There’s no Apple TV app for Android phones, but you can add it to your homescreen

There’s frustratingly still no Apple TV app for Android phones and tablets. Your next best alternative is installing the Apple TV Progressive Web App (PWA) so that the streaming service appears on your homescreen.

What’s a PWA?

Progressive Web Apps appear on the homescreen of your Android devices, as well as the application grid. Behind-the-scenes, this is the same experience you get when visiting tv.apple.com in Chrome, but the address bar, tab switcher, and other browser controls at the top of the screen are removed when you use the PWA.

This provides a more dedicated experience and faster access.

Browser vs. PWA

How to install the Apple TV PWA

1. Visit tv.apple.com in Chrome for Android (or on Chromebooks)
2. Open the three-dot overflow button in the top-right corner 
3. Tap “Install app” near the bottom of the menu 
4. Click “Install” on the confirmation box

The square box in a circle icon is a bit ugly, but you now get one-tap access to the streaming service that won’t get lost in your other open tabs.

Why there’s no Apple TV app on Android phones or tablets 

Apple only offers an “Apple TV” app in the Play Store for streaming devices and television sets powered by Android/Google TV. There is no mobile app for phones and tablets. 

Those with mobile Android devices and Chromebooks are officially told to use tv.apple.com: 

On a Chrome OS device or Android device, you can watch Apple TV+ and MLS Season Pass in the Chrome and Firefox web browsers.

Meanwhile, there is an Apple Music mobile app on Android. It is updated on a regular basis — though it only just added a Themed icon — to maintain the same set of features as the iOS version. Overall, it’s a pretty good experience.

The same cannot be said of the tv.apple.com experience. While streaming works, it is far from an optimized experience with no support for offline downloads or picture-in-picture. Meanwhile, you do not get to see your Apple TV purchases as only streaming content is available on the web. 

Apple sees its streaming service as another reason to get an iPhone and/or iPad, while televisions are the third-party form factor it does care about. As the company works to increase subscribers (and push the MLS Season Pass), it will hopefully rethink the decision to not offer Apple TV for Android.