I uninstalled all button mapper apps from my Google TV, and you need to too

From the primary Android TV unit I purchased in 2015 to the Chromecast with Google TV and now the Google TV Streamer, practically each streaming field I’ve used with an Android-based working system has triggered my one pet peeve: branded buttons for Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and/or different providers.

I don’t have a Netflix subscription and doubtless by no means will. I’ve a YouTube Premium household sub, I get Amazon Prime Video with my Prime subscription, Apple TV Plus and Paramount Plus with my native French Canal Plus sub, and I even have an enormous Plex server with dozens of exhibits ripped from previous DVDs. Having a everlasting button imposed on me for a characteristic I’ll by no means use on {hardware} I’ve paid for irks me to no finish, so I at all times and instantly put in Button Mapper to regain management over that button. I even paid for the Professional in-app buy to entry all options.

I assumed I used to be doing the good factor, however it took me years to comprehend that I used to be solely hurting my Android TV-slash-Google TV expertise. Let me clarify.

For years, I assumed that it was regular for my Android TV, and now Google TV, to be glitchy. Any time I pressed a button on the distant, it took a break up second to react. Any time I saved my finger on the D-pad to scroll up, down, left, or proper, it skipped a couple of objects, then scrolled, then stopped, and hiccuped constantly. Any time I attempted to decrease the amount or increase it, it solely occurred in single-level increments; I couldn’t hold urgent the amount up button to go from degree 20 to 40, I needed to press it 20 instances in succession. And if I went too quick, it might skip a couple of. It was all so maddeningly inconsistent, too.

I hated all the things about this, however I blamed Google, its working system, and the foolish low {hardware} necessities. An inexpensive 43-inch Xiaomi TV, a $50 Chromecast with Google TV, and an operator-provided set-top field that was something however optimized; none of those had any remotely supreme {hardware}. Moreover, everybody complained on-line about how gradual, jittery, and buggy their gadgets have been, so I didn’t assume I used to be alone.

Then I received the Google TV Streamer, and for a couple of days, all the things was peachy. It was sooner than something I’d ever tried, much less laggy and jittery. It flew by means of D-pad scrolls like a boss, instantly carried out any motion after I pressed buttons, and by no means — I repeat, by no means — tousled my TV’s quantity controls. Then it began exhibiting all those self same indicators. I ignored it for months, blamed Google in my head once more and the a number of Google TV Streamer points, till a couple of weeks in the past, after I was scrolling by means of my put in apps, and it dawned on me. Button Mapper. Oh, might or not it’s?

See, apps like Button Mapper depend on the Accessibility service to hear for any interplay with the distant after which override that to carry out their very own actions. Mine opens Canal Plus after I faucet the ineffective Netflix button, and Plex after I faucet and maintain it. However due to how they work, button mappers invariably introduce lag and interference. Lengthy presses to lift the amount cease working, urgent constantly on the D-pad to scroll takes some time to get interpreted, and any easy click on may delay the corresponding motion by a fraction of a second.

So I uninstalled Button Mapper to see if my principle was right, and lo and behold, it was like I’d simply upgraded my Google TV Streamer to an entire new unit. Or gained again the unique responsiveness I’d misplaced for months! Quantity, D-pad, any button, any motion; all the things was extra instant, smoother, much less jittery. (I’m not saying it turned excellent, however it was miles forward.) I reinstalled Button Mapper, and the issues reappeared. A-ha!

So I spent the following few days tinkering with varied settings and variables in Button Mapper. I attempted Redditor tips to keep away from the amount button interference, combos of settings that appeared like they need to scale back interference and lag, disabling and enabling particular modes, and so forth., to no avail. I additionally examined one other app, tvQuickActions, which was praised in some circles for having much less quantity button interference, however it had the identical points. I repeated all of this on my Xiaomi TV with the older Android TV software program and located the identical end result. It was nonetheless gradual and a bit unresponsive with out the remapping apps, however nowhere close to as laggy because it had been with them.

Ultimately, I needed to face the music: There’s no solution to remap buttons on the Google TV distant with out messing with the TV’s responsiveness, at the very least on my models and in my present setups. And since I like a glitch-free expertise greater than I prefer to regain management over a few distant buttons, the mapping apps needed to go.

Perhaps Google will at some point make Accessibility providers like these much less glitchy, possibly there are some Android TV or Google TV models that aren’t affected by this, or possibly there’s a goldilocks listing of settings to decide on in these button mapping apps to keep away from this unfavourable impact, however I haven’t come throughout these but. When you’ve got, please let me know within the feedback.

And that is my conclusion: In case your Android TV or Google TV feels buggy and unresponsive, particularly when utilizing the D-pad and quantity buttons, test if you happen to’ve put in a button mapping app and granted it Accessibility entry. When you’ve got, strive eradicating it, and see if that fixes (most of) your points. In that case, you’re welcome. If not, no hurt finished.