very old and needs an update.

Install

Download sofa-1.1.0.apk below and install it on the TV, for example with a file manager app or adb install. Sofa needs Android 7.0 or newer. It installs over 1.0.0 and keeps your bookmarks, history and settings.

On TVs with Google Play, Play Protect may say "App blocked to protect your device" because it hasn't seen an app from this developer before. Choose More details → Install anyway.

Verify

• APK SHA-256: 6995899791ea2770873ba57b627bd10d5f5547924294a785b46c9c56e86ec1cc
• Signing certificate SHA-256: 74:E2:3F:09:BB:4B:01:16:00:C3:8E:7D:55:5F:B3:89:26:AC:C3:83:50:29:B7:FC:02:E4:84:66:C3:4C:8A:A9
• Built from the v1.1.0 tag. The build is reproducible: the same source gives the same APK contents.

Sofa TV Browser 1.0.0

First public release of Sofa TV Browser, a private web browser for Android TV and Google TV.

• Remote-control browsing: a D-pad mouse pointer that speeds up while held, with hover, drag, edge scrolling, a scroll mode, and a D-pad mode for sites built for keyboards.
• Back-key menu: address, navigation, bookmarks, history, per-site ad blocking, "Browse as" user agents and zoom.
• Home screen: your own quick-access tiles, most visited sites and recent bookmarks.
• Video: a fullscreen control bar with seeking, play/pause, scrubbing and playback speed.
• Privacy: ads and trackers blocked on the device, third-party cookies blocked, no Do Not Track, a desktop user agent by default, private browsing, and no analytics or servers of its own.
• Search: you choose the engine at first start, from twelve, with local suggestions and voice search.
• Downloads: pause and resume, automatic retries, and downloads that continue in the background.
• Themes: Dark and Light, or the same as the TV.

Install

Download sofa-1.0.0.apk below and install it on the TV, for example with a file manager app or adb install. Sofa needs Android 7.0 or newer.

On TVs with Google Play, Play Protect may say "App blocked to protect your device" because it hasn't seen an app from this developer before. Choose More details → Install anyway.

Verify

• APK SHA-256: 954c99c6c7ecd793282a29092425717a6b55ff7d45047b584b28bdfba40adb7f
• Signing certificate SHA-256: 74:E2:3F:09:BB:4B:01:16:00:C3:8E:7D:55:5F:B3:89:26:AC:C3:83:50:29:B7:FC:02:E4:84:66:C3:4C:8A:A9
• Built from the v1.0.0 tag. The build is reproducible: the same source gives the same APK contents.