yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
There are so many uninformed comments thrown around in here (not by the thread starter) - it hurts.

"Why does my App Menu look like that?!!"

> this: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-laun...-sideloaded-apps-from-the-fire-tv-homescreen/ (You are looking for method 3 - just in case reading and scrolling arent your strong points.)

"But the Play Store doesent show up in Firestarter"

> probably enable show system apps

"But it autoupdates BLANK"

> Play store has an option to configure each app you dont want it to auto update, by simply checking a box in the settings on the corresponding store screen - that does not include the playstore itself - as it autoupdates no matter what (Not sure if this option still is available in the leanback version of the Playstore apk, but at least look for it). edit: Also if you have to uninstall the most current update each time you want to launch it - you might very well wipe out those settings as well - so in the end this might not turn out to be a viable solution here.

*Sigh*

Also - please stop using *lol* if you are describing in the same sentence how you just failed at something. Thank you ever so much.

---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:25 AM ----------

This thread might help you with making sure the Play Store (and or Google Play Services) doesnt autoupdate:

http://android.stackexchange.com/qu...-stop-google-play-from-automatically-updating

Have not tested it myself, but the logic is sound.
[Fire TV General] Largewoodenspoon:
You are correct. I asked a couple of dumb questions yesterday. I was very tired and frustrated.

I have read so many different 'solutions' to the problem with playstore not working out even showing up. But here's what I did if it helps at all.

1 - it does work. You have to enable system apps in Firestarter as I discovered last night or it won't show up in the menu.

2 - it will auto update. I use root uninstaller before each launch. Probably not the best option, but it does work.

3 - market helper seems to show more available apps.

---------- Post added at 11:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 AM ----------

Has anybody tried just deleting marketupdater.apk from system folder to stop playstore auto updating? Seems far too simple...
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
[MENTION=4337319]Largewoodenspoon[/MENTION]: Please start reading - before asking random people if you should delete random system apps (btw. you shouldnt).

I've linked to a method that might actually work - and it works by creating certain folders in /data/app that would prevent a playstore update from being able to take place. The entire method is described in the link above. Look at the most recent posting there.
[Fire TV General] Largewoodenspoon:
Harlekinrains. Thanks for the linked information. There were several methods posted in it. I just happened to see the simplest one and w wondering if anybody has tried it.

This is not a 'can he read' situation. Please calm down and a accept that I thank you for your input and respectfully ask you to just maybe be nice to people?
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Have you any idea why there are different methods mentioned in there? Its actually explained in the thread itself. Have you any idea what the people in there are doing? That is - what the command line instructions actually do? If not - look them up.

Do you know if the updates apk name of the leanback version of the Play Store actually is named com.android.vending-1.apk - or if it is named something differently? If not - it might be worth finding out.

Asking random people on a public forum if you should "just delete a system file" could result in someone saying yes. I certainly entertained that option... ;)

I havent even seen that it was mentioned in that thread - in a posting from three years ago. Thats my bad and I should have warned people not to try it - that is if this file even exists in this case (Play Store on the Fire TV) which I highly doubt (remember when you even needed to rename the Play Store apk and let it replace a system file that actually wasnt needed?). Have you even tried to look if it is there, before asking around if you should go on and delete it?

But I also dont agree with your plan of action to just start asking on xda if the first (no - the easiest) method in the thread had worked for someone else. And then maybe the second method? Or the third?

Stick to asking for your step by step tutorials - your better off that way.

Also for others already having installed the Play Store on the FIre TV -

--

Working out and explaining how to prevent the Play Store from updating should be something someone in here writes a tutorial on.

Because - the Play Store will seemingly autoupdate Fire TV System apps as well - even when they arent intended to, causing the version conflict, that suddenly changed the App menu for the user above.

To prevent that - each tutorial on installing the Play Store on the Fire TV should have a section included how to and that you should disable autoupdates of other (system) apps as the first thing you do after installing it.

To have that stick - deleting "more current updates of the Play Store itself" each time you want to get it launched - isnt a workable solution, because that (usually) deletes the applications data (including settings) as well.

-

I have no intention of installing the Play Store on my device right now, so I probably wont be that person.
[Fire TV General] Largewoodenspoon:
-deleted-
[Fire TV General] vrl2:
DisableService.apk and dummy folders don't prevent play store self-update

Hi -

Glanced through the threads above, and attempted two methods that seem to work ultimately didn't disable auto-update. Followed these steps, and Leanback Play Store seems to stick self-updated to 6.05 after about a half hour. Other posts in the linked thread report that these steps fail if the dummy folders are not immutable. After checking whether I'll be able to safely undo this step, I'll check whether making immutable dummy folders prevents the 6.05 update.

Another strategy suggested in the same thread is to sign Phonesky.apk with a different key so that it cannot be updated by Google. If I can confirm this works (and holds for good), I'll follow-up.

I also attempted to block auto-updates using the Disable Service apk, although play store auto-updated and reversed any services that I had disabled.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
I tried every method in his linked thread and if any of them worked I would have noted so... lol
[Fire TV General] bula1ca:
I was up to 2:00 AM this morning screwing around with google store, so far I can start it from Main Menu/APPS (someone posted back why may not show in FireStarter and somehow I missed this in my settings) , downloads and installs and left it alone thinking it will updated anyway over night and ...tomorrow it is another day.

Guess what?

Did not update, store is still on leanback version and still functional however I did not reboot it this morning as I was rushing in to the office for an earlier meeting. I will post back my findings tonight once I get home.

Update: store updated by the time I got home however what I fund out is if you go under main menu/apps select GooglePlay app and click uninstall a couple of times then go back to firestarter it will start as leanback version.

That is a way to get to run again and hope to work for others as well.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
Glad so far no issues with these instructions for Play Store!
[Fire TV General] bula1ca:
LOL, you think?

I do not think is anything wrong with your instructions however some of us (including myself) installed different files prior to this guide and I believe a lot of our issues are triggered by these installations....Thank you for your guide.
[Fire TV General] lightykd:
I got the play store working but how the hell do I switch Google accounts? :( I don't see a menu anywhere in this version of the play store :(
[Fire TV General] danknasty:
I've been trying for 2 hours to get this play store working everything else is fine its rooted... I have hdx etc but the open_gapps-arm64 nano zip won't flash. It gives me these errors saying it is not compatible with this rom. Please help.
[Fire TV General] mikey6283:
Google Play Stores question

Hi

I have followed the tread on how to install Google Play store . It is loaded and logged into account , however i am not able to go to the Play store. I have loaded screenshots to show were i am at . any Idea where i have gone wrong. Any advise would be appreciated.
[Fire TV General] bula1ca:
Have you downloaded the files from first post?

My PlayStore icon description is just Google Play Store looking at yours says Google Play Store for FireTv.

Also have you followed below steps?

11) Go into system/priv-app/Phonesky/ and delete the phonesky apk and reboot.

12) Using a root browser, navigate to the leanback play store we downloaded and rename to Phonesky.apk

13) Copy the apk and put it in /system/priv-app/Phonesky/Phonesky.apk

14) Set permissions on Phonesky.apk to rw-r-r and reboot
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
that first picture is the playstore for leanback version.. you should be able to download/install apks there
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
he may alsotry market helper to switch to lg nexus player
[Fire TV General] danknasty:
I'm also having trouble getting the play store to work it will download a full file and then tell me can't be installed error code 976.
[Fire TV General] mikey6283:
Thanks I will install the original again and follow the steps 11-14 listed. Could you post a screenshot of how it should been please.
[Fire TV General] lightykd:
Is there any way to see which account is active in the play store? The damn thing keeps asking for a credit card yet it's showing my purchases. This is annoying.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
did you do it fresh? if all is done it should work.. only steps i didnt add that I do is the market helper
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
i used play store to download/install this launcher
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
unfortunately this method is not ideal but to my knowledge is the only working method at this point..

i will play with it some more this weekend and see if I can find alternate methods..

you should be able to select google settings.. this is how i turned off scanning apks etc.

other than that, it should be the account you used to initially sign in.
[Fire TV General] danknasty:
Market helper is what finally got this to work. Damn this new google store root process makes me miss the first gen boxes. This is definitely not gonna be a frequent for me. Lol.
[Fire TV General] mikey6283:
Looking at your screenshot i am nearly there , I have the Google play image 1, but i cannot launch into to google play store to view apps to down load? Where am i going wrong ?
[Fire TV General] Largewoodenspoon:
I've got playstore working and installing things ok. However when I browse certain sections like action games it kicks me back out to Firestarter. Any ideas?
[Fire TV General] bula1ca:
@ elliwigy

I have market helper set to LG Google TV. Just a curiosity, would be better to set it up as LG Nexus Player or just leave it as is. Honestly never used this app before and not sure what setting is best for FireTv.

Thank you.
[Fire TV General] AFTVnews.com:
The "for Fire TV" icon means he used my resigned APK of 5.10.31-leanback from my new guide that went up last night. I used a custom icon partly to distinguish those who used my APK/guide in case it has issues.

For anyone wondering, resigning the APK does prevent it from auto-updating. I did also try the method linked somewhere in this thread of creating a dummy "/data/app/com.android.vending-1" directory and dummy base.apk that you restrict with chattr, but the Play Store app still updates and just creates a "...vending-2" directory. I didn't bother checking if there is a limit to the numbering, meaning perhaps you could create "...vending-1" thru ""...vending-9" and it wouldn't go to 10.

I find the easiest way to resign an APK is to use APK Icon Editor.
[Fire TV General] bula1ca:
I figured that after my post once I visited your site this morning. Thank you
[Fire TV General] lightykd:
Does Market Helper actually help? I would imagine that both Tell Tale, Walking Dead games are available for Android TV yet they don't show as available via the Fire TV. It seems like a lot of games are missing and I'm wondering if changing settings with Market Helper would give better results.
[Fire TV General] BagiMT:
Having the same issue with 5.10.31. Some categories (Music Apps, Archade Games) crash the Play Store. Could be related to apps that are in that section but were installed form Amazon first, but that's just a wild guess.

The Play Store is still not fully functional. Many of the App categories are not showing as you can see when you look at screenshots of the Play Store on Android TV here (http://android.conanecu.ro/android-tv-play-store-updated-with-neater-listings/).

Something else that I discovered the other day. After my Play Store auto-updated to the latest version 6.2.10 I uninstalled it and went back to 6.0.2 leanback. Suddenly searches showed all apps, not just TV apps and I was able to install some of them (e.g. Chrome browser). However, after a few minutes that stopped working and searches were limited to the Android TV apps again. So there must be a setting somewhere that would allow the Android TV Play Store to access all apps in the regular Play Store. If we could tweak that with Xposed we would be set. Attached a few screen shots.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
I saw the thread.. i also saw on the internet about resigning the apk.. glad to know it works! I will link to your thread and give creds in op for the resigned store apk.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
i also have never installed your resigned apk so not sure what he was referring to lol but i will be i stalling it now ?
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
are you saying the 6.0.2 leanback store worked?

maybe a resigned 6.0.2?
[Fire TV General] BagiMT:
6.0.2 leanback store works but normally only shows Android TV apps (same as 5.10.31). It has always been working for me. Under some circumstances (most likely after uninstalling an update) it allows you to browse (and install) all apps from the regular play store but I have not figured out how to force it to do that. This is not a resigned version, normal version.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
Yea its driving me nuts as well.. id much prefer a full play store experience
[Fire TV General] vrl2:
Play Services error with unsigned Phonesky.apk self-update fix

Hi all,

Great work on the clear and accessible play store guide on AFTVnews.com.

I can confirm the self-update fix also works for Leanback Play Store 6.0.2. I made a re-signed version of Leanback 6.02 using APK Icon Editor (as described in the guide above) for anyone who wants to give it a try. If you rename the attached .apk to Phonesky.apk and follow the guide from Step 4, then it should work without self-updating.

If I use a re-signed play store .apk (either 6.0.2 or 5.10.31), some .apks using Google Play services do not launch. For example, Inbox says:

"Google Play services

Inbox relies on Google Play services, which is not supported by your device. Contact the manufacturer for assistance"

Also, Chrome Beta no longer syncs with my history or bookmarks.

If I install a stock (unsigned) play store (either 6.0.2 or 5.10.31) and allow it to auto-update to Play Store 6.0.5, then the Play Services error goes away. I then uninstall 6.05 to temporarily restore factory play store (for me, leanback 6.0.2) whenever I want to browse play store.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
my guide is not the same on AFTV news site..

this guide covers orignal signed 5.10.31 lean back launcher.. outside of that I do not know what works or doesnt work..
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Today I fooled around with trying to prevent the original 5.10.31 (not the resigned version) from updating. So far I've had no luck. I created com.android.vending-* folders from 1-101 and made them read only - with the only result being, that the apk put its update in folder 102. ;)

I tried making the base.apks in the updatefolder read only - and android vending created a new folder.. sigh.

Also - after that dalvik-cache is full with references to the com.android.vending-* folders - so I had to clear it - just to find that Phonesky doesnt repopulate. I then manually deleted com.android.vending's data and the Phonesky folder itself, then rebooted and then recreated the Phonesky folder and repopulated it with the resigned Phonesky.apk (set permissions...) - and only after that it got a new dalvik-cache entry and started to show up again - after another reboot. Fun stuff... Not. ;)

So here is the deal. If you can (= you dont need play services) - stick to the resigned 5.10.31 (or the newer resigned version mentioned in here that supposedly also works).

5.10.31 resigned itself wont show the entire Google Play Store (only the leanback apps) and therefore the Amazon Appstore .apk and others are in no danger of accidentally being updated.

As soon as 5.10.31 updates (currently to 6.0.5 and it does so only if you use the original version packed by google) on the first launch you will be greeted with the general app store interface. Now - if you had previously set the Play Store to never auto update - that setting will stick. But as soon as you "uninstall the apk" (which includes data) to get back to 5.10.31 (original) - auto update will be enabled and some apps on the Fire TV that arent supposed to - might be autoupdated.

Have fun. ;)

---------- Post added at 11:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:01 PM ----------

edit: Ah - one more thing! Long pressing the pause button (in any app that doesnt have it mapped - so it doesnt work from Kodi) for me now launches Google Music (of course Google Music has to be installed). Thats a surprising new shortcut.... ;) But I like it. :)
[Fire TV General] lightykd:
Has anyone figured out a way to manage Google accounts? I have three logged in from before this tutorial ( I.e. two months ago) but now my Play Store and Google Play music defaults to the one account I don't want to use. Ironically the play store will show that I purchased a few games but when I go to install those games, I'm met with a payment screen, due to being having the non paid account as default.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
I can say that deleting the Play Store data alone doesnt work. It will pull the google account information from "another place".

First thing I'd try is to delete the data of every installed application with google in its name.

If that doesnt work -supposedly they are stored on a system level in files similar to those: http://www.modaco.com/forums/topic/318180-where-is-gmail-account-data-stored-in-android/

BEWARE that this is a very old thread and their location - or the files themselves might have changed (we are on Android 5 now - which has introduced a couple of changes compared to 4). (Allthough I saw some named about the same when I moved through folders today).

Also beware - that deleting/renaming databases without the com.google.android* prefix might impact the Amazon overlay as well. Which (in the worst case) could force you to do a factory reset/reinstall of the entire system from the TWRP recovery.
[Fire TV General] elliwigy:
I can confirm changing build.prop does allow more apks toshow as well as using resigned leanback also allows to stick..

EDITED

I am not resonsible if you mess it up but it worked for me!

I wonder if using a regular play store with changing to a regular device would work or not...

edit:

I take that back.. not sure what it was but changes to build.prop reverted as well as now its back to only a few apps..

it might have been market helper but not sure...
[Fire TV General] vrl2:
Market Helper seems to stop self-updates

Appears that that Play Store does not self-update if Market Helper is running. I'm using Play Store v. 6.0.2-leanback stock (not re-signed).

Market Helper is set as LG Google TV, Operator: US, Carrier: AT&T. Since Market Helper resets on reboot, the play store also self-updates (to 6.0.5) on reboot -- at which point, I uninstall Play Store (to restore 6.0.2-leanback) and set up Market Helper before Play Store has a chance to self-update. Market Helper seems to expand app selection (pictured) -- although I find it more efficient to side-load everything (plus, no ads).

If you're willing to put up with the ritual after each reboot (could this part be scripted?), this looks like it provides a stable Play Store without producing the Play Services error that I got when using a re-signed Phonesky.apk. I haven't checked whether this works with other versions of the play store, or with different settings for Market Helper.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Thanks for the information. :) But still - a little too work intensive. Especially as setting up Market Helper takes time.

I agree that sideloading currently beats all other approaches. Use the resigned versions if you can (you dont need Google Play services).

The problem with letting the Play Store auto update at all (which does happen if you dont catch it fast enough using the method mentioned by vencat) is - that as soon as the "dont autoupdate all apps" setting falls (because you are using unsintall to go back to the innitial version) - the next Play Store auto update will also update your Amazon apps and cause version conflicts.

Now auto applying "what Market helper does" (when change to Google Android TV is set in the options) on every boot would solve our problems. Maybe someone could look into that.

edit: Market Helper isnt open source. *sigh*
[Fire TV General] vrl2:
Are you using the latest version of Market Helper? Looks like many people on this thread use it without issue. I'd say the total setup time for Market Helper is comparable to how long it takes to work with any other sideloaded app (less time than resigning an app). You just sideload it, then open it.... Once it is open, setup is a matter of navigating four simple dropdown menus. After that, it keeps Play Store behaving normally until AFTV gets rebooted for some reason (hasn't happened in several days of normal use).

If you sideload apps, why do you need a Google Play store at all? After all, sideloading lets you install any app you want without Play Store's ads, promotions, restrictions, etc.? In my case, I'm installing Google Play store because some apps do not run unless play services (and play store) are properly working. I'd be happy to use the resigned version (since it doesn't self-update), but it creates trouble for Google Play Services (which as you point out, I can live without, but then there are several apps I can't run). I'm attaching the error screen when I attempt to launch Inbox. Could you suggest another way to have Chrome, for example, sync bookmarks and history - or to have Inbox start? I suppose I could avoid any apps that use play services, but that would kind of defeat the purpose.

I have fewer Amazon apps than Google apps - I can try re-signing my Amazon apps so they don't auto-update.

At any rate, I'm certainly open to a more long-term solution to both the auto-update and the play services error, but using market helper seems like a quick, easy-to-set-up stop gap until one comes along.
[Fire TV General] BagiMT:
Are you still able to see all apps even after some time? I can see all apps after uninstalling the update but that stops working after a few minutes and I am back to Android TV apps even with Market Helper enabled.
[Fire TV General] dk1keith:
Has anyone tried Google Play Games with this. I am using the leanback Google Play Store and the Google Play Games I sideloaded just force closes.