Vibe coding has reached TVs. Social media is awash with posts from people using LLMs and open-source tools to remove ads and tracking, trim bloat so the OS runs faster, and even completely change the look and organization of their homescreens. While a lot of it is fun — one user turned their TV homescreen into a Pokémon town — I think there’s a level of frustration behind it, too. And TV companies should take notice.
Several vibe-coded TV-debloating projects exploded in popularity over the weekend. Cleanyourtv (known as tv-vibehack until the 19th), tv-detox, and dumbtv all claim to accomplish similar things — remove sponsored ads, debloat the TV so it runs faster, and block unwanted data collection that tracks what you’re watching — without hacking, or rooting, the TV. By default, they all also replace the TV’s built-in app launcher with simpler ones. Many users are going a step further and vibe-coding their own replacement launchers, like the Pokémon one below.
Most of the projects we’ve seen so far focus on TVs that run on Android and Google TV operating systems (such as TCL, Hisense, Sony, and older Amazon Fire products), using existing developer modes and the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to tweak settings and apply (and remove) packages. According to the GitHub pages, they can also work with some Fire TV products that use a custom fork of Android (although likely not on the new Vega-based Fire TV Sticks). Because they use built-in developer tools, they don’t require root access or firmware hacking, and they’re reversible. Even projects that totally change the look of the interface just use Android’s ability to install custom launchers — in many cases with an assist from Claude Code or a similar tool to create the new launcher, too.
As Verge friend Chris Person notes in his Aftermath post, none of this requires AI. These projects take advantage of capabilities that already exist in Android, and in some cases reinvent the wheel. Android debloating programs that use ADB have been around for years, and so have replacement launchers that make Google TV OS look like Apple TV. AI just made the process easier and faster.
There’s nothing similar available for Samsung’s Tizen OS or LG’s webOS, apart from rooting the TV, which is a whole different level of hacking and device control. While there’s a webOS vibe hack for LG TVs that’s based on cleanyourtv, it doesn’t really do the same thing, essentially streaming the Apple TV-like launcher from an always-on device on the same network. They also won’t work for Roku or Vizio’s SmartCast.
These projects, or any OS vibe coding someone might attempt, won’t necessarily stop all data collection. A good basic rule is that if the TV is connected to the internet, it’s collected at least some data. Dumbtv blocks certain manufacturer and ad partner addresses your TV sends data to, but since it’s usually encrypted during transit, knowing what exactly gets sent is impossible. The data blocking is similar to what you can do with Pi-hole to block malicious DNS requests on your network.
TVs have increasingly become a means for companies to gather viewing data and serve up ads. By using automatic content recognition (ACR) and digital fingerprinting, manufacturers are able to know what content you’re watching, send that information to their ad partners, and then display targeted ads on the TV.
ACR isn’t just used for ads, though. It allows companies to measure audience metrics, and it can feed show recommendations based on what you’ve watched. It’s important to note that users need to agree to ACR tracking, and there are ways to opt out of it after the fact in a TV’s menus (although those options are not always easy to find). There are also options in most menus — again, usually buried — for turning off targeted ads.
But even after doing that, there’s always concern that companies still collect some amount of your data and use it in ways you might not be comfortable with. Whether or not it’s true does little to assuage those fears. The weekend of vibe coding, on the other hand, is a way for people to try and take control of their TVs to get the user experience they want.
There are also dangers to vibe-coding your TV. One person who tried to vibe-hack a Samsung TV with Claude bricked it. The only way to fully avoid ACR, ads, or any type of data collection is to never connect it to the internet. A firmware download to a USB stick can apply critical updates instead of Wi-Fi or Ethernet. If you still want to stream content, a streaming device that doesn’t use ACR, like an Apple TV 4K (grab a last-generation model before the expensive new one replaces it), is an option. But any streaming requires sharing some amount of your data with someone to function properly.
The biggest takeaway from the vibe-coding weekend is that the current state of TV OSes has people fed up. Most people aren’t going to stop watching TV anytime soon, but the experience needs to improve. The ads, the data collection, and the cluttered layouts are too aggravating. AI now allows anyone to code their own solution, and it’s only going to get easier. If TV manufacturers don’t take note and make changes, there’s a chance that users will make the changes for them.
