Google TV

Google TV disables new free channels app, returns in the ‘coming months’

Ben Schoon | Nov 1 2024 - 11:30 am PT

The updated “Freeplay” app on Google TV is a much better experience for the platform’s free channels, but it disappeared recently, and Google says it won’t be back for a little while.

We first noticed earlier this week that, suddenly, the revamped Google TV Freeplay app had disappeared from all of our test devices except for the Google TV Streamer. The revamped app added a guide and several other features that made it drastically more useful and easier to use compared to the existing, very limited app. Both experiences, though, still have access to over 150 free channels.

Google announced in September that the new Freeplay app would be rolling out to all devices, and we noted that it had indeed started rolling out earlier that month.

But it’s since been removed, and Google has confirmed why in a statement to 9to5Google. The company says that a crashing issue was found during the rollout, leading to the new app being disabled on “affected devices” for the time being. One device not affected is the Google TV Streamer, as we previously found.

Google says that the new Freeplay app will be available for “all” Google TV devices in “the coming months.”

While rolling out the new Google TV Freeplay guide, we discovered an issue that can increase crashes for some users. We have disabled access to the new guide on affected devices until the fix is in place. The fix will begin rolling out soon, and the updated guide will be available for all Google TV devices in the coming months.
Google spokesperson

The rollback is certainly disappointing, as the new app is much better, but crashing issues would certainly put a damper on the updated feature.

And, notably, when Google says “all” devices, it still only refers to Google TV devices being used in the United States, as Freeplay isn’t available globally.