Claude Made My Old Android TV Feel Brand New!

Summary

The creator demonstrates how Claude Code can speed up and simplify an older Android TV without buying new hardware. Claude reviews the TV’s installed apps and, with the owner’s approval, disables selected bloatware and background services rather than deleting them. It records the changes so they can be reversed with a command.

Changes shown include:

• Turning off unused preinstalled apps and services, including voice search, Chromecast-related functionality, and the screen saver.
• Preventing the TV from starting directly in Live TV.
• Disabling animations to make navigation feel more responsive.
• Creating a minimal home screen with a clock, the owner’s apps, playback controls, HDMI inputs, and settings, instead of ads and suggested content.

The creator reports that free memory increased from about 370 MB to 600–650 MB and says the TV felt faster afterward. The video describes this as roughly a 90% increase, though the stated figures imply a smaller increase. The creator also says essential features, such as the Play Store and keyboard, remained available.

Setup guide

1. On the TV, open Settings → Device Preferences → About and click Build seven times to enable developer options.
2. In Developer options, turn on USB debugging.
3. Find the TV’s IP address in its Wi-Fi network settings.
4. On a computer, open Claude Code, copy the provided prompt from the project’s GitHub page, and enter the TV’s IP address and the apps you want to keep.
5. Approve the connection request on the TV.
6. Review Claude’s app categories and approve the changes you want it to make.

The video emphasizes that changes are not made until approved and that disabled apps are not deleted.

Main speaker and source

The video’s narrator and creator is Ansub Khan.