A screensaver for Android TV devices including Nvidia Shield, Fire TV, and Chromecast with Google TV. Inspired by Apple TV's video screensaver.
Please read if you have a Nvidia Shield, Chromecast with Google TV, onn. Google TV 4K Streaming Box or Amazon Fire TV
- 4K Dolby Vision (HDR) videos, if your TV supports it
- Over 150 videos from Apple, Jetson Creative and Robin Fourcade
- Play videos from your device, USB storage or network share
- Option to avoid burn-in on QD/OLED TVs
- Skip videos, change speed with the d-pad
- Refresh rate switching
If you enjoy using the app, please consider buying me a coffee.
Or download the APK from the Releases page and install it manually
If Aerial Views is not available in your language but you have some free time to help translate menu text and video descriptions, please get in touch!
We use the Lokalise platform to coordinate translations for Aerial Views and thank them for their support of this open-source project.
Follow these links to download the videos from...
- Apple (114 videos)
- Jetson Creative (20 community videos)
- Robin Fourcade (18 community videos)
Apple's videos only support Dolby Vision HDR. Even if your TV supports HDR, it might not support Dolby Vision.
Here are some things to try...
-
Find the make and model of your TV, search online for a product page for that device and it should list the supported HDR modes (there are a few!)
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If you use a Nvidia Shield, please follow their instructions on how to enable (or confirm) that Dolby Vision playback is possible
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Confirm that Dolby Vision playback works in other apps like Netflix, Disney+, or Amazon Prime Video
If your device is running Android 11 (Shield Experience 9+) and you want to play videos from a USB storage device, make sure the following setting is enabled:
Settings > Device Preferences > Storage > Scan for media automatically
Since 2023, nearly all devices that ship with Google TV have no user-interface to change the screensaver to a 3rd party one...
- Chromecast with Google TV, Google TV Streamer
- Recent MECOOL devices
- Recent TCL, Philips, and Sony TVs
- onn. Google TV devices (excluding the 2021 model)
- Fire TV
But it can be done manually. Here is an overview of the steps...
- Enable Developer mode, enable USB debugging, then find the IP address of your device
- Use a Mac, iPhone, PC or Android phone with the required software or app
- Connect to your Android/Google/Fire TV device
- Run two ADB commands, one to set Aerial Views as the default screensaver, the other to set how long it takes the screensaver to start
Enable Developer Mode on your Android/Google TV
Navigate to the Settings menu on your device, then to the About screen. Depending on the device…
Settings > System > About or
Settings > Device Preferences > About
Scroll down to Build and select Build several times until you get the message "You are now a developer!"
Return to Settings and look for the newly enabled Developer options page.
On the Developer options page, look for the USB debugging option and enable it.
Next, find the IP address of your device. Try looking in the Network & Internet settings of the device, check the properties of the current LAN or WIFI connection - that should list the current IP address eg. 192.168.1.105
Enable Developer Mode on Fire Stick/TV
Open Settings, then navigate to My Fire TV then the About screen.
Highlight the first option on the list, which is usually your device's name, and press the action button on your remote seven times.
You'll now see a message confirming "You are now a developer", and it'll unlock the Developer Options in the previous menu.
Navigate to the Developer Options page, look for the ADB debugging option and enable it.
Next, find the IP address of your device and make a note of it. Navigate to the About then Network screen, which will show your current IP address eg. 192.168.1.120
Connect using an iPhone
Find an iPhone app that is capable of running ADB commands, such as iSH Shell, which is free.
Once installed, run the app and install the Android Tools with the following commands…
apk update
apk add android-toolsTo check if the ADB command is working, try typing…
adb version After pressing return, you should see something like this
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 31.0.0p1-android-toolsNow you can execute ADB commands.
Connect using an Android phone
Find an Android app that is capable of running ADB commands, such as Remote Termux, which is free.
Once installed, run the app and install the Android Tools with the following commands…
pkg update
pkg install android-toolsTo check if the ADB command is working, try typing…
adb version After pressing return, you should see something like this
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 34.0.0p1-android-toolsNow you can execute ADB commands.
Connect using a Mac
Download the official SDK Platform Tools for Mac.
Extract the files from the ZIP archive to a folder. Then open a Terminal or Command Prompt and navigate to the folder.
To check if the ADB command is working, try typing…
adb versionAfter pressing return, you should see something like this
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 35.0.0-11411520Now you can execute ADB commands.
Connect using a PC with Windows
Download the official SDK Platform Tools for Windows.
An alternate option is Tiny ADB and Fastboot Tool (Portable version) but they both work in the same way.
Extract the files from the ZIP archive to a folder. Then open a Terminal or Command Prompt and navigate to the folder.
To check if the ADB command is working, try typing…
adb versionAfter pressing return, you should see something like this
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 35.0.0-11411520ADB command - set Aerial Views as the default screensaver
Connect to your Android TV device and start a command shell...
adb connect <ip_address>ℹ️ Use the IP address of your device from earlier steps, it should be something like 192.168.1.98
adb shellℹ️ The first time you connect to your Android TV device, you will probably see a confirmation dialogue asking to "allow" the connection
Next, set Aerial Views as the default screensaver with this command…
settings put secure screensaver_components com.neilturner.aerialviews/.ui.screensaver.DreamActivityOptional: Confirm that the command was run successfully, as there is no confirmation when the command above is run.
settings get secure screensaver_componentsIf set correctly, you should see...
com.neilturner.aerialviews/com.neilturner.aerialviews.ui.screensaver.DreamActivityADB command - change the screensaver timeout
To change the default timeout use this command with a value in milliseconds. So, 5 minutes is 300000, 10 minutes is 600000 and so on.
settings put system screen_off_timeout 600000How to revert back to the default screensaver
For whatever reason, if you would like to stop using Aerial Views and revert back to the original screensaver, there are two options…
- Reset your device. Doing so will also reset the screensaver preference
- Use an ADB commands to enable the default screensaver, depending on your device
- Follow the instructions above to connect to your Android/Google TV device using an iPhone, Android phone, Mac, PC, etc
- Run one of the following commands...
settings put secure screensaver_components com.google.android.apps.tv.dreamx/.service.Backdropsettings put secure screensaver_components com.amazon.bueller.photos/.daydream.ScreenSaverServicesettings put secure screensaver_components com.google.android.backdrop/.BackdropThanks to OpenWeather for providing weather data to this and other open-source projects.
Aerial Views is based on Aerial Dream, which was created by Daniel Cachapa in late 2015.
Aerial Views started in early 2020 as a fork with a couple of fixes and features to improve the experience on an old Sony Android TV. Around this time, Aerial Dream was not in active development anymore.
Shortly after putting the code on GitHub, others found the fork and started requesting new builds with fixes and additional features. This led to the eventual release of Aerial Views on the Google Play Store in 2022, and later, the Amazon Appstore.
