← Gyananjali TV

Installing on your television

Televisions have no web browser, so an app that is not on the Play Store has to be fetched a slightly different way. It takes about five minutes, once. After that the app keeps itself up to date on its own and you never have to do this again.

These steps work on Google TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV sticks and boxes.

1Install “Downloader” on the TV

A small free app that fetches files. It is on the store your TV already has.

  1. On the TV, open the Play Store (on a Fire TV, the Appstore).
  2. Search for Downloader — the orange icon, by AFTVnews.
  3. Choose Install, then Open.

2Type our address and press Go

Downloader opens with a box for a web address. Type exactly this:

gyananjalisanskrit.in/tv

3Allow the install, once

Android asks before letting any app install another. This is normal.

  1. When the download finishes, the TV shows “For your security, your TV is not allowed to install unknown apps from this source”.
  2. Choose Settings, then turn Downloader on.
  3. Press Back once. You are returned to the install screen.

4Install and open

  1. Choose Install, wait a few seconds, then Open.
  2. Downloader offers to Delete the downloaded file — say yes, it is no longer needed.
  3. Gyananjali TV now appears in your apps list, and on the home screen row of your TV.

5Sign in with your phone

Nothing to type on the remote.

  1. The app shows a QR code and a short code.
  2. Point your phone’s camera at it, open the link, and sign in there with your usual Gyananjali email and password.
  3. The television signs itself in within a few seconds.
Would rather not use a phone? Choose Sign in with email on the TV screen and type your address and password with the on-screen keyboard.

↻Updates, later

This is the part that makes the five minutes above worth it.

Gyananjali TV checks for a newer version each time it opens, and downloads and installs it itself. You will see a screen with a progress bar; leave it alone for a minute and it is done.

The first time it updates, the TV asks for permission — the same kind of question as step 3, about our app this time. It takes you to a screen headed Install unknown apps listing every app on the TV. Scroll down to Gyananjali TV, press Select to turn it on, then press Back.

Back usually returns you to the TV’s home screen rather than to the app — that is normal. Just open Gyananjali TV again and choose Update now. This whole detour happens only once, ever; every update after it is just a progress bar.

?If something goes wrong

“App not installed” — an older copy is already on the TV and was signed differently. Uninstall Gyananjali TV from the TV’s app settings, then install again.

The address gives an error in Downloader — check the spelling; it is gyananjalisanskrit.in/tv, with no spaces. Downloader sometimes adds http:// for you, which is fine.

No Downloader on your store — any file manager or side-loading app works. You can also copy the file onto a USB stick from a computer and open it on the TV.

Still stuck — write to us and we will get you on.