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Google TV Releases Updates to User Interface to Reduce Loading Times, Increase Responsiveness

David Satin
David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
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David Satin

It can be a real bucket of cold water when your smart TV or streaming device’s user interface is slow. You’re all geared up and excited to watch a new title, but you can’t even get it started because your menu is stuck and you can’t navigate to the right app.

Google is attempting to ease those problems for users of devices that run on the Google TV operating system, and giving users more optimized storage as well. This update is being rolled out automatically to Google Chromecast streaming players, as well as smart TVs manufactured by third party companies that utilize Google TV.

The first new feature available to Google TV users now is called App Hibernation, which will automatically force apps that have not been used for more than 30 days to hibernate. The company has also leveraged Android App Bundles for Google TV, which reduces the size of apps by roughly 25%. This will free up storage space, allowing customers to download more apps so they don’t have to pick and choose which streaming apps they carry on their device.

Google TV has also made updates to devices and remotes that it hopes will curb loading and wait times. Google TV’s wakeup process is now shorter, as is the response time between remote clicks and corresponding action on the TV screen. These improvements should allow Google TV users to navigate to the app they want at lightning speed, and start watching faster.

That’s especially good news for Google TV customers because of the hundreds of free streaming channels they now have access to. In late April, Google announced it was adding free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels from Tubi, Plex and Haystack News to its “Live” tab, where they joined selections from Pluto TV. The channels are available now, and there are more than 800 to choose from, spanning every genre a user could want.

Google monitors the performance of its streaming devices closely, and frequently rolls out updates when it thinks technical issues are creating a substandard user experience. Last August, for instance, the company released similar updates for Google TV-operated devices to improve storage and performance. Users can count on Google to try and give them the best experience possible on smart TVs and streaming players powered by Google TV.

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David Satin
David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."
Read full bio ›
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