A side project · Android TV
My TV used to sell me things. Now it looks like this.
I took the ads, tracking and junk off a Haier Android TV, safely and reversibly, then built my own home screen. Mountains that change every 15 minutes, a glass clock tucked behind the peaks, and only the apps I watch.
Pangong Tso. The clock is the real time in Bengaluru, like on the TV.
Your turn. Debloat the TV.
This is roughly what the stock home looked like. Clear out what does not belong.
0 of 17 disabled
Tap any app you would not want on your TV, or clear them all at once. The ones I actually watch refuse to go.
$ adb connect haier-tv · backup saved
Three layers, one lock screen.
Drag the slider to pull them apart.
Each wallpaper is two images: the sky, and the mountain or monument cut out on its own. The clock is drawn between them, so the peak sits in front of the digits, like the depth effect on an iPhone lock screen.
Every photo is cropped so its subject covers about a third of the clock. Brighter skies get a darker shadow behind the digits so the time stays readable.
Three home screens in three days.
Built, used, kept or thrown out.
BeforeThe stock home
A sponsored banner up top and promo rows under the apps.
25 OctVersion 1: live weather
A drawn scene for the real weather in four cities, with a landmark each.
25 OctTried: Apple TV top shelf
Shipped it, lived with it for an evening, rolled it back.
27 OctNow: the lock screen
Nine depth-effect wallpapers every 15 minutes, a glass dock, and the weather in a pill.
Careful beats clever.
- Backup first
Package list, settings and system properties saved before anything changed.
- Disable, never uninstall
All 17 are switched off, not removed. One restore script brings the TV back exactly as it shipped.
- Knows what not to touch
Remote pairing, HDMI, casting and the one system app that owns the saved Wi-Fi stay on.
- Ads blocked on the network
AdGuard private DNS for the whole TV. Normal sites still load.
Next one is already brewing.
I build small things after hours. In the day, I book meetings for WizCommerce.
Wallpaper photos via Wikimedia Commons: "20250708 Teide 03" by Flocci Nivis, CC BY-SA 4.0; "Bali Khila Rajgad Maharashtra" by Cj.samson, CC BY 3.0; "Crimea, Ai-Petri, low clouds" by Dmytro Balkhovitin, CC BY-SA 4.0; "Taj Mahal, Agra, India edit2" by Yann, edited by King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0; "Sunset in the Himalayas" by Sergey Pesterev, CC BY-SA 4.0; "Sunset view of Everest" by Nir B. Gurung, CC BY-SA 4.0; "Pangong Tso 2" by KennyOMG, CC BY-SA 4.0; "Sugarloaf Sunrise 2" by Donatas Dabravolskas, CC BY-SA 4.0. App tiles are simplified drawings, not the apps' artwork.