A request to Emby - please clarify the situation with the AndroidTv app

[ebr 16169]

40 minutes ago, Jdiesel said:

at which point it should have replaced it under the same Google Play listing.

That wouldn't have been possible because the two versions already existed in the store.

[javiimp 0]

For me right now the windows app UI is so smooth and perfect, would be nice if u implement the same UI in android TV.

[Luke 42077]

25 minutes ago, javiimp said:

For me right now the windows app UI is so smooth and perfect, would be nice if u implement the same UI in android TV.

That’s Emby for android. They have the same ui, the windows device you’re running it on is probably a higher performing device.

[RRmovies 15]

The Emby for Android TV app looks, runs, and plays better and it should be updated. Even the movie thumbnails look better on Android TV app.. Why? I have no idea but they do. 

[majorsl 23]

I really want to be a team player here and switch to the unified app, but there are still issues as some have noted.  On our bedroom FireTV I finally got the app sorted out after it got updated with the fixes.  I've been using that mostly without issue for weeks, but I still feel it is a little laggy compared to the Android TV version.

The livingroom TV has one issue that is a dealbreaker. It's an onn 4K Pro and generally works and plays pretty well.  Unfortunately, my wife has a habit of pausing a show and walking away for hours or even until the next day.  When you do come back to it and wake the TV/Android box, if you go back in Emby it'll be paused but frozen.  Sometimes if you hit the back button a few times it'll come back, other times the device needs to be power-cycled.  This simply doesn't happen with the dedicated Android TV version.

[tedfroop21 86]

4 hours ago, majorsl said:

The livingroom TV has one issue that is a dealbreaker. It's an onn 4K Pro and generally works and plays pretty well.  Unfortunately, my wife has a habit of pausing a show and walking away for hours or even until the next day.

Tell her to stop rather than pause.  When you go back you will have the option to resume watching from where you stopped it.  

All Emby apps have done this for as long as I have used them.

[ebr 16169]

A new Android TV beta has been posted.

[CBers 7450]

2 hours ago, ebr said:

A new Android TV beta has been posted.

Thanks Eric, all working here now. 

 

[ransomshell 8]

3 hours ago, ebr said:

A new Android TV beta has been posted.

Will it make it to the Play store or do we have to sideload going forward?

[GrimReaper 4739]

13 hours ago, ransomshell said:

Will it make it to the Play store or do we have to sideload going forward?

 

[ebr 16169]

18 hours ago, ransomshell said:

Will it make it to the Play store or do we have to sideload going forward?

It is in review on the beta channel right now.  If Google approves it, we will attempt a full release.

[majorsl 23]

On 11/8/2025 at 9:38 PM, tedfroop21 said:

Tell her to stop rather than pause.  When you go back you will have the option to resume watching from where you stopped it.  

All Emby apps have done this for as long as I have used them.

First, YOU tell her to stop rather than pause.  See how that works for ya.   We both know full well you can resume, but when you get pulled away when you think you'll be right back, well.

Second, and most importantly, the point here is that shouldn't happen.

[ebr 16169]

.28 was published to the beta channel but I don't believe we will be able to push to full release.

You can join the Android beta or sideload for the update.

[80srule 33]

There was only one thing I preferred about the android version that the android TV did not do and it seems like they’re taking it away.  So if you had the section in the home screen settings, checked that says “use a layout on the home screen that shows a detailed preview of the selected item”. With that you could scroll across my media and above that you would have a random series or movie from that particular section that would show up and it was just a neat little thing when you have a ton of stuff sometimes it was nice to see something random that would catch your eye. 
 

But otherwise the android TV version is far superior. It’s smoother the icons load faster. For instance, I am Onn Pro only 4k and I’ve also tried it on a GX1 rocktek rtd1325 chip which has 4 GB of RAM. And from launch it takes the android version about 10 seconds to load the icons that are on the screen and then as you scroll down, it will load the icon on the far left first and then slowly glow across sometimes other times it’ll load icons in the middle, but leave the far left and right icon off until you scroll down and back up. 

On the android TV version it is almost instant that the icons load up and as I scroll down, it takes two seconds if that for the icons appears they go across the screen. And you never end up with missing icons loading. The voice command works better and you have a regular keyboard if you don’t want to use the voice rather than the weird ABC layout.   

[ecrispy 38]

since there is a lot of good discussion in this thread about the 2 different apps, let me add some more 0.2c (probably not worth 2c) - universal apps rarely work as well as native ones, such is the reality of software dev. and yet they are the most attractive to a software team as it minimizes fragmentation and effort, testing etc. Couple that with the Android API and programming (what I hear from others, thankfully never had to do it) and its no wonder.

With that being said, here's an outlandish suggestion - what if Emby were to officially offer a version with - Kodi + an updated Embuary + Emby for Kodi next gen, all packaged together and optimized. This is obviously a lot more complex internally with multiple moving parts but it has the benefits of being the best in class at each level.

Kodi's playbac engine is light years ahead of Exoplayer, and the skins are much more complete but also complex.

This need not be pushed as an alternative client, just some way to optimize discovery and integrate everything. I've tried to set it up myself and the process of adding nodes/widgets etc is just too complicated. right now its a 1 man dev project, imagine if there were more resources.

[ecrispy 38]

here's an earlier post which shows some common problems in both the Emby apps

 

 

[Thunderdome74 8]

Hey Guys

 

Just to jump on this and give you my 2c

 

After reading the above i decided no holding back and installed the Android Emby app.(I had been using the EMBY TV app until this point) I really tried to like it but frankly it is NOT a smooth user experience, with momentary pauses, glitches (as mentioned by other users). Also the UI is not snappy or as pleasing to the eye as The Emby TV app.

 

Truth be told, When i purchased EMBY it was on the strength of the EMBY TV app, and if i had made the mistake of using the EMBY android app first , i would probably not have purchased Emby.

I really think you have a winning formula with the Emby Tv app, and it will be a mistake to discontinue service on it , instead bundling it into a janky do-it-all app , at least until that app can return the same experience.

Even if google won't allow it on the app stope, and we have to go through the mission of sideloading isSTILL a better option than the do-it-all

 

 

[psychedelicu 3]

I have an LG C5 connected to a Xiaomi MI Box 3rd gen.The issue is on Emby Android I have stuttering with Match frame rate on, and says rendering with MediaCodecs, but if I'm using Emby for Android TV which is using the Exoplayer, stuttering is gone. 

Which one is better to use, anyway? I can turn it off on standard Emby and use the box at 60hz. 

[Guest]

On 12/12/2025 at 8:03 AM, psychedelicu said:

 but if I'm using Emby for Android TV which is using the Exoplayer, stuttering is gone. 

Which one is better to use, anyway? 

AndroidTV is the app to use to avoid stuttering.  

[sheeezzzan 1]

On 9/26/2025 at 1:10 AM, Luke said:

HI, you will still be able to use it. It's not going anywhere, and if it breaks, we will keep it compatible for a while.

This isn't true anymore though.  Like the YouTube trailer issue was never fixed and everyone was advised to go to the emby for android if you want trailer support.  So if it is broken... You aren't fixing everything.

From the rest of the thread I echo the concern tbe emby for android UI is really poor on an android TV like the shield.

The UI experience on emby for android TV is more responsive and the layout actually works better for a TV.  For that reason right now I'm sticking with the.emby for android TV and sacrificing the trailer option. 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, sheeezzzan said:

This isn't true anymore though.  Like the YouTube trailer issue was never fixed and everyone was advised to go to the emby for android if you want trailer support.  So if it is broken... You aren't fixing everything.

From the rest of the thread I echo the concern tbe emby for android UI is really poor on an android TV like the shield.

The UI experience on emby for android TV is more responsive and the layout actually works better for a TV.  For that reason right now I'm sticking with the.emby for android TV and sacrificing the trailer option. 

They did fix the trailer feature on the androidTV app.  But its still unclear the future of the app.  I'm trying to like the standard android app but its really a bummer.

[Guest]

On 10/10/2025 at 12:09 PM, ebr said:

I will say that the most likely thing that is going to force us completely off of the TV app will be Google itself.  As they increase requirements for maintaining apps in the store, when adjusting to these becomes more work than we are willing to duplicate, then that will be when we'll no longer be able to update it.

This is the concerning post.  Luke made it sound like we will continue to use it.  ebr makes it sound like that isn't actually true.  Still unclear.

[sheeezzzan 1]

7 minutes ago, embaaa said:

They did fix the trailer feature on the androidTV app.  But its still unclear the future of the app.  I'm trying to like the standard android app but its really a bummer.

On play store it's still a problem with the latest version.  Error code 15

My understanding was they only corrected it for Emby for Android which is their long term play

Edited December 26, 2025 by sheeezzzan

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, sheeezzzan said:

On play store it's still a problem with the latest version.  Error code 15

My understanding was they only corrected it for Emby for Android which is their long term play

They fixed the androidTV app but sounds like you need to sideload it.  It's concerning it hasn't made it to the play store.  

 

ebr posted about it on this page a few posts up from here.  Posted November 12

Edited December 26, 2025 by embaaa

[Neminem 1518]

5 hours ago, embaaa said:

It's concerning it hasn't made it to the play store. 

If you join beta program, it still updates.