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Android TV Remote smart home integration, free and open source

Android TV Remote integration for Gladys Assistant

Gladys Assistant integration for Android TV and Google TV using Remote v2 protocol.

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Control your Android TV and Google TV sets and boxes from Gladys Assistant, over the local network, through the Remote v2 protocol (TLS, ports 6466 and 6467): the one the Google TV app of your phone uses. No developer mode, no ADB to enable.

Features​

For every paired TV, a Gladys device with:

  • Power on / off, with state feedback: a TV that stops answering the network is marked off.
  • Volume (percent) and Mute, followed in real time.
  • The navigation keys (up, down, left, right, OK, back, home, menu) and the playback keys (play, pause, stop, previous, next, fast forward, rewind).
  • An Application select to launch YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Spotify, Plex, Twitch, Crunchyroll, YouTube Music, Apple TV, Arte, Molotov or myCANAL, and your own applications. The foreground app shows there.
  • Optional Wake-on-LAN: with the MAC address of the TV, "turn on" wakes a TV that is fully powered off.

Pairing​

Everything is typed in the actions of the configuration page, nothing to save in between.

  1. Turn the TV on.
  2. Step 1 — Start pairing: type the IP address of the TV (e.g. 192.168.1.50), a name if you like (e.g. Living Room TV) and its MAC address for Wake-on-LAN, then run the action. A PIN code shows up on the TV.
  3. Step 2 — Confirm the PIN: type the code and run the action right away, the code expires.
  4. Run a device scan (Discovery tab) to add the TV to your devices.

Repeat for every TV. Reserve the IP address of the TV in your router (DHCP reservation): it identifies the device in Gladys.

The "Set the MAC address", "Remove a paired TV" and "Test the connection" actions list your TVs.

Dashboard widgets​

With Gladys 5.1 or newer, four widgets (Edit dashboard → Add a widget). Each has a TV setting; left empty, it shows the first paired TV. They show the last state the TV reported and refresh as soon as it reports a change.

  • Remote — power (On, Off, Unreachable), volume, mute, foreground app, and the Turn on / Turn off, Home, Back, OK keys.
  • Playback — the foreground app and the Play / Pause, Stop, Previous, Next keys.
  • Apps — up to four buttons. Without a setting, the first four apps of the launcher; else type in Application 1 to 4 the name of an app (case and accents do not matter). An unknown name is reported with the known ones. The foreground app is ticked. For more than four buttons, add a second widget.
  • Volume — a tile bound to the Volume feature of the TV (live), the mute state, and the Vol −, Vol +, Mute keys (ticked while mute is on).

Good to know​

  • The Power and Mute keys are toggles on the TV: the integration only sends them when the known state differs from the requested one.
  • The protocol has no absolute volume: the requested level is reached key by key.
  • Without Wake-on-LAN, "turn on" only works on a TV in network standby. A USB-Ethernet adapter never allows a wake-up: leave the box in standby rather than off.
  • An application the TV does not have is refused by the TV, which drops the connection on the way: hide it ("Applications to hide") or fix its link ("Custom applications").
  • "The TV refused the pairing": the TV revoked the certificate, pair it again.

Limits​

  • A TV fully powered off, without a stored MAC address, can only be turned on with its remote or through HDMI-CEC.
  • The foreground app is only recognized when it is part of the launcher; a custom app only when it replaces a catalog entry.
  • The widgets need Gladys 5.1: an older installation no longer receives the updates of the integration.

Configuration settings​

These are the settings Android TV Remote asks for in its configuration screen in Gladys.

SettingTypeRequiredDescription
Pairing an Android TV / Google TVsectionNoEverything you need to type lives in the two numbered actions at the bottom of this page — nothing to save in between. Turn your TV on, run step 1, then step 2, then scan for devices. Repeat for each TV you want to add.
Enable the application launcherbooleanNoAdd an application selector to each TV (Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+, Spotify, Plex, Twitch, Crunchyroll, YouTube Music, Apple TV, Arte, Molotov, myCANAL). Applies to every paired TV on the next device scan.
Applications to hidestringNoApplications of the built-in list to remove from the selector, separated by commas — e.g. "Spotify, Arte". A TV rejects the launch of an application it does not have. Applies on the next device scan.
Custom applicationsstringNoApplications to add to the selector, as "Name = link" entries separated by semicolons — e.g. "France TV = https://www.france.tv ; VLC = vlc://". The link is an https App Link or the scheme of the app. An entry named like a built-in application replaces it (to fix its link). Applies on the next device scan.

How to install Android TV Remote in Gladys​

  1. In Gladys, open Integrations: Android TV Remote appears in the catalog, next to the native integrations, with a community badge.
  2. Click Install. Gladys pulls the Docker image (ghcr.io/guim31/gladys-integration-android-tv-remote:1.5.0), starts it in a sandbox isolated from the core, and generates the integration's interface (devices, discovery and configuration).
  3. Open the Configuration screen of the integration, fill in the settings, and save.
  4. You can also install it directly from its repository URL: https://github.com/guim31/gladys-integration-android-tv-remote.

Android TV Remote requires Gladys >=5.1.0. The catalog inside Gladys refreshes every hour, so a new version becomes available at most one hour after its release.

Not running Gladys yet? It is free and open source: follow the installation guide to get started.

About external integrations​

Android TV Remote is an external integration: a community integration packaged as a Docker container and published on GitHub, that Gladys installs in one click and runs in a sandbox isolated from its core. It is published and maintained by guim31, not by the Gladys core team.

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