Like most gadgets, smart TVs start showing their age after a few years, and mine was no exception. I’ve used my Google TV for over five years now, and while it still works fine, the experience isn’t what it used to be. Things feel a little slower, the interface isn’t as enjoyable, and I was starting to get a little frustrated with it. But the TV itself was still perfectly good, so replacing it just didn’t make sense to me.
Instead, I decided to see what I could do to make it feel a little more modern without spending a fortune. I made a few changes, and to my surprise, they made a much bigger difference than I expected. My five-year-old TV certainly feels a lot better now.
The steps in this article are for my Google TV; the process will differ by manufacturer.
Five years of apps? That’s a lot of baggage
A quick cleanup was long overdue
First, I got rid of all the junk that had piled up on my TV over the years. I started by going through the installed apps, and I was surprised by how many I had completely forgotten about. Some were apps I had downloaded out of curiosity, used once or twice, and never opened again. So, I went ahead and uninstalled everything I no longer needed. It was a simple way to free up storage space, especially since my TV doesn’t have much to begin with.
Once I was done, I moved on to clearing the app cache. Over time, apps collect temporary files, and while these are supposed to help things load faster, they can also take up valuable storage space. Clearing the cache can help resolve certain app crashes, loading errors, and occasional slowdowns, although it won’t necessarily make every app run faster.
- Open Settings on your Google TV and select All Settings.
- Head to Apps and select See all apps.
- Choose an app, select Clear cache, then repeat for any other apps that need it.
And that’s pretty much it. The best part is that clearing an app’s cache won’t delete your account information or log you out, so you won’t have to sign in again. Just make sure you select Clear cache and not Clear data, because the latter can reset the app and remove your saved settings.
My TV needed to pick up the pace
Well, sort of; it’s all about perception
The next fix was how slow my TV felt when moving around the interface. You know those little animations you see when switching between apps, opening a menu, or jumping from one settings page to another? They’re meant to make everything feel smooth, and on a newer TV, they usually do a pretty good job.
But when your TV is already showing its age, those same animations can sometimes stutter or make everything feel slower than it actually is. So, I decided to speed them up a little.
This doesn’t make your TV more powerful or improve its performance, but it does make navigating the interface feel much snappier. And honestly, that’s exactly what I wanted.
To change the animation speed, first enable Developer Options. Don’t worry, it’s pretty straightforward:
- Open All Settings on your Google TV, then go to About.
- Scroll down to Android TV OS build and press the select button on your remote seven times.
- You’ll see a message confirming that you’re now a developer.
Once that’s done, head back to Settings, open System, and select Developer Options. Scroll down to the Drawing section, where you’ll find three settings: Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale. By default, these are usually set to 1x. I changed all three to 0.5x, and the difference was immediately evident.
The animations were still there, but they finished much quicker, making the entire interface feel more responsive. You can even turn them off completely if you want everything to appear almost instantly, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it. I tried that too, and while it certainly made things feel quicker, jumping between screens without any animations looked a little untidy to me.
For my TV, 0.5x was the sweet spot. I still get those transitions that make the interface feel polished, just without having to watch them drag on every time I open something.
When all else fails, give your TV a new brain
A streaming device might be all it needs
If you’ve tried everything and your TV still feels just as slow as before, there’s one more thing worth considering: giving it a new brain. And no, I don’t mean buying an entirely new TV. Instead, you could get a streaming device like the Fire TV Stick, Apple TV 4K, or Google TV Streamer. These devices plug into your TV’s HDMI port and essentially take over the smart TV experience, so you no longer have to rely on its aging hardware and sluggish software.
The biggest advantage is a newer interface, access to updated apps, and a separate processor to handle everything. So, even if your TV is five or six years old, you can still enjoy a much more modern streaming experience without replacing a perfectly good display.
Now, I haven’t personally gone down this route because the changes I made were enough to make my TV enjoyable to use again. But if your TV is still struggling after trying everything else, I’d seriously consider getting a streaming device before spending money on a new television.
It’s still not ready to retire
I’m pretty happy with how my TV feels now. It’s still the same five-year-old TV, but it’s much nicer to use, and I no longer get frustrated every time I pick up the remote. Of course, these changes won’t fix every problem, especially if your TV’s hardware is struggling. But before spending money on a replacement, I recommend trying a few yourself.