If you want to remove smart TV ads, the workaround getting attention right now is to hand the job to an AI coding agent. Owners of Xiaomi, TCL, Sony, Fire TV and LG sets have asked tools such as Claude Code to strip out sponsored ads, bloatware and tracking features, and in some cases to replace the home screen with a simpler one. The approach is spreading through GitHub projects and social media posts, but it is still experimental and the results vary.
Why owners want their TVs dumbed down
Modern smart TVs ship with a technology called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), which identifies what is on screen using screenshots, audio clips or other forms of digital fingerprinting. Many owners say they are tired of being shown ads before they can reach an app such as Netflix, and of their viewing habits being monitored. Developers who share these tools describe the goal as a TV that does what its buyer paid for.
The trend could matter to the smart TV ad business, which profits from selling viewing data to advertisers or using it to show personalised ads on the TV's own interface. If enough viewers adopt these workarounds, that revenue could shrink. For now, the movement is still small and mostly driven by enthusiasts.
Two routes: GitHub projects and direct prompts
The first route is to use a ready-made project. The dumbtv project says its aim is for a TV to offer your apps, your HDMI inputs and nothing else. Its developer suggests pointing an AI agent at the repository, and its testing covers Fire TV Edition sets and Android and Google TV platforms from Sony, TCL, Philips, Hisense, Xiaomi and Shield. Another project, cleanyourtv, says it can strip bloatware from any Android TV or Google TV over Wi-Fi and replace the launcher with one that looks like Apple TV.
The second route needs no downloaded code at all. Gathin T., the creator of cleanyourtv, said the idea began one afternoon when he grew tired of ads on his parents' TV, and that he had Claude Code clean it up over Wi-Fi. He said a few thousand people tried the same on their own sets over the next two days. X user Ryan Doyle said he sent Claude Code the listing for his TV and asked whether it could be hacked, and that the agent guided him through removing ads and bloatware and speeding up the interface. Mihir Gupta wrote that he disabled 25 bloat apps and replaced a 192 MB stock launcher with an 83 MB custom one.
For viewers who do not want to use AI, existing apps can change the home screen on Android-based smart TVs. ATV Launcher, Projectivity Launcher and FLauncher are named as options.
Mixed results and risks
The outcomes have not been uniform. Some users found that Claude did not respond to simple requests such as 'hack my TV' and needed more detailed prompts. Others warned that AI agents can make mistakes, such as disabling packages that matter. One person said they bricked an Android TV using Claude, and another got stuck halfway through hacking a Fire TV.
The developers themselves describe these projects as works in progress. Testers across different TV platforms are suggesting updates and fixes, so the methods may change quickly. Anyone trying them should expect that a wrong step could leave a set unusable.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Smart TV par ads aur faltu apps hatane ke liye log ab AI agent, jaise Claude Code, ki madad le rahe hain. Kuch logon ne TV ka home screen bhi badal diya hai, lekin yeh abhi tajurbi kaam hai. Galat step se TV kharab ho sakta hai, is liye pehle samajh lein ke kya kar rahe hain. Agar AI se bachna chahte hain to ATV Launcher ya FLauncher jaisi apps ek aasan option hain.
