Android TV / Google TV

Allow an app to install from outside the Play Store

An Android TV refuses to install anything that did not come through the Play Store until you allow it, and it allows one app at a time: the app doing the installing, a downloader or a file manager, gets permission, and nothing else on the set changes. Livecricket itself has no TV app and needs none of this; the page is here for anyone who has to install some other app on their set.

Three ways, in order.

Try the first. If it works, stop there. Move to the second only if the first did not work, and to the third only if the second did not either. Most televisions never need more than the first.

1Straight from the warning on screen

When the TV says the app is not allowed to install unknown apps, pick Settings on that warning rather than closing it.

A list of apps opens. Turn on the switch next to the app you are installing from.

Press Back; the install carries on where it stopped.

Only if the first way did not work

2Through the TV's Settings

The same list can be opened by hand, but sets keep it in different places. Try these paths in turn:

Settings → Apps → Security & Restrictions → Unknown sources Settings → Device Preferences → Security & Restrictions → Unknown sources Settings → Apps → Special app access → Install unknown apps

A TV whose Settings has a search box gets there fastest: search for unknown.

Only if neither of the first two worked

3Turn on developer options first

Some devices hide the permission until developer options are on: the Google TV Streamer, the Chromecast with Google TV and a few TV brands. Older Android TV boxes seldom need this.

Open Settings and find About: under System on Google TV, under Device Preferences on older Android TV, and in the main list on some sets. It is the same screen whichever way you reach it.

Scroll to the bottom. The last line reads Android TV OS build (Build on older devices). Select it and press OK on the remote again and again.

The TV counts down, something like "You are now 4 steps away from being a developer". Keep going until it says you are one: seven presses altogether. "No need, you are already a developer" means it was on all along.

Go back to the first or the second way; the permission is there now.

Is this safe?

Yes, and this is exactly what it allows

Installing from outside the Play Store is an ordinary part of Android, and every other app store on the platform depends on it.

The permission belongs to the one app you switched on. No other app gains the right to install anything, and Google Play Protect keeps checking the device as before.

Switch it on for apps you trust, and switch it off again afterwards if you prefer.