Hush · Install guide

A calm, ad-free home screen for your older Android TV

About 20 minutes. Nothing is deleted or disabled on your TV, so every step can be undone.

Hush home screen with seven recent apps and a More Apps tile over a soft aurora background — What you'll end up with: your 7 most recently played apps, a **More Apps** tile, the time, and a softly drifting background. No ads, no sponsored rows.

What you need

An Android TV (tested on Sony Bravia KD-49X7500E, Android TV 9; should work on Android TV 7–12).
A computer (Mac, Windows or Linux) on the same Wi-Fi as the TV.
Your TV remote.

Hush never disables your TV's own home screen. It sits on top, and you can switch back at any time, even with just the remote.

Turn on Developer options

Press Home, open Settings (the gear icon), then Device Preferences → About.
Scroll down to Build, highlight it and press OK on the remote 7 times, about once a second.
A message says "You are now a developer".

Android TV About screen in Settings — Settings → Device Preferences → **About**. "Build" is further down this list.

Turn on ADB debugging

Press Back to Device Preferences. Developer options now appears near the bottom.
Open it and switch on ADB debugging. On some TVs it's called USB debugging or Network debugging.

Developer options with ADB debugging switched on, highlighted — Developer options → **ADB debugging: On**.

If your computer can't connect later, switch it off and on again, or restart the TV (Settings → Device Preferences → About → Restart).

Find your TV's IP address

Go to Settings → Network & Internet (or About → Status) and note the IP address (four numbers separated by dots). In the commands below, replace YOUR-TV-IP with it.

This address only works inside your own home Wi-Fi. Nobody on the internet can reach it, and you never need to share it.

Routers can hand your TV a new address later. If a command can't find the TV next time, check this again.

Install ADB on your computer

ADB is Google's free tool for talking to Android devices.

Mac	`brew install --cask android-platform-tools`
Windows	`winget install Google.PlatformTools`
Linux	`sudo apt install adb` (or your distro's equivalent)
Any	Download "SDK Platform-Tools" from developer.android.com and unzip it

Install Hush and make it your Home screen

Download hush.apk from the project's Releases page, along with the repository (green Code button → Download ZIP) for the helper scripts.

Mac or Linux: one command

cd ~/Downloads/hush-tv-launcher-main
bash scripts/enable-as-home.sh YOUR-TV-IP ~/Downloads/hush.apk

Windows, or doing it by hand

adb connect YOUR-TV-IP:5555
adb install -r hush.apk
adb shell cmd appops set io.github.aniketrai.hush GET_USAGE_STATS allow
adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services io.github.aniketrai.hush/io.github.aniketrai.hush.HomeRedirectService
adb shell settings put secure accessibility_enabled 1

Already using another accessibility service (screen reader, remote-mapper)? The by-hand command above replaces that list. Use the script instead, which adds Hush to it, or add Hush by hand in Settings → Accessibility.

Check it's genuine. Only download hush.apk from the project's Releases page. The script shows the file's SHA-256 and asks you to compare it with the one in the Release notes before installing. At the end it offers to switch ADB debugging off for you; say yes. See SECURITY.md for exactly what Hush can and can't do.

The first time, your TV asks "Allow USB debugging?". Tick Always allow from this computer and choose OK.

Now press Home on your remote. Hush appears. 🎉

Using Hush

The More Apps tile highlighted with an amber outline — **Recently played** fills itself as you watch. The 8th tile opens **More Apps**.

More Apps screen listing remaining apps alphabetically — **More Apps**: everything else, A–Z. Open one and it moves into Recently played.

To…	Do this
Open Settings	Press `Up` to ⚙ Settings (top right)
Hide an app	Long-press `OK` on it → Hide from home
Bring hidden apps back / turn background motion off	Long-press `OK` on ⚙ Settings
Get the TV's original home screen	Press `Home` twice quickly (Hush stands aside for 10 minutes)

Aurora background, first frame — The aurora background…

Aurora background twenty seconds later — …20 seconds later. Its colours follow the time of day.

Turn ADB debugging off again

Settings → Device Preferences → Developer options → ADB debugging: Off. Hush keeps working; this just closes the door your computer used.

How to undo everything

Where	How
Remote only	Press `Home` twice → ⚙ Settings → Device Preferences → Accessibility → Hush → Off
Remove it	Settings → Apps → Hush → Uninstall. Home goes straight back to your TV's launcher.
From the computer	`bash scripts/disable-home.sh YOUR-TV-IP --uninstall`

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" or "failed to connect"

ADB debugging isn't listening yet. Switch it off and on, or restart the TV. Check the IP address hasn't changed.

Home still opens the old home screen

Check Settings → Accessibility → Hush is On.
You may have pressed Home twice (the 10-minute stand-aside). Wait, or restart the TV.
Some Google TV devices handle Home differently. Please open an issue with your TV model.

The app list looks wrong

Recently played learns as you use apps. To include apps opened from remote buttons, allow Usage access (the install command does this; or Settings → Apps → Special app access → Usage access → Hush).

Please don't disable or uninstall your TV's own launcher, and never open factory/engineering menus. Hush is designed so you never need to.