Smart TV: Find, install and delete apps – you have to do that

Smart TVs differ from old televisions mainly because of the many smart functions. Apps account for probably the largest share of this. Just like for your mobile phone, there are hundreds of apps for your Smart TV that enrich your viewing experience in many different ways.

Many apps are streaming services and media libraries that you can use to watch hundreds of additional series and films. As on the cell phone, you can also use apps to play games or with useful functions. The handling of Smart TV apps differs between the manufacturers.

Install, manage and delete apps

All TVs require an active internet connection to download and install apps. In another article, we tell you how to connect old TV sets to the Internet. It doesn’t matter whether you have set up the connection via WLAN or via cable.

First we deal with the app management on the in-house systems of the manufacturers. Some manufacturers such as Toshiba are increasingly relying on third-party operating systems such as Android TV. We’ll refer to that at the end of the article, as app management works a little differently.

Samsung

If you have a Smart TV from Samsung, you can access the app menu via the Smart Hub. To do this, click on the corresponding button on your remote control (usually the colored button in the middle). In this menu, use the arrow keys to navigate to the “My TV apps” category. To install a new app from there, click on it and select “Download”.

To delete apps on your Samsung TV, go back to the “My TV Apps” submenu via the Smart Hub menu, then click “My Apps” on the left. Your installed apps will now be listed here. To delete (uninstall) one of them, select the cogwheel at the top and remove “My Apps”.

Now mark the apps you want to delete. You then confirm the process with “Remove”. If you just want to rearrange your apps in the Smart Hub, navigate to any app and press and hold Enter. A pop-up appears with information about moving the app.

In order to be able to fully use all the functions on your Samsung TV, including password protection, for example, you need your own Samsung TV account. In the linked article we reveal how to create a Samsung account on the Smart TV.

Phillips

Proceed in a similar way with Philips models, except that on some models you have to press the house symbol on your remote control and then select the “Browse Net TV” option.

Now you get to the app store of your Philips TV, where you can find apps via the search bar and download them by clicking on the respective tile. To carry out the download, select “Installation” in the following menu.

To uninstall an app, use the home button on the remote control (house symbol) to navigate to “Settings”. Here you will find the option “Manage apps”. Confirmed by pressing the Enter key. Select the apps you want to delete and confirm again. Select “Uninstall”.

Here, too, you can sort your apps in the overview as you wish by selecting them. If your Philips TV is an Android TV, you have to do this a little differently. You can find out exactly how in the bottom section of this article.

Toshiba and Sony

Almost all current TV sets from Toshiba and Sony also use Android TV (more on this below in the article). Older Toshiba Smart TVs come with a certain number of apps, but you cannot add any more.

With the latter, you accordingly have no option to add new apps. However, such models are rarely offered nowadays. Conversely, this means that with both manufacturers you are almost always dealing with an Android TV.

LG

With LG Smart TVs, as with devices from Philips, you can access the “Home Menu” by pressing the remote control button with the house symbol. The tiles of your already installed apps are displayed here on the right. A tile with a bag-like icon takes you to the “LG Content Store”.

About the store you get new apps on request. You click on the tile. Here you have a search bar above, about which you can download your specific apps. To install an app on your TV set, click and select “Install”. The appropriate app is added as a tile.

Streaming services in the test: Netflix, Disney +, Amazon and Co. in comparison

To sort the individual app tiles, switch to edit mode. To do this, press and hold the confirmation button on any tile for a few seconds. Here you can either select and move apps manually or use “Intelligent Editing” for automatic sorting.

To delete an app, select the relevant tile and click the “X” that appears over the tile. You will now be asked to confirm the deletion of the respective app.

panasonic

At Panasonic, there is an app button on most remote controls, which you can use to call up your installed apps. You can install new apps via the “Apps Market” menu item. With some Panasonic Smart TVs, you can access the App Store via the main menu and the “Viera Cast” submenu.

As with the other manufacturers, you can search for your desired app here. If you want to install one of them, select it and confirm the installation by pressing the Enter key again.

To move an app, use the Options button to select the “Move” function. Now you can move the app around as you like.

If you want to delete an app, you can also use the Options button, but this time you don’t select “Move” but “Uninstall”. Deleting and moving works differently on some Panasonic TVs. For more information, see the instructions for your TV.

Hisense

Most Hisense TVs also have a button with a house icon on the remote control. Pressing it takes you to the Smart Hub, i.e. the app menu of your Smart TV. To search for a specific app, use the search function with the magnifying glass icon at the top left.

On the main screen of the app menu, you’ll see a tile labeled “My Apps” in the lower-right corner. This takes you to the applications that are already installed on your system. Here you will also find a tile labeled “App Store” that will take you there.

In the “App Store” you will find a search function at the top right. To install an app, select it with the enter key and then press “Install”. If you want to uninstall an app again, go back to the “App menu” and navigate to the desired app.

Then you do not confirm with the enter button, but press the menu button (the button is marked with a gray box on many remote controls). Now two menu items appear, with which you can either “Sort” or “Remove” the app. Confirm with the enter key.

Other manufacturers and other app management

It can always happen that the above steps are a little different for your TV. The manufacturers’ televisions also differ internally in terms of operation and app management. The same applies to televisions from manufacturers that we have not discussed above.

Don’t forget that you can navigate to your installed apps via the main menu on almost all Smart TVs. From there you can also access the respective app stores and move or delete individual apps or install new applications from the store. The process is always similar.

Android TV: The somewhat different operating system

Many smart TVs use Android TV as the operating system and the Google Play Store, which you use to get your apps there. Basically, the operation works the same way, but you can usually install significantly more apps than with other Smart TVs.

With many Android TVs, you can use a button on the remote control to get to the app menu, sometimes you have to go through the main menu. Of course, you can also add and install new apps on Android TVs via the store or delete and move them via direct selection.

Another advantage of Android TVs, for example, is that you have more options for blocking advertising on the Smart TV.

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