The best web browsers for Android TV
Lists TODAY TALK ABOUT
Subscribe to Engadget Android
Receive an email a day with our articles:
1 Comment Iván Linares@ivsuIf you need a web browser for your Android TV, and you don't know which one to choose, we offer you the best options: both from the Google Play Store and installed in APK format. You can navigate from the sofa using the remote control.
It's not that surfing the web is the most comfortable thing on a television, but surely you needed to do it more than once. To see a specific page, search directly on Google or because you did not feel like getting up from the armchair to go look for the phone, the reasons can be many. Although yes, Android TV has a problem with this type of application: it does not come with any browser as standard; even if there are options in the Google Play Store on TV (and beyond).
Android TV is not intended to use browsers
It's surprising that Google hasn't included an Android TV-friendly version of its ubiquitous Chrome, but there's a reason for that: using your TV remote control to browse the Internet isn't at all comfortable. This does not imply that the experience has to be bad, at least if you do not browse for a long time.
In XatakaSmart TV Box purchase guide (2020): how to choose a set top box and 14 featured models from 29 to 219 eurosHow to avoid miscommunication? https://t.co/2lF8IbM4if
— live it fullest Sat Dec 26 13:11:03 +0000 2020
Despite this undeniable discomfort, navigation on TV can be useful for more than one use. Therefore, it is convenient to have the best options at hand.
Puffin TV - Fast Web Browser
It is the best web browser that you can find by searching the Android TV Google Play Store. It is perfectly adapted to use with the TV remote control, it has favorites, the content loads normally and most of the elements are reproduced correctly on the screen. Puffin is based on Chromium (like almost all the browsers on this list) and has the problem that the version it is based on is not the most recent; so sometimes it gives incompatibilities with depending on which websites.
Puffin TV - Fast Web Browser
TV Bro
Another web browser for Android TV that can be downloaded from Google Play, although it is not compatible with all televisions and players. It offers a use perfectly adapted to the TV remote control and does not have too many drawbacks beyond being somewhat fair in options. Even so, it has favorites, voice control and even allows the choice of the 'user agent' in order to deceive web pages by pretending to be another browser. It's not a bad app.
TV Bro
Google Chrome
Using Google Chrome on the Nvidia Shield TV thanks to the gamepadHow is it possible that Google does not include Chrome as a recommended application on Android TV? Quite strange, but it is such that it does not come pre-installed nor can it be downloaded from the Google Play store. Fortunately, it is possible to install Google Chrome on Android TV, just follow the following process.
In Xataka AndroidHow to install Google Chrome on a TV with Android TVGoogle Chrome is not completely adapted to use with the TV remote control since in many websites it is necessary to activate the cursor (with a mouse or through a physical game controller), but it is not too inconvenient either. Beyond here, Chrome works great on Android TV: it correctly fits the content to the screen and runs the latest versions of the mobile browser, so incompatibilities with the pages are avoided. It also allows activation of desktop mode.
Firefox for FireTV
There's no mistake: we've featured a web browser for Amazon Fire TVs. And the fact is that the adapted version of Firefox works perfectly: all you have to do is install the APK on your TV or player and browse. Its use is perfectly adapted to the TV remote control and offers an experience as complete as it is simple. In our opinion, it is the best app for what we are looking for: browsing the web from TV.
To install Firefox on your Android TV you have to do the same as with Google Chrome: download the APK file and run it on the TV or the player.
Firefox is very well adapted to use from the remote control, it is fast at rendering pages, it offers great web compatibility, it allows you to synchronize Firefox bookmarks and even send pages from another Firefox browser. It is highly functional.
Share The best web browsers for Android TV
1803