How to sideload an APK on Google TV, step by step

Google TV will install an app from a file, but it will not go looking for one. You supply the file, and the television needs two things from you first: something that can fetch it, and permission to install from that thing. Both take about a minute.

1. Install the Downloader app

Downloader is in the Google Play store on the television itself. It is a small browser that can save a file to local storage, which is the part your TV cannot otherwise do. Install it the ordinary way and open it once so it finishes setting up.

2. Type the address

In Downloader's address field, type reeltu.com/tv and press Go. That address is not a page — it redirects straight to the current Android TV build, so the download starts immediately and you never have to browse anything with a remote.

A progress bar and a filename ending in .apk. If you get a web page instead, the address was mistyped.

3. Allow the install, once

When the download finishes, the television will ask whether Downloader may install unknown apps. Allow it. This is a per-app permission, not a system-wide setting, and you can revoke it afterwards in Settings without removing anything you have already installed.

Press Install, then Open. Reeltu starts on the TV interface — a left rail you walk with the D-pad, and the whole library a few presses away.

If it does not work

Two things account for most failures. If the install button is greyed out, the download did not finish — check the file size against the one listed on the download page. If the app installs but will not open, you are on Android TV 7 or older; the build needs 8.