Android TV

The Android app also runs on Android TV. It’s the same app: it appears on the TV’s home screen as a Credenza banner, and when it detects a television it switches to a layout and controls made for a remote.

Get the app onto your TV

The TV app is part of the same early access as the phone app. The store listing doesn’t cover televisions yet, so ask in the Credenza Discord how to get it onto your set.

It’s built for Android TV. Amazon Fire TV runs its own operating system, which isn’t Android TV, and isn’t supported.

Connect to your server

On first launch the app asks Where is your server?, as it does on a phone. Enter the address with the remote, for example 192.168.1.10:8080, and select Connect. You don’t need to type http:// or https://: the app tries HTTPS first and falls back to HTTP. The address rules, error messages and certificate prompt are the same as on a phone. See Connect to your server.

Sign in from another device

You don’t have to type a password with the remote. On a television, the sign-in page shows Sign in from another device, with a QR code and an eight-character code such as K7QD-M2XW. You approve it from a phone or a computer you’re already signed in on.

On the TV:

1. Open Credenza. The sign-in page shows the QR code and the code, and waits with Waiting for you to approve it….
2. Leave it on screen until you approve it. The TV then signs in by itself.

On your phone or computer:

1. Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera. It opens /link on your server with the code already filled in. Or open <your server>/link in any browser, or choose Sign in a device… from the account menu, and type the code under Code. Capitals and the dash don’t matter.
2. If you’re not signed in there, sign in first. The page then carries on.
3. Check the screen that asks Sign in on an Android TV?. It names the account the TV will use.
4. Select Approve. Or, if you didn’t ask for this, select That wasn’t me.

The TV is then signed in as you, with the same access your account has, and stays signed in.

A few things worth knowing:

• The code lasts about five minutes. If it runs out, the TV shows That code has gone. Select Show a new code.
• To scan the QR code, the phone must be able to reach the address the TV is using. The QR code contains the address you typed into the TV app. If that’s a home-network address, your phone needs to be on the same network, not on mobile data. Typing the code on a computer avoids this.
• Only approve a code you can see on a screen in front of you. Someone who sends you a code and asks you to approve it is asking for access to your account. The approval page warns about this too.
• You can still use a password. Select Use a password on the TV to get the ordinary form, for example if a keyboard is paired to it. Sign in with a code switches back.

This works entirely between your TV, the device you approve it on and your own server. No Credenza service is involved.

Moving around with the remote

The arrow keys move a highlight to the nearest item in that direction. OK selects it, and Back goes back.

• The first press lands on the page’s content, not on the navigation down the side.
• The navigation rail stays on the left, with fewer tiles than on a computer: Dashboard, Search, Requests, My reports, a single Libraries entry and your account. Administrators find the Server items (Libraries, Users, Activity, Needs matching, Reported problems) in the account menu.
• Hold OK on a poster or episode to open its menu, the actions a computer shows behind the ⋮ button. On a TV the menu opens as a dialog in the middle of the screen.
• Back closes whatever is open first. With a menu or dialog open, Back closes it. With nothing open, it goes to the previous page.
• Text fields let you leave with the arrows. Up and down always move out of a search box, and left and right move out once the cursor reaches the end of the text.
• Long shelves load as you go. Keep pressing down, and a Load more button at the end of a shelf brings in the next batch.

Controlling the player

In the player, the remote controls the video and its on-screen controls:

Press	What it does
OK	Play or pause, when no control is highlighted
Down	Show the controls and move to the timeline. Press again to reach the row of buttons
Left / Right on the timeline	Skip back or forward
Left / Right on the buttons	Move between buttons: play, captions, settings and the rest
OK on a button	Press that button
Back	Close an open menu, such as captions or quality, or leave the player

The controls stay on screen for six seconds after your last press. If your remote has play, pause or play/pause buttons, those work too.

Switching servers

A TV home screen has no long-press shortcut menu, so switching servers happens inside the app. Open your account at the bottom of the rail and choose Switch server…. If you aren’t signed in yet, select Switch server under the sign-in code. The Choose a server screen works as it does on a phone: pick a server you’ve used before, or add another. See Use more than one server.

Switching doesn’t sign you out of the server you left.

On the screen

The page is drawn right to the edges of the panel. On an older TV with overscan switched on, the edges may be cut off. Turn overscan off in the TV’s picture settings, which may be called “Just scan”, “Screen fit” or similar.