OmarchyTV puts a tiling home screen on your TV without rooting it
A free, MIT-licensed launcher offers an alternative Android TV and webOS home screen. Its installation guide explains why keeping the stock launcher matters.
The television can stay. Marco Porro’s OmarchyTV puts apps into a tiling interface with themes, rather than accepting the manufacturer’s menu as the permanent front door.
The project README lists tested systems including Sony BRAVIA, Google TV Streamer and LG webOS. Its warning is useful: “Some features may be missing on some TVs.” A screenshot from one model won’t establish that your model behaves the same way.
The installation guide specifically warns against disabling setupwraith, a recovery component implicated in that Google TV behavior, because doing so breaks Wi-Fi. That’s a fine-print detail worth more than another preview of a theme.
Android installation involves developer options and ADB; LG’s package is a different build, and the repository provides separate instructions because a television that looks much like the one in the next room may need a different route in. There is setup involved.
A week of ordinary remote use would make a useful follow-up, especially on the models whose Home button needs a workaround. A launcher has to survive somebody else picking up the remote after a reboot.
