People Are Vibe Coding the Ads Out of Their Smart TVs: Here's How

What it claims

Decrypt reports, in October 2026, that Android TV owners use Claude Code to disable ad and telemetry packages over the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and replace stock home screens. The main example is Gathin T., who disabled 25 Xiaomi packages on his parents' TV and wrote a new launcher. He packaged the prompt as cleanyourtv. As of 20 October 2026 the repository had 10,700 stars, 1,200 forks and 85 open pull requests. It listed tested setups for 107 models from 37 brands. Gathin says a few thousand people ran it within two days.

How it works

The setup needs no root.

1. Enable developer mode on the TV by clicking the "Build" number seven times in settings.
2. The agent finds the TV on the same Wi-Fi network and connects over network ADB.
3. It lists installed apps and flags those that serve ads or send usage data.
4. It disables, rather than deletes, those packages. A single restore script re-enables them.
5. Optionally, it writes a replacement launcher.

dumbtv is a separate project for Amazon Fire TV. It disables about 65 packages, including the Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) software. It then installs a 41 KB launcher that has no internet permission.

Evidence

All results are user reports posted on X, not measurements:

• Mihir Gupta disabled 25 apps and replaced the 192 MB stock launcher with an 83 MB custom one.
• Ansub Khan reports free memory on an old Android TV rose about 90%.

How to use it

Platform support decides whether the tool applies:

• Full support: Android TV and Google TV sets from Sony, TCL, Hisense, Philips and Xiaomi.
• Partial support: Fire TV allows only the cleanup step, not the launcher replacement.
• Not supported: Samsung Tizen and LG webOS are different operating systems. LG users have debloated sets by other means, with fewer interface changes.

The article gives no install commands.

Limits

• Open ADB access: The cleanyourtv README warns that network ADB is unencrypted. On some firmware, any device on the same Wi-Fi can take control of the TV. Turn debugging off after finishing.
• Bricked TVs: One user says Claude bricked their TV by uninstalling the OS during a reboot attempt, which left it on the Android recovery screen. This happened even though the tool is meant to disable rather than delete.
• Stalled jobs: Another user got stuck partway through a Fire TV job.
• Prompt injection: The article cites Microsoft research from 2026. It found that hidden instructions could push Claude Code into exposing credentials. Anthropic patched that flaw in May 2026.