Google TV has an ad problem. You turn it on, and before you even get to what you actually want to watch, you are greeted by a giant banner sitting at the top of your screen, sometimes promoting a newly released show, a car you're never going to buy, or another random product, but either way, it is the first thing you see.

Scroll a little, and it doesn't get better. You start noticing sponsored rows, algorithmic recommendations you never asked for, and content pushed to the front because someone paid for that placement. This is not a coincidence. Brands actively buy Connected TV inventory, and it's not cheap, which means there is real intent behind ensuring those ads appear on your television.

And that is where I have a problem. I don't want my TV to feel like a billboard, especially not in my living room. So, instead of switching hardware, I changed the experience. I turned my Google TV into something that feels a lot closer to an Apple TV 4K. All it took was a launcher, and the difference has been dramatic.

A cleaner home screen that feels like Apple TV

Without any ads on your face

The app is called AT4K Launcher, and it replaces the default Google TV home screen with a simplified app grid that looks strikingly similar to the layout on Apple TV 4K. So, instead of endless sponsored rows and algorithm-driven suggestions, you get a clean grid of large app icons. There are five apps per row by default, all neatly spaced, with no ads wedged between them. There are also no aggressive upsells for movies you can rent.

You can long-press on any icon and move it around. At the top of the screen is a featured carousel, but you can control what shows up in it. You can highlight an app to see recommended content related to it. In many cases, it pulls from Android TV’s built-in recommendation system. To watch something, just click the title, and the app will take you straight to playback without any detours.

If an app does not support home screen recommendations, the launcher can show a Watch Next row instead. That pulls in recently watched shows and movies across apps, so you can quickly resume what you were watching. And if you hate that too, you can turn the entire top carousel off in settings.

The base app is free. There is a small one-time payment for extras like custom wallpapers or six apps per row instead of five. Even without paying, the core experience is complete with only a few limitations. For example, you cannot create folders the way you can on Apple TV. Also, long-pressing an app doesn’t give you deeper controls like uninstall or app info shortcuts. The “Watch Next” row could be smarter, especially in how it manages what appears there. Still, for something that costs nothing to try, the polish is impressive.

If you have ever looked at Apple TV’s interface and thought it’s calmer and more focused, this gets you surprisingly close without buying new hardware.

How I replaced Google TV’s default launcher

It's easier than I thought

Installing AT4K Launcher is easy, but replacing Google TV’s default home screen takes a bit more effort. You have two paths. The simplest method is to remap your remote’s Home button to open AT4K Launcher instead of the default Google TV interface. For this, you can use TVQuickActions, which is available on the Play Store on your TV. During setup, it will ask for accessibility permissions. You need to enable those in your TV’s Accessibility section.

Once inside TVQuickActions, you can create a new button mapping. Press your remote’s Home button when prompted. Then set a single press to launch AT4K Launcher. To avoid locking yourself out of the original interface, assign a double- or long-press to the standard Go to Home action. That way, you can still jump back to Google’s default home screen when you want.

This approach works well, but it's not perfect. When you power on the TV, the stock Google TV screen still appears first. Also, when exiting the screensaver, you may need to use the back button instead of Home.

If you want AT4K Launcher to fully replace Google TV at startup and every time you press Home, you need a more involved setup using Launcher Manager. This method requires sideloading. You install an app like Downloader from the Play Store, use it to fetch Launcher Manager, and then enable developer options and USB debugging on your TV.

Inside Launcher Manager, you select Enable Custom Launcher. If you see a connection error, you may need to toggle developer options and USB debugging first. Once everything is enabled, your device boots straight into AT4K Launcher. If you ever want to go back, open Launcher Manager and disable the custom launcher, and the original Google TV home screen will return.

This route is cleaner but better suited if you are comfortable navigating developer settings. If you are not, stick to button remapping. It gives you most of the benefits with less friction.

Get more out of your TV

Smart TVs are getting worse than ever, but you can improve the experience with something like a Chromecast or an Apple TV 4K. While you're at it, you might also want to learn how to change these important settings to instantly improve picture quality.