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The internet is generally a great place to waste time, but TikTok is the current king in this respect. I’ve resisted installing it on my phone since I get enough secondhand short video smoke from my girlfriend, but this new development is a worrying one. TikTok for Android TV is now available on the Play Store, which could put an end to any semblance of productivity we were pretending to still be capable of.
I was able to install the TikTok app on my Chromecast with Google TV, but it’s not compatible with my Shield TV. The app is officially available in the UK (where I am), Germany, and France, with more countries likely to follow. Compatible devices include select Android TVs from Sony, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Sharp, Phillips, Xiaomi, Panasonic, and Toshiba. There’s also a version of the app for Samsung TVs that don’t run Android TV.
Pretty much everything you can do in the app is available here. When you open it up, you can jump straight in and watch some videos or log in to see your personalized feed. You use the left and right buttons on the remote to skip forward or back between videos and hit down for options such as Profile, Like, and Comments. I couldn’t see any comments on the videos I watched, but maybe you need to be signed in for that. Further options — Report, Not interested, and Loop video — are hidden behind the More button. If you press down once more, you can access different categories for browsing more content.
When watching a video, the title and view count are on the left, and music information is in the bottom right corner. It’s a fairly faithful reconstruction of the mobile app for the big screen. To reveal the option to sign in, simply press up on the remote and you’ll be able to enter a code at tiktok.com/activate or scan a QR code with the mobile app to easily see your stuff. I wish more apps had a sign-in process this simple — passwords be damned.
I’m sure more Android TV devices will get support for the TikTok app soon enough, and more regions will likely be added in the coming months. We’ll be sure to update this post with any such news. If you want to give sideloading a go, we have it over on APK Mirror.
