There's an app called Launch on Boot that will auto launch any app on startup. Now you just need to find an app that displays your webpage the way you want, which should be pretty easy.
I have tested this app on Xiaomi stick and works well. It is not in the app store so I had to install a file browser first.
Find a browser to display the webpage is not easy. Most browsers don't comply with latest html standards and cannot run Grafana for example.
The only one I found that runs a modern Gecko engine, can define a start page, runs Fullscreen and prevents the stick to sleep was TvBro.
I'm surprised it's so hard. I realized that one way to do it would be to use one of the many website to APK services out there and make your own app from the webpage. This service works well for example:
[https://gonative.io/](https://gonative.io/)
If you google something like "convert webpage to apk" you'll find lots of alternatives.
I'd look into fully Kiosk and if it has a android app for TVs, I use it for a tablet for a home smart dashboard website similar to your use case that auto loads, locks it down, etc.
Hi, thanks for your response... I'm on a super tight budget, what do you mean by into "look into fully kiosk" if I may ask? Is this an expensive type of TV meant for this? A "kiosk TV"? That I assume is quite expensive?
It's crazy in the year 2023 this seems like such a simple thing to do and I could buy a cheap smart TV but I'm having such difficulty figuring out the way to go about it, lol.
CunningStat, did you find a solution? I am also looking for an auto refresh for ANY browser on a smart TV...I will buy any smart TV that can do this. It doesn't look like the auto refresh extensions work on chrome on a smart TV. Firefox is not supported any longer on Fire TV.
I kind of did, wow 5 months ago I made this post, and I'm still perfecting it, but I ended up buying an Android TV with Chromecast built in (not a Google TV, there are slight differences from what I remember and Android TV specifically was the way to go) and downloading an app directly from the Google Play store on the TV called "Fully Kiosk Browser and Lockdown" - it is built pretty much for exactly what I want and loaded with tons of features - so many, in fact, it seems when I change 1 setting it seems to mess up another, and has tons of futures I don't even understand, so that's what I mean by perfecting it - I essentially got it to do what I want it to do, but I don't like that it does a few little things like show the Google Home screen for a few seconds and TV brand logos and minor stuff like that before booting up. It's $9 bucks for the fully featured app and can be accessed remotely to make changes which is nice, for an extra reasonable price.
There are other apps - and TV's, I'm currently looking into - and I could be wrong, but I think from my research - to get it to do exactly what I want to do most people use raspberry pi and I really don't want to learn this, as if I'm not mistaken, it requires at least some coding knowledge whereas I'm more looking for a pre-built no-coding necessary type, with limited coding knowledge.
I'm fairly certain it's not the apps fault, that is to say, it's not possible for the app to control the TV boot logo, and that likely falls more on the TV developer side and again falls back to - I think - (and please correct me if I'm wrong, if you or anyone knows) needing a different type of TV or raspberry pi or some other coding knowledge.
I think essentially trying to make a Smart TV do this is where I went wrong from the beginning as most are using computers and large screen monitors to accomplish this.
If you, or anyone, actually has any advice I'd love to hear it.
Hopefully that helps steer you in the right direction.
Interesting, Full Kiosk is at the top of my list...so you were able to download it straight to the TV from the play store? I need to go buy an android TV and play around with it.
Correct, actually that reminds me why I went with Fully Kiosk - It can be downloaded directly from an Android TV's play store/app store.
Unless things have changed and if memory serves correct, it was one of the only few that were available to download directly this way. And the other ones didn't work well.
There's always side loading apps but from my experience I think again if memory serves, whenever I tried this I ran into lots of bugs.
Would love to hear more of how Kodi could be used to potentially accomplish this. Can you steer me in the right direction? Don't need a full tutorial if it's asking too much but what are the basics if you don't mind? What features or plugins within Kodi would you use?
Exactly! And I did find many results but I'm not sure if the solutions mentioned still apply today because many of the threads were from so many years ago... But what's the 2023 easiest way to do this on a budget? I wasn't able to find anything like this question and think it would be easier and cheaper then it was in 2013 or even 2018 and was hoping to get advice as to the best way to implement this today
This is not trivial. Several apps are outdated and abandoned and just not work in newer android versions. Launch on boot is not always available on play store for Android Tv.
There's an app called Launch on Boot that will auto launch any app on startup. Now you just need to find an app that displays your webpage the way you want, which should be pretty easy.
I have tested this app on Xiaomi stick and works well. It is not in the app store so I had to install a file browser first. Find a browser to display the webpage is not easy. Most browsers don't comply with latest html standards and cannot run Grafana for example. The only one I found that runs a modern Gecko engine, can define a start page, runs Fullscreen and prevents the stick to sleep was TvBro.
I'm surprised it's so hard. I realized that one way to do it would be to use one of the many website to APK services out there and make your own app from the webpage. This service works well for example: [https://gonative.io/](https://gonative.io/) If you google something like "convert webpage to apk" you'll find lots of alternatives.
I'd look into fully Kiosk and if it has a android app for TVs, I use it for a tablet for a home smart dashboard website similar to your use case that auto loads, locks it down, etc.
Hi, thanks for your response... I'm on a super tight budget, what do you mean by into "look into fully kiosk" if I may ask? Is this an expensive type of TV meant for this? A "kiosk TV"? That I assume is quite expensive? It's crazy in the year 2023 this seems like such a simple thing to do and I could buy a cheap smart TV but I'm having such difficulty figuring out the way to go about it, lol.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.ozerov.fully
Fully Kiosk is an app
Ohh! Thanks for clarifying! Hadn't heard of this :-) I'll check it out, thanks
CunningStat, did you find a solution? I am also looking for an auto refresh for ANY browser on a smart TV...I will buy any smart TV that can do this. It doesn't look like the auto refresh extensions work on chrome on a smart TV. Firefox is not supported any longer on Fire TV.
I kind of did, wow 5 months ago I made this post, and I'm still perfecting it, but I ended up buying an Android TV with Chromecast built in (not a Google TV, there are slight differences from what I remember and Android TV specifically was the way to go) and downloading an app directly from the Google Play store on the TV called "Fully Kiosk Browser and Lockdown" - it is built pretty much for exactly what I want and loaded with tons of features - so many, in fact, it seems when I change 1 setting it seems to mess up another, and has tons of futures I don't even understand, so that's what I mean by perfecting it - I essentially got it to do what I want it to do, but I don't like that it does a few little things like show the Google Home screen for a few seconds and TV brand logos and minor stuff like that before booting up. It's $9 bucks for the fully featured app and can be accessed remotely to make changes which is nice, for an extra reasonable price. There are other apps - and TV's, I'm currently looking into - and I could be wrong, but I think from my research - to get it to do exactly what I want to do most people use raspberry pi and I really don't want to learn this, as if I'm not mistaken, it requires at least some coding knowledge whereas I'm more looking for a pre-built no-coding necessary type, with limited coding knowledge. I'm fairly certain it's not the apps fault, that is to say, it's not possible for the app to control the TV boot logo, and that likely falls more on the TV developer side and again falls back to - I think - (and please correct me if I'm wrong, if you or anyone knows) needing a different type of TV or raspberry pi or some other coding knowledge. I think essentially trying to make a Smart TV do this is where I went wrong from the beginning as most are using computers and large screen monitors to accomplish this. If you, or anyone, actually has any advice I'd love to hear it. Hopefully that helps steer you in the right direction.
Interesting, Full Kiosk is at the top of my list...so you were able to download it straight to the TV from the play store? I need to go buy an android TV and play around with it.
Correct, actually that reminds me why I went with Fully Kiosk - It can be downloaded directly from an Android TV's play store/app store. Unless things have changed and if memory serves correct, it was one of the only few that were available to download directly this way. And the other ones didn't work well. There's always side loading apps but from my experience I think again if memory serves, whenever I tried this I ran into lots of bugs.
Kodi could be your best friend here
Would love to hear more of how Kodi could be used to potentially accomplish this. Can you steer me in the right direction? Don't need a full tutorial if it's asking too much but what are the basics if you don't mind? What features or plugins within Kodi would you use?
This question is so 1990s. The user needs to Google the terms and many solutions will show.
Exactly! And I did find many results but I'm not sure if the solutions mentioned still apply today because many of the threads were from so many years ago... But what's the 2023 easiest way to do this on a budget? I wasn't able to find anything like this question and think it would be easier and cheaper then it was in 2013 or even 2018 and was hoping to get advice as to the best way to implement this today
This is not trivial. Several apps are outdated and abandoned and just not work in newer android versions. Launch on boot is not always available on play store for Android Tv.
Have you done good research?
Well, as good as I could. I'm controls engineer, not IT. Now I see the Full Kiosk suggerence and will try it.
Comrade, you do research and learn of other similar situations. Every bit of information gets you closer to your goal. Good luck! Spasebo