Aerial: A tvOS-Style Launcher for Android TVs Reaches 1.33 in Two Days

By Indie Kings | October 22, 2026

Updated October 22, 2026: Aerial, an Android TV launcher built to look like an Apple TV home screen, published four releases on 22 October 2026, reaching version 1.33 two days after the repository was created. It is aimed at the Chinese television market, where the stock launcher on a Xiaomi or TCL set is an advertising surface that the owner cannot replace through normal settings.

Image: GitHub repository card for pengchujin/aerial-tv, a tvOS-style launcher aimed at China-market Android televisions.

A launcher that behaves like tvOS

The project's own description is a single sentence in Chinese that translates to "a clean desktop for domestic televisions". The design reference is named just as plainly: it is modelled on the Apple TV interface, and the pitch is that there are no ads, no recommendation feed, and nothing on screen except your apps, your wallpaper and an aerial screensaver.

What that means in practice is a bottom shelf of frequently used apps with the full app list below it, in a layout close enough to tvOS that anyone who has used an Apple TV will navigate it without instruction. The app list includes system apps that the vendor hides, which on a Xiaomi set covers the vendor's own app centre and smart home entries. Long-pressing the OK button, or pressing the menu key, opens editing: move an app, put it in a folder, hide it, or uninstall it.

The details that make it feel finished are the ones a screenshot will not show. You can pin an HDMI input to the home screen and tell the launcher what is plugged into it, choosing an Apple TV, a PlayStation, a Switch, an Xbox, another console, a PC, a set-top box or a soundbar, and the tile changes to that device's colour and icon with the port number underneath. The same tile can be renamed from a phone. A control centre opens by pressing up from the first row, with inputs, network, settings, volume, brightness and personalisation in one place. Personalisation covers a single or double row, clock size and position, whether app names show, the focus style and whether key presses click.

How it takes over a TV that does not want to give up its home screen

On a normal Android TV device, replacing the launcher is an ordinary intent change. On the televisions this project targets, it is not, because the vendor build treats its own launcher as part of the product and will bring it back. Aerial's answer is a two-part mechanism, and the README describes both parts carefully enough to be worth quoting rather than paraphrasing.

The first part is an accessibility service. When the stock launcher appears, the service switches back to Aerial. The README states that it only looks at which window is in the foreground and does not read screen content. That distinction matters, because an accessibility service that reads screen content can see everything, including passwords in a streaming app, while one that only observes the foreground window is limited to knowing which app is active.

The second part is a notification listener, used for revival when the system kills the app in standby. Again the README says it does not read notifications; it uses the listener to be woken so the system can start it again. On native Android TV hardware neither mechanism is needed, and the app can simply be set as the default launcher.

This is the least elegant part of the project and the most honest. Vendor launchers on these sets are not replaceable by design, so a third-party launcher has to fight for focus. The cost is two elevated permissions that users are right to be suspicious of, and the project addresses that suspicion directly instead of burying it in an FAQ.

The screensaver, the wallpapers and the 4K question

The screensaver is the feature that will sell this to most people, and the licensing is stated plainly. Aerial plays Apple's 114 aerial films, and they are streamed from Apple's own servers rather than redistributed with the app. The README notes that the footage copyright belongs to Apple. Whether that holds up as a use is a question the project leaves to the reader; what it does not do is bundle the files.

Version 1.32 added a quality selector for the screensaver with automatic, 1080p, 4K and 4K Dolby Vision settings, and the app only shows the options the television can actually decode. Version 1.33, published minutes later, fixed a specific failure in that feature: when the aerial wallpaper was selected, a paused wallpaper video was still holding the decoder, and on a Xiaomi MiTV-MFTR0 that stopped the Dolby Vision screensaver from opening and dropped it to 1080p. The fix releases the decoder as soon as the screensaver starts or another app opens.

The wallpaper system is more capable than the name suggests. There is a Bing daily image, fourteen built-in wallpapers, photos sent from a phone by scanning a QR code, and the aerial mode. In aerial mode the films play behind the app tiles after the home screen has been idle for ten seconds, and pressing any key freezes the current frame and turns it into the wallpaper, with the glass shelf and grid background following the colours of that frame.

Installing it, and the agent-shaped install path

Most install paths start with the user switching on ADB debugging in the television's own settings, and the README gives vendor-specific instructions rather than a generic Android guide, because the sequence differs on each brand. On Xiaomi and Redmi it is the product model entry in About, then ADB debugging and unknown-source installation under account and security. On TCL and Thunderbird sets it is the device information page and a quick up, down, left, right on the remote. On Haier the route is a physical source button followed by a remote sequence. On OPPO it is the model entry with up, up, right, right. Other Android TV sets use the standard seven taps on the build number. The installer never enables ADB by itself; it cannot, because the setting has to be turned on first.

The recommended path is not a package manager. The README's first install option is to paste a prepared prompt into an agent that can run commands on a computer, naming WorkBuddy, Doubao, Qianwen, Trae, Claude Code and Codex as examples. The prompt tells the agent to read the install notes first, run the commands itself rather than dictating steps, and finish by pasting the raw output of the verification commands so the user can see whether the package app.orchard.tv is actually installed.

There is a one-line shell installer for macOS and Linux, and a manual route with six adb commands. The manual route is worth reading even if you use the script, because it shows what the install actually grants: the package gets WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS, it is added to the notification listener allow list, and it is given overlay permission so it can draw over other apps. Those three grants are the mechanism behind everything described above.

Upgrading changed in 1.32. The control centre now shows a new-version notice and can download and install the update through the television's own installer, confirmed on Xiaomi and TCL sets, with settings preserved. Anyone on 1.31 or earlier has to run the install command once more, and the upgrade page shows a QR code containing that command for the specific television, so it can be copied on a phone.

The list of televisions it has actually run on

This is the most useful part of the repository, and it is more honest than most compatibility lists because it separates "installs" from "works".

Below that table is a shorter and more important one: televisions where the app installs but cannot become the boot launcher. Vidda, Hisense and the Thunderbird Crane 6 2025 Ultra are named there. The unsupported list is equally clear: LG and Samsung televisions, Huawei Vision screens, and Android 4.4 or older.

What you are changing, and who can change it back

Our take: this is a well-documented takeover of a vendor launcher, and the documentation is better than the category norm, but the reader should understand exactly what is being granted before running the commands.

The user enables ADB debugging on the television before any of this, and that is remote shell access over the network. The README also offers an option that makes the installer reopen ADB after a Xiaomi set returns from standby, which is convenient for future upgrades and is the setting most worth thinking about: an ADB port reachable on your network is a control channel, and the safety of that depends on what else is on the network. The install also grants secure settings write access, overlay permission and a notification listener, which together are enough to control what appears on screen.

Nothing here is rooted, no system app is deleted, and the original launcher stays installed and reachable from the app list. Restoring the stock launcher is a single command through the same installer script with the restore argument, with an optional uninstall switch that removes Aerial as well. The project also states that existing memberships and the stock launcher survive, and that a boot advertisement is played by the firmware and cannot be removed by any launcher, which is the correct answer and not the one a marketing page would give.

Two caveats are structural. The first is that this is an unofficial app on a platform where the manufacturer controls the launcher, so a firmware update can break the takeover, and the device notes already record one Xiaomi model where the guard drops after an update. The second is regional: the target market is China, so the install notes assume a television sold there, and the vendor-specific ADB routes may not match an exported model of the same brand. Aerial states plainly that it is independent and not affiliated with Apple, Xiaomi or TCL.

FAQ

Does Aerial work on LG, Samsung or Huawei televisions?
No. The README lists LG, Samsung and Huawei Vision as unsupported, along with Android 4.4 and older. It is an Android TV launcher, and the LG and Samsung platforms are different operating systems entirely.

Does it need root, and does it remove the stock launcher?
It needs no root and removes nothing. The stock launcher stays installed and appears in the app list. Restoring it is one command through the same installer.

Why does it need an accessibility service and a notification listener?
Because the vendor launcher returns to the foreground on these televisions, and the system kills third-party launchers in standby. The accessibility service switches back when the stock launcher appears and the notification listener is used to be revived. The README states that neither reads screen content or notification content.

Does the screensaver include Apple's aerial footage?
It plays Apple's 114 aerial films, streamed from Apple's servers rather than bundled. The README says the footage copyright belongs to Apple.

Which televisions are confirmed working?
The verified list includes Xiaomi MiTV-MFTR0, MFFU0, ASTP0, NSOP0 and MFTP0, TCL MT5879, Sony A80J China model, Skyworth Coocaa K3 Pro, Konka KKTV U86V9, Konka 2861, PPTV K55U27 and OPPO K9. Vidda, Hisense and the Thunderbird Crane 6 2025 Ultra install but cannot boot into it.

Can it remove the startup advertisement on my television?
No. The README says the boot advertisement is played by the firmware, so replacing the launcher cannot remove it. It also does not remove the vendor app store or any preinstalled apps.

Bottom Line

Aerial is a careful piece of work aimed at a problem Western readers mostly do not have: a television whose home screen belongs to the manufacturer and cannot be changed through settings. The design is borrowed from tvOS and the borrowed part is the right part, a shelf of your apps with everything else pushed down. The engineering that deserves attention is the takeover, an accessibility service and a notification listener used for focus and revival, documented with an explicit statement that neither reads screen content or notifications, plus a device table that separates "installs" from "actually becomes the launcher". Four releases in one day and a hotfix published minutes after 1.32 is either admirable or a warning depending on your tolerance, and the project answers that with an in-app updater and a documented restore. The limits are unchanged by any of it: the target market is China, the takeover needs real permissions granted, a firmware update can break it, and the boot advertisement stays because the firmware owns it.

Sources

• Aerial repository README, pengchujin/aerial-tv, accessed 22 October 2026
• Aerial release notes for versions 1.32 and 1.33, published 22 October 2026
• GitHub repository metadata and release listing for pengchujin/aerial-tv, accessed 22 October 2026

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