The internet is usually a great place to waste time, but TikTok is the current king in this regard. I resisted installing it on my phone because I get enough second-hand videos from my girlfriend, but this new development is worrying. TikTok for Android TV is now available on the Play Store, which can do away with any appearance of productivity that we pretended to still be able to.
I was able to install the TikTok app on my Chromecast with Google TV, but it is not compatible with my Shield TV for some reason (in the UK). This seems to be the case for other team members in different regions as well, except for Rita in Lebanon, where it is not available. It also doesn’t appear to be available for the new Chromecast in the United States yet.
Almost everything you can do in the app is available here. When you open it, you can jump right in and watch some videos or sign in to see your personalized feed. You use the left and right buttons on the remote to jump forward or backward between videos and click on options like Profile, To like, and comments. I couldn’t see any comments on the videos I watched, but you may need to sign in to do so. Other options – Report, Not interested, and Video Loop – are hidden behind the More button. If you press down again, you can access different categories to browse more content.
When watching a video, the title and view count are on the left, and the song information is in the lower right corner. It’s a pretty faithful reconstruction of the mobile app for the big screen. To reveal the option to enter, simply press on the remote control and you can enter a code at tiktok.com/activate or scan a QR code with the mobile app to easily see your stuff. I would like more apps to have such a simple login process – passwords are screwed.
I am sure that more Android TV devices will receive support for the TikTok app soon, and we will be sure to update this post with this news. If you want to try sideload, we have it in APK Mirror.
