Pejamas 160 Posted October 20 Posted October 20 I’ve been rebuilding the Emby experience on Android TV from the ground up - using the existing AndroidTV app as the base starting point, but on modern architecture and leaning heavily on design language from some of my favourite Kodi skins (Any of the Arctic Horizon skins over the years). I wanted something that feels like a current streaming app: artwork first, cinematic, and built for the big screen. Arloes (Welsh for “pioneering”, pronounced ar-loys) connects to your existing Emby server. Here’s what it does: Home: a full-bleed spotlight with title logos, cast and one-press play. Optional MDBList ratings add Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, Trakt, TMDB and Letterboxd scores. Browse: poster walls for movies and shows, and episode lists that flag what’s up next. Collections get their own spotlight. Title pages: synopsis, ratings (full suite from mdblist api) and exact formats before you press play, right down to the Dolby Vision profile. Subtitles: pick a track on the title page, or search Open Subtitles without leaving the show in a neater panel. Live TV: a clean programme guide, plus a channel picker that slides in over whatever’s playing. Player: Modernised with all the info in one place, title logo, progress, remaining time and when it ends. Navigation: a top bar, a collapsed side rail or an expanding side rail, whichever you prefer. Personalisation: your own accent colour and focus highlight. Settings: every option explains what it does, in plain language. Extra sort functions: Sort TV shows by "episodes left to watch" <- This was what started this project after a request i made 4 years ago that is still "We can look into that". Full app parity: Everything the current app does this app does, same exo player, same external player support, nothing stripped, just improvements across the board. It’s still in active development (Have server family/friends currently testing as well as on my own shield/fire sticks and google streamers and have had no issues so far). I’d love feedback, especially on anything you’ve always wanted from an Emby TV client. I'm just waiting for google to not be so slow to get it up on the playstore but can directly share the apk here if anyone would like to beta test it. There's no app tracking, no data ahrvesting, nothing funky, just an app built through my passion for this community. I'm a web dev, graphic designer and marketing manager by trade so I understand a thing or two about design language, readability and functionality. Screenshots below are from my NVIDIA Shield. (Bonus affinity image to show the effort i put into the image presentation). 9 2 2
WilhelmStroker 120 Posted October 20 Posted October 20 This looks pretty good, any chance you can share an APK for Fire TV and Android TV? 1
Pejamas 160 Posted October 21 Author Posted October 21 (edited) The app has just been approved on the google playstore for closed testing Step1: Join the test group here: https://groups.google.com/g/arloes-testers Step: Enroll in the test here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/tv.arloes.app (after enrolling it can be delayed before the link works to download, cant be done from a phone though as its a TV only app - from a desktop it will give you a target download dropdown) Things i need specifically tested are: liveTV functions specifically with a proper tuner (I was only able to test with a web m3u stream but it should work the same), subtitles is the only thing that i could not find for any free web streams though. Check all navigation, let me know if any navigation is clunky (like down presses going to odd places etc) Any plaback issues, anything emby's app plays should play the same way, the player is the same. if you have lots of odd media library conent, how it handles it display wise, what could be tweeked etc. I have a normal 3 library setup which design was based around (Movies, Shows, Collections, Live TV) The initial install has a pre defined home menu layout (This was to make it easier for my family to not have to play around with) but you can customise it as you need in the settings. Play around with the different side bars/top bar, let me know any improvements etc. Multi users save account, sign out/sign in, setting pins, switching users etc Give us much feedback as possible, I genuinely aim to improve and build this into something everyone loves using as much as I've enjoyed working on it. NOTE: A free account is required over at https://mdblist.com/ in order to get an api key. In settings > ratings > enter key and pick the additional ratings you want (all ticked by default) and hit save. Ratings will instantly populate when you're back on the home screen. I can also put a direct apk download on my domain for anyone to sideload if need be, I went the closed testing playstore route first to make it broadly easy to test/install with a proper testing group feedback location (and closed tests are required for actuall public deployments on the playstore). Plus its all above board with google physically needing to test the app before it was approved. I genuinely look forward to feedback, and hope you enjoy the experience! “Arloesi’r ffordd i wylio.” Edited October 21 by Pejamas 1
MediaIntelNUC 80 Posted October 21 Posted October 21 This looks interesting! Joined testgroup and enrolled, will give it a spin and get back with feedback! Thanx! /N
arrbee99 1924 Posted October 22 Posted October 22 Looks good so far, touch wood. Erm, any chance maybe you could post a logo somewhere thats a transparent .png. At the moment its the only app on my Shield that hasn't got a transparent background for the logo. Ta very much.
Pejamas 160 Posted October 22 Author Posted October 22 3 hours ago, arrbee99 said: Looks good so far, touch wood. Erm, any chance maybe you could post a logo somewhere thats a transparent .png. At the moment its the only app on my Shield that hasn't got a transparent background for the logo. Ta very much. I actually meant to do that, I have the same setup with projectivy icon pack haha. I'll export from my affinity doc when I'm home from work. 1
Pejamas 160 Posted October 22 Author Posted October 22 2 hours ago, sbcrumb said: GitHub or something to report issues and bugs? You can either post them here, or if you're in the Google test group you can post them there.
Pejamas 160 Posted October 22 Author Posted October 22 7 hours ago, arrbee99 said: Looks good so far, touch wood. Erm, any chance maybe you could post a logo somewhere thats a transparent .png. At the moment its the only app on my Shield that hasn't got a transparent background for the logo. Ta very much. 1
Pejamas 160 Posted October 22 Author Posted October 22 ARLOES 1.1.0 (Publishing now) 22 October 2026 NEW • Home screen banner support. Server announcements appear in a centred panel matching the app’s style, with clear text and no media count. • Customize your top bar or sidebar. Choose up to six entries, including Home, from built-in shortcuts and your individual libraries. Search your libraries and reorder shortcuts directly in the list. • Individual library shortcuts include matching headings, counts, filters, view controls and relevant browsing tabs, with results kept within that library. • Guide display options in one panel, including boxed selections for programme colours, favourites first and programme indicators. Channel logos stay readable when focused. A framed guide fits five full rows in normal view or seven in compact view, with a simpler day/time picker. • Remote-friendly number pads for channel lookup, account PINs and manual IP entry. Channel matches appear beside the keypad in a scrollable list. Manual connection offers a four-part IP editor with automatic dots or normal hostname/URL typing for domains and proxies. • Expanded Live TV browsing with Programmes, Channels and Series alongside Guide, Recordings and Schedule. Recording management follows your account permissions. • Play From Here in recording context menus. • Rating Sync integration. Administrators can use Update ratings from item context menus when the optional Rating Sync plugin is installed on their Emby server. • Optional Delete in context menus for administrators with permission to delete the selected item. Includes confirmation and can be hidden under Home & Browsing → Show Delete in Menus. • Optional surround-to-stereo downmixing for video and Live TV through your Emby server. Available under Audio → Downmix Surround to Stereo; requires audio-transcoding permission. IMPROVED • Redesigned Live TV and recording pages with consistent headings, counts, menus and controls. Remote navigation keeps your place when moving between sections, opening menus or returning from playback. Guide channel/time position and recording selection are remembered, and Recordings opened from Home returns to its Home shortcut. • Consistent text entry throughout the app. Press OK to edit a field instead of opening the keyboard just by highlighting it. Back dismisses the keyboard first, with entered text retained when leaving the editor. • Redesigned manual server connection. Check the server address before signing in, choose from recent server addresses, and edit individual address details without retyping everything. Includes password visibility and clearer sign-in controls. • More compact My Media shortcuts on the Enhanced Home screen, leaving more room for other rows. • Improved Stats for Nerds with clearer playback labels, separate audio/video processing information, readable transcoding reasons and stereo-downmix status. • Improved Live TV subtitle controls and clearer audio/subtitle language labels. FIXED • Duplicate selection ticks in Live TV language menus could make the active audio/subtitle choice unclear.
arrbee99 1924 Posted October 23 Posted October 23 Less that earth shattering, but prefer a logo with the centre of the orange thingy transparent as well...
Pejamas 160 Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 2 minutes ago, arrbee99 said: Less that earth shattering, but prefer a logo with the centre of the orange thingy transparent as well... thats actually part of the logo design though
arrbee99 1924 Posted October 23 Posted October 23 Oh well, couldn't resist. Please don't tell anyone...
Pejamas 160 Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 ARLOES 1.2.0 — 23 October 2026 Changes since 1.1.0 NEW • Optional Seasons Grid Layout. Enable a two-row grid for shows with 7 or more seasons; smaller shows keep the normal horizontal row. Includes watched ticks and unwatched counts. • Favourite channels straight from Live TV. Use the heart on a programme's info, or Add to favourites on the Channels page. • Channel groups in the guide. Pick All or one of your server's channel groups from the row above the time bar to see just those channels. • Create playlists and collections as you add to them. Choose New playlist or New collection, give it a name, and the title goes straight in. • Play all and Shuffle for video playlists. Shows in a playlist play every available episode, so Shuffle mixes the whole list. • Personalise Continue Watching and Next Up under Home & Browsing. Choose landscape or poster cards, then pick episode, show or season artwork for TV and thumbnails or backdrops for movies. Each shape remembers your choices, and missing artwork falls back automatically without changing the card shape. Applies to Home and Suggestions. • Movies and Shows Suggestions now offer separate rows for Continue Watching, latest titles and recommendations where available. Enhanced Home adds a preview of the selected title; the standard layout shows stacked browsing rows. Each row remembers your selected title. • Items per Row under Home & Browsing. Choose 8, 12, 16, 24, 32 or 48 titles per row on Home and Suggestions, with a separate limit for Spotlight. • Redesigned playlist pages, with backdrops that change every 12 seconds, a titles and running-time summary, and titles shown as poster cards. IMPROVED • More balanced action buttons, with extra space around labels and square icon-only controls. • Seasons use standard poster cards, with a corner tick for fully watched seasons or a count of unwatched episodes. Grid layouts fit two complete rows with balanced margins, and remember your season when returning from Cast & Crew. • Choose a wrapping grid or a single scrolling row for My Media in Home & Browsing or the Home Rows editor. Both Home styles keep every library available, regardless of the Items per Row limit. Returning from Continue Watching remembers your library and reveals the full group when it fits, or the complete rows that fit the screen. • My Media tiles open the same library views and controls as header and sidebar shortcuts, including custom libraries. Mixed libraries keep movies and shows together. Live TV and Recordings open their dedicated pages, and Back returns to the Home or My Media page you came from. • Guide controls sit above a separate, framed channel-group row, so the controls stay easy to reach with many groups. Moving between rows remembers your group, and the heading shows its name and channel count. The guide retains five rows normally and seven in compact mode. • One sort menu everywhere. Pick an order, then pick it again to reverse it. An arrow shows the direction, and the menu stays open until you press Back. • More ways to sort Recordings, and the guide and Channels page now offer Emby's channel orders, including Default channel order, Last played and Play count. • Back in the guide returns to the top channel first, then goes Home. • Closed captions in live channels are labelled CC, and the live audio menu shows which track Auto is playing. FIXED • Returning to the top navigation from detail pages opened through Search or other shortcuts. • Partially watched titles keep their progress and offer both Resume and Play from the beginning, including previously watched titles. Playback details refresh after the final position update is sent. • Music Videos detail pages let the remote reach Play and the playback options. • Guide navigation steps through adjacent programmes even when broadcast times overlap, and keeps the selected time when moving between channels. 1
Pejamas 160 Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 Small update to the abve, release is 1.2.1 added in: New: control Extras on detail pages. Show all extras, exclude theme music/videos, or hide the section. Theme-song autoplay stays independent.
yocker 2075 Posted October 23 Posted October 23 It does look nice and i'm not hating in anyway but since there is no github i have to ask. How is security in this? How does it handle passwords, APIs and so on?
Pejamas 160 Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 2 hours ago, yocker said: It does look nice and i'm not hating in anyway but since there is no github i have to ask. How is security in this? How does it handle passwords, APIs and so on? Passwords aren’t saved in the app. You sign in directly with your Emby server (through emby connect, or using manual connection exactly the same way as the normal emby apps), this gives the app a login token. That token, along with the optional MDBList API key, are stored encrypted using AES-GCM with the keys then held on the AndroidTV device using Android Keystore. Thats basically all standard practive. The app itself also has app backups disabled. There's no logging, theres no data collection, harvesting etc. The steps required to get an app on the app store are pretty intense (I actually had to create an account for them to connect to my own server and see a dummy library in order for it to pass and publish any build). There's also an explicit terms and privacy form attached to the app itself and the store listing, with my own personal details. I get this whole new aged everything has to be open sourced notion, but just like my postertools site, i work hard on a project and would prefer to keep my own work. I'm not profiting from this app, I made it for my self and my own needs but simply shared it so others could use it if they wanted to. 1
yocker 2075 Posted October 23 Posted October 23 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Pejamas said: Passwords aren’t saved in the app. You sign in directly with your Emby server (through emby connect, or using manual connection exactly the same way as the normal emby apps), this gives the app a login token. That token, along with the optional MDBList API key, are stored encrypted using AES-GCM with the keys then held on the AndroidTV device using Android Keystore. Thats basically all standard practive. The app itself also has app backups disabled. There's no logging, theres no data collection, harvesting etc. The steps required to get an app on the app store are pretty intense (I actually had to create an account for them to connect to my own server and see a dummy library in order for it to pass and publish any build). There's also an explicit terms and privacy form attached to the app itself and the store listing, with my own personal details. I get this whole new aged everything has to be open sourced notion, but just like my postertools site, i work hard on a project and would prefer to keep my own work. I'm not profiting from this app, I made it for my self and my own needs but simply shared it so others could use it if they wanted to. I don't mind closed source, it's just when an app isn't very well known and new it's good to be sure about the security before using it. Specially when the developer is there to ask about it. I wish you all the best and success with the app, it does look great!! i was just curious. Edited October 23 by yocker
Pejamas 160 Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 Just now, yocker said: I don't mind closed source, it's just when an app isn't very well known and new it's good to be sure about the security before using it. I wish you all the best and success with the app, it does look great!! i was just curious. No stress dude, I get it. Especially with all the shit in the security world this week. Just for reference, I've been sharing artwork to TPDB for 5 years, am an admin at mediux and have shared nearly 6000 posters and have been running postertools the last 3 years and have been around this forum a while too. 1
Grumpy1 50 Posted October 23 Posted October 23 this looks awesome , i am currently using arctic 3 on kodi but would love to get away from using kodi all together . on a side note... just checked out postertools because of the above post and that is amazing , i currently have go to tmdb and then use gimp to throw something together for missing thumbs with logos but this will make it so much easier
Pejamas 160 Posted October 23 Author Posted October 23 5 hours ago, Grumpy1 said: this looks awesome , i am currently using arctic 3 on kodi but would love to get away from using kodi all together . on a side note... just checked out postertools because of the above post and that is amazing , i currently have go to tmdb and then use gimp to throw something together for missing thumbs with logos but this will make it so much easier That was my exact vision Actic skin experience = minus kodi bloat and addon management, scanning in updates etc. Thumblab was made specifically for emby, made it so much easier to have nice uniformed images. 1
Pejamas 160 Posted October 24 Author Posted October 24 ARLOES 1.3.0 — 25 October 2026 Changes since 1.2.1 NEW • Optional visual setup for navigation, Home, artwork and colours, with previews from your library. Existing users can open it from Settings → Appearance. Preview your choices, move between steps with Back, or Skip and finish later. • Backdrop Framing. Choose Cinematic, Preserve right edge or Show full artwork, with previews for Home and Details/Spotlight. Includes shading to keep text readable over bright artwork and smoother fades around the image. • Hold Back to return directly to Home from anywhere within the app. A quick press keeps the normal Back action. • Episode landscape artwork for Continue Watching. Use the episode's Thumb image separately from its Primary image or the show's thumbnail, with automatic fallback when artwork is missing. • Certified Fresh, Verified Hot and Metacritic Must-See badges in the ratings row where available from MDBList. Badges use the existing rating positions and can be hidden in MDBList settings. • Choose Expanded, Compact or Automatic playback details on title pages. Compact shows format badges and expands to let you select audio and subtitle tracks. IMPROVED • Smoother Home and sidebar navigation, with less bouncing and jumping when moving between pages, rows and titles. • Redesigned Continue Watching cards with larger artwork, a progress bar directly beneath the image and simpler Up next or Resume/time-left information. Landscape and poster cards have more consistent sizing in sidebar and top-bar layouts, with the next card peeking into view. • Enhanced Home poster labels now show a centred title, leaving dates and ratings in the preview above and more room for the artwork. • More balanced collection, show and season detail layouts in both navigation modes, with synopsis previews of up to four lines and clearer tagline alignment. • Switch User opens the full-screen Who's watching? picker with the profiles Emby makes visible on its login screen. Saved avatars and device PINs are supported; passwordless profiles sign in directly, and other protected profiles ask for their Emby password. Manual sign-in remains available. • Manage your device PIN from Account → Manage account without signing out. Only the signed-in account's PIN can be managed, and changing or removing an existing PIN requires the current PIN. • IMDb trailers and the YouTube fallback look for trailers in your device language where available. • Reorganised Settings with search, clearer groups and visual previews. Changing navigation style keeps Settings open, and search fields wait for Select before opening the keyboard. • Clearer Up Next headings and countdowns, with subtle dark shading to keep the text readable over bright video backgrounds. • Cleaner channel logos in the TV guide, with a subtle indicator for the highlighted channel. • Tidier library headings, spacing and display controls in sidebar and top-bar layouts. Additional card labels no longer unnecessarily shrink poster artwork. • Refresh Home shows progress and completion feedback. Empty and loading messages align with their section headings. • More consistent episode labels and clearer wording throughout the app. FIXED • Home navigation could become stuck after switching to a profile with empty opening rows. Home now starts on the first available content when Spotlight is unavailable, without needing to visit Libraries first. • Show and season artwork in Continue Watching could remain out of date after the images were changed on the server. • Nested folders in media libraries could open incorrectly or appear as blank posters with repeated names. Folders now open one level at a time. • Video files in Music Videos libraries could fail to start when selecting Play. • Next Up content could be missing on older Emby servers.
Pejamas 160 Posted October 25 Author Posted October 25 ARLOES 1.4.0 — 26 October 2026 Changes since 1.3.0 NEW • Wall layout for libraries, Favourites, Collections and titles within Genres and Tags. Browse a wall of posters with a title, ratings and synopsis panel beside the highlighted item after a short pause. Collections show their year range and title count instead of ratings. • Media Info layout for libraries, Favourites, Collections and titles within Genres and Tags. Browse a title list alongside the selected item's poster, backdrop, details and ratings. Your layout is remembered for each library. • Redesigned actor and crew pages with portraits, biography details, a full biography reader, favourites and separate rows for movies, TV shows and episodes in your library. • Full filmography with All, Actor, Producer, Director, Writer and Self tabs where available. Browse career credits beyond your library, sort by premiere date or title in either direction, and clearly see which titles you own. Titles in your library open directly from their cards. • Included In on movie pages. See and open the collections a movie belongs to, beneath Chapters and before More Like This. IMPROVED • Back from a scrolled library now returns to the first item; press Back again to leave the page. • Smoother scrolling between Home rows, Spotlight and sections on title pages, with less flicker and duplicated artwork, and better-timed focus and backdrop transitions. • More room for library artwork. View options now open in a compact side panel, bringing layout, filters and sorting together without permanently taking space from the titles. • Clearer loading progress for large libraries. More titles appear as they load, brief connection failures retry automatically, and an interrupted load is clearly marked so a partial library is not mistaken for the full collection. • Slightly larger chapter cards with cleaner single-line titles and start times, retaining the clock icon. • A show's Upcoming row now includes announced episodes the server knows about, even when they are not yet in your library. • Guide programme pictures that are not widescreen are shown whole over a soft blurred background instead of being cropped. • The media panel and playback controls now use the same recognisable CC badge as title information, keeping the current accent colour. FIXED • Fixed the Metacritic logo: the M inside the circle is now white instead of yellow. 1
kricker 6 Posted October 25 Posted October 25 As an ex Kodi user and team member, I am very interested in testing. I'll give it a go on my older Sony Android TVs and my fireTV.
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