How-To: Disable Google Tv Launcher, Install 3rd Party Launcher.

DCMojo · Jul 1, 2023

Hello! Today I'm going to do a basic write-up to explain how to disable Google's stock launcher on the 2023 version of the chromecast and use any custom 3rd party launcher.

Thing's Needed
1x Google Chromecast (Normal or 4k) 2023
1x Android Phone
Or
1x Computer.

Step One.
Setup Your Chromecast as normal, until you reach the home screen.
Navigate to Settings, System, About,
Highlight Android TV OS Build and click it 5-7 time's until you see "You are now a developer"
Go back to System, Scroll down until you see Developer Settings, Go to USB Debugging and Enable it.
Next
Go to Network Tab and Highlight your wifi, Take note of the I.P Address listed.

On Phone or Computer.
Download ADB Toolkit (Computer: Adb) (Android: ADB Shell)
Run the command

Adb connect 1.1.1.1
Replace the 1.1.1.1 with the ip listed on your Chrome TV
Example: Adb connect 192.168.1.24
A Prompt should appear on your TV asking to allow debugging, Check the always allow box and then click allow, Run the command again.
To make sure your connected,
Run the Command
adb devices

You should see the IP of your chrome cast.

Now the fun part. Find a 3rd party launcher. I will put a few you can download from the play store directly on your Chromecast.

FLauncher (Google Playstore)
ATVLauncher (Google PlayStore

Now here is the important part, If you want to use something such as Wolf Launcher or Leanback, You need to install it via adb. Download it to either your PC or Android and Run the command

adb install example.apk

Important, Make sure your adb prompt is running in the directory of the location the apk is located, To do this simply run the command

cd C:\Users\REDACTED\Downloads

Then run the command.

Disabling Stock Google Launcher,

Now that we have a 3rd party launcher installed, The fun part to making it your primary launcher is easy, Simply run these 2 adb commands

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith

That's it, Now pressing the home button should open a menu to select your new launcher,

Simply Profit.

DCMojo · Jul 2, 2023

PuckBass said:
dude this is XDA not reddit we do not need a HOW TO.

If you browse the XDA forums you find multiple thread's like this, Aswell as misinformation about the post 2021 models having adb disabled, I simply was trying to help.

SnuggP · Jul 12, 2023

@DCMojo Thank You

Roelosaurus · Jul 17, 2023

DCMojo said:
Hello! Today I'm going to do a basic write-up to explain how to disable Google's stock launcher on the 2023 version of the chromecast and use any custom 3rd party launcher.

Thing's Needed
1x Google Chromecast (Normal or 4k) 2023
1x Android Phone
Or
1x Computer.

Step One.
Setup Your Chromecast as normal, until you reach the home screen.
Navigate to Settings, System, About,
Highlight Android TV OS Build and click it 5-7 time's until you see "You are now a developer"
Go back to System, Scroll down until you see Developer Settings, Go to USB Debugging and Enable it.
Next
Go to Network Tab and Highlight your wifi, Take note of the I.P Address listed.

On Phone or Computer.
Download ADB Toolkit (Computer: Adb) (Android: ADB Shell)
Run the command

Adb connect 1.1.1.1
Replace the 1.1.1.1 with the ip listed on your Chrome TV
Example: Adb connect 192.168.1.24
A Prompt should appear on your TV asking to allow debugging, Check the always allow box and then click allow, Run the command again.
To make sure your connected,
Run the Command
adb devices

You should see the IP of your chrome cast.

Now the fun part. Find a 3rd party launcher. I will put a few you can download from the play store directly on your Chromecast.

FLauncher (Google Playstore)
ATVLauncher (Google PlayStore

Now here is the important part, If you want to use something such as Wolf Launcher or Leanback, You need to install it via adb. Download it to either your PC or Android and Run the command

adb install example.apk

Important, Make sure your adb prompt is running in the directory of the location the apk is located, To do this simply run the command

cd C:\Users\REDACTED\Downloads

Then run the command.

Disabling Stock Google Launcher,

Now that we have a 3rd party launcher installed, The fun part to making it your primary launcher is easy, Simply run these 2 adb commands

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith

That's it, Now pressing the home button should open a menu to select your new launcher,

Simply Profit.

With LM (ATV) you can do this with just the Chromecast.

Ajayssahu · Oct 2, 2023

Incase you need to enable Stock Launcher Again use below

1. adb shell pm enable com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

2. adb shell pm enable com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

Restart the device

Talysdaddy · Nov 10, 2023

PuckBass said:
dude this is XDA not reddit we do not need a HOW TO.

Are you Einsteins great grandkid?

krizzyd · Nov 26, 2023

Thanks for this, just bought two Chromecasts and was able to seamlessly install a custom launcher using your guide.

DMaglaras · Dec 5, 2023

ONE. SOCIAL REMARK:
I too find PuckBass's comment less than appropriate. It may be that this HOWTO is holding a newby's hand and has been told many times before. But given the state of Android/Android TV where Google constantly moves the goalposts --sometimes the whole field!-- so that what you used to know is often no longer valid, it makes sense to reiterate old knowns, and rewrite them in succint and understandable language.

TWO. MY ACTUAL QUESTIONS:
(1) I have an Android TV (m7632) manufactured on August 2022 with Android TV 11 and default launcher Android TV. Supposing that Google TV Home is better insofar as it aggregates content from all apps and reorganizes it based on thematic categorizations (news, documentaries, films, series, etc) I tried to replace my default launcher with launcherx (katniss is already installed). Now I read that launcherx is not worth the trouble?

(2) Whenever I tried to replace Android TV with launcherx I ended up with a loop. Apparently the replacement went OK, but then launcher proved incompatible with my OS. I have taken care to match the dpi (320), and of course architecture is armeabi-v7a. Have I hit an undocumented incompatibility?

alexito_dev · Dec 8, 2023

hello guys
I wanted to install the androidtv launcher but in adb I get the following error:

Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install lean.apk: Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE: Package Verification Result]

Is there any way to install it? The launcher of Google TV I do not like much ...

GROOVYJOSHCLARK · Jan 4, 2024

DCMojo said:
If you browse the XDA forums you find multiple thread's like this, Aswell as misinformation about the post 2021 models having adb disabled, I simply was trying to help.

dont listen to that jackalope, he is obviously a newb to XDA and has no clue but this is a huge help to us XDA'ers!!!

DCMojo said:
Hello! Today I'm going to do a basic write-up to explain how to disable Google's stock launcher on the 2023 version of the chromecast and use any custom 3rd party launcher.

Thing's Needed
1x Google Chromecast (Normal or 4k) 2023
1x Android Phone
Or
1x Computer.

Step One.
Setup Your Chromecast as normal, until you reach the home screen.
Navigate to Settings, System, About,
Highlight Android TV OS Build and click it 5-7 time's until you see "You are now a developer"
Go back to System, Scroll down until you see Developer Settings, Go to USB Debugging and Enable it.
Next
Go to Network Tab and Highlight your wifi, Take note of the I.P Address listed.

On Phone or Computer.
Download ADB Toolkit (Computer: Adb) (Android: ADB Shell)
Run the command

Adb connect 1.1.1.1
Replace the 1.1.1.1 with the ip listed on your Chrome TV
Example: Adb connect 192.168.1.24
A Prompt should appear on your TV asking to allow debugging, Check the always allow box and then click allow, Run the command again.
To make sure your connected,
Run the Command
adb devices

You should see the IP of your chrome cast.

Now the fun part. Find a 3rd party launcher. I will put a few you can download from the play store directly on your Chromecast.

FLauncher (Google Playstore)
ATVLauncher (Google PlayStore

Now here is the important part, If you want to use something such as Wolf Launcher or Leanback, You need to install it via adb. Download it to either your PC or Android and Run the command

adb install example.apk

Important, Make sure your adb prompt is running in the directory of the location the apk is located, To do this simply run the command

cd C:\Users\REDACTED\Downloads

Then run the command.

Disabling Stock Google Launcher,

Now that we have a 3rd party launcher installed, The fun part to making it your primary launcher is easy, Simply run these 2 adb commands

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith

That's it, Now pressing the home button should open a menu to select your new launcher,

Simply Profit.

this is flippin awesome, thank you!!!

DCMojo · Jan 4, 2024

GROOVYJOSHCLARK said:
dont listen to that jackalope, he is obviously a newb to XDA and has no clue but this is a huge help to us XDA'ers!!!

this is flippin awesome, thank you!!!

Thank you!. I simply wanted to put together a simple guide.

Cmindo said:
Thanks for this, just bought two Chromecasts and was able to seamlessly install a custom launcher using your guide.

Ofcourse! If yall need any help il try my best to offer it

GROOVYJOSHCLARK · Jan 4, 2024

DCMojo said:
Thank you!. I simply wanted to put together a simple guide.

This is awesome, I personally appreciate it!

I help in the dev section (pixel custom ROMs) and have been since ICS. Trust me when I say "how to" posts with step by step write-ups are what xda exists for (basically the entire reason xda was created). It is by these step by step write-ups that we learn and achieve the desired goal, so that guy is a moron and please do not be swayed by future posts such as this one!

Unfortunately you can't help stupidity and there's always an idiot that just has to say something (like the jackalope telling you this isn't reddit). He's a complete moron and would be better off sticking to reddit and leave the development to us developers.

Contivity · Feb 21, 2024

Guide still works well in 2024 February. Thank you!

Boulotaur2024 · Mar 16, 2024

Can confirm this guide is still working brilliantly in March 2024

By the way I installed a more up-to-date version of Flauncher which is :
https://github.com/CocoCR300/flauncher

beepoff15 · Mar 22, 2024

Mart 2024, Sill works, thanks mate

lotus78 · Aug 2, 2024

@DCMojo
you are my hero - thx !

(works on Android TV 11 - Strong Leap 3)

knotle · Aug 7, 2024

Just used this on a Onn 4k Pro. Worked like a charm.

gmjh · Aug 19, 2024

knotle said:
Just used this on a Onn 4k Pro. Worked like a charm.

I also have the same device. But when I run either of the ADB commands I just get a message saying "inaccessible or not found". I have no idea why.

ZombiQc · May 2, 2025

Just used this on a Onn 4k that I just bought. Worked like a charm. I used the Projectivy Launcher. Thanks for the instructions!

ManImCool · May 14, 2025

I've been trying to follow this guide but for whatever reason I cannot connect to my chromecast 4K. After enabling USB debugging in dev options, when I try 'adb connect [ip address]', I always get hit with this error:
"Cannot connect to [ip address]:5555: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it. Error code (10061)"

Every time I try and do this, the chromecast never displays the pop-up prompt asking me to grant permissions. I've disabled/reenabled USB debugging, revoked permissions, and rebooted dozens of times, all without success. Same issue after trying a factory reset - twice.

What's really bizarre is that when I first bought this chromecast, I didn't have this issue. Back then, I was able to connect and run my adb commands. But a few days ago, I decided to perform a factory reset to hopefully fix some wifi issues, and now I can no longer connect.

Any ideas?

How-To: Disable Google Tv Launcher, Install 3rd Party Launcher.

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