People are using AI vibe coding to remove ads and trackers from smart TVs

Date:
Tue, 20 Oct 2026 22:30:00 +0000

Description:
Developers are using AI vibe coding tools to remove ads, tracking and bloat from their smart TVs.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Developers are stripping ads
and tracking from smart TVs Theyre using AI vibe coding to quickly spin up solutions Customers are growing increasingly frustrated with TV streaming bloat If youre sick of your smart TV being plastered with sponsored ads , slowed down with bloat, and infested with trackers , youre not alone. But instead of putting up with the countless intrusions, some people are
stripping the unwanted cruft from their TVs altogether thanks to a little AI vibe coding .

As reported by TechCrunch , a number of developers have offered solutions in recent weeks. That includes one called dumbtv , which sets out its mission statement on its GitHub page: Your TV should do what you paid for: your apps, your HDMI inputs, and nothing else. No ads from the TV itself, no watch tracking, no update you did not ask for. To that end, dumbtv removes Ads, telemetry, experiments and Alexa, as well as any apps the user selects, from all manner of smart TVs. Another option, this time called cleanyourtv , says it will Strip the bloatware from any Android TV or Google TV over Wi-Fi, and replace the ad-filled home screen with a clean launcher that looks like an Apple TV. No root, no cable, nothing uninstalled, and a one-line restore if you change your mind. Both projects claim to be fully reversible and say they do not touch the TVs root directory. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

You might not even need to download a GitHub project to debloat your smart
TV. Posting on X , Ryan Doyle said they simply found a listing for their TV and asked Claude Code, can you hack this? The AI agent then walked Doyle through the steps to remove ads, bloatware, spyware and speed up the laggy
UI, resulting in a far better user experience. AI meets user frustration (Image credit: Getty Images) At the other end of the spectrum from the simple solutions mentioned above is the ad-free Android TV setup created by a developer known as Cretezy. Instead of merely blocking advertising and tracking features in Android TV, it aims to replace many aspects of the operating system altogether. It includes an ad-free launch screen, a YouTube substitute, a media manager, and a remote control button remapper. Although
it might sound complicated, Cretezy says that an AI agent can set the whole thing up for you and tailor it to your TV, demonstrating how AI can make removing bloat as simple as possible. You may like Samsung and LG will remove 'botnet' apps from their smart TV app stores, but how did it get so bad? I'm sick of privacy worries, so I'm taking my TV off the internet for good The AI industry is about to relearn every lesson of the ad blocking wars

People have been getting their hands dirty with TVs for almost as long as theyve existed. But whats different this time is the power that AI has given people to quickly spin up a targeted solution in hours rather than days or weeks. That reduction in overhead has led to a proliferation of hacks and workarounds that remove annoying features many people would rather not have.

The timing plays a role in other ways. Right now, many consumers are growing frustrated with streaming TV providers, whose prices have risen and whose ads have become increasingly intrusive . Throw in rising awareness of the ways that Big Tech firms are tracking and monetizing their own customers, and
youve got a recipe for answers like dumbtv and cleanyourtv. Get daily
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So, if youre sick of how slow and bloated your smart TV has become, all it takes to fix it is a simple AI prompt and a little tinkering. The days of ensh*ttified TVs could be numbered. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add
us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best TVs for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world
testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best TVs 1. Best overall: LG C5 2. Best under 1000: US: Hisense U8QG UK: TCL C7K 3. Best under 500: US: Roku Plus Series
UK: TCL C6K



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/entertainment/streaming/your-tv-should-do-what-you-p aid-for-people-are-vibe-coding-apps-to-banish-ads-from-their-smart-tvs-and-and roid-tv-and-its-catching-on


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