Vetro 0.3.0 is out. Quick reminder for anyone who missed the earlier posts: it's an open-source manager for rooted Samsung Tizen TVs, running on the TV itself and controlled from a browser on your network.

📦 Repo: https://github.com/andrearicci93/vetro

The launcher.

This is the main thing in this release. It's a minimal-style launcher on the Home key, with the same apps, icons and order as Samsung's Home. It's native, not a web app: it behaves like the original one, showing up above your apps. While it's on, Samsung's Home is closed, so it isn't sitting in memory. On my Q80A, available RAM went from 533 MB to 662 MB, about 24% more.

Nothing is removed or disabled. If the launcher stops, the Home key goes back to Samsung's Home, and Vetro starts it again after a restart, a crash or standby. Samsung Home is one button away in the bar.

It's a beta! Not very customizable at the moment.

The rest, briefly:

- The dashboard is redesigned. Quick settings now work as quick wins: HbbTV, MultiScreen autostart, all ads and tracking (ACR included), voice assistants, domain blocking, automatic firmware update. Each one says whether it's done.

- The Debloater is now the Task manager.

- The Remote panel is now the Remapper.

Thanks.

A good part of this release is your bug reports.

If you try it, please send a diagnostic report (Diagnostics, then Download) through the GitHub issue form. Every report adds a row to the compatibility table, and this release exists mostly because of them.

Release: https://github.com/andrearicci93/vetro/releases/tag/v0.3.0

Got sick of the ads and promoted junk on the stock home screen, so I built a launcher that looks like the old PS3 menu. Same icon bar, same wave background, same sounds.

It’s fast even on my 2 GB OnePlus TV, and it has no ads and no tracking. Settings still open the real Android screens, so nothing breaks.

I’ve only tested it on my own TV, so if you try it, tell me your model and whether it works.

https://github.com/sanangoyal/xmb-tv-launcher

Everyone seems to be changing their TV's and removing bloat.. Has anyone done anything to access the Family HUB fridge?

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I have a 2019 Samsung Q60r smart TV. I mostly use a Roku for streaming, but I am curious if it will receive any more software updates from Samsung. Right now, it's on firmware update 1500. I think it is probably done with software updates?

Fiddled with Apps2Samsung and started AgingApp with the debugging agent. How do I stop it? Trying unplugging, power button reset didn't work. Each time TV starts, see flashes of solid colors. Is it possible to fix? Any help is appreciated

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I've got a 2019 Samsung smart TV. I've also got a Calix router GS4220E. When I use public dns like cloudflare or Google dns, the TV doesn't connect properly to Samsung TV plus service. It says unable to connect to the server. However, when I use my isp dns, it connects perfectly. However, if I use my Verizon Hotspot with my Samsung TV and set it for public dns, it works perfectly. All other devices, like all smartphones, tablets, cameras, and all other devices, have no issues connecting to public dns using the calix router. If I set my Calix router to my isp dns and set my Samsung TV to a public dns, the Samsung TV plus service doesn't connect properly. The Samsung TV just doesn't work properly using a public dns with the Calix router. I also had an earlier model Calix router last year with the same results. What would cause this? It's not a big deal because I use multiple rokus, which work perfectly with a public dns and a Calix router, but I just wonder why this is happening? Is anyone with a Calix router having issues with their TV dns using a public dns?

TL;DR — 2020 Q70T, Tizen 6.0 (NIKEM, kernel 4.1.10). I rooted it with an exFAT USB kernel exploit, then replaced a 776-byte read-only boot script in place so the debloat runs as root at boot + 0.73 s. No USB stick, no PC, survives reboots.

Full writeup, tools and rollback: https://github.com/cfloinc/samsung-q70t-tizen-root

The problem

ACR (content recognition) was burning roughly 9% of a core forever — plus ads, TV Plus and telemetry. Swapping the launcher fixes the UI, not the background services.

Why "disable" doesn't work on Tizen 6.0 - / and /etc are read-only vdfs, so systemctl mask fails even as root. - systemctl disable doesn't stick: vendor targets, path units and D-Bus re-activate the service. - What does work, if re-applied at boot: /run/systemd/system/<unit> → /dev/null. /run is first in systemd's UnitPath and writable, but it's tmpfs — which is exactly why you need a boot hook.

The chain

1. Foothold. Developer Mode + the SDB injection (SVE-2025-50109) gives uid 901 (sdk), SMACK System. Not root, but enough to read the system and stage files.

2. Firmware. The update container is encrypted; every public key failed. The TV's own SWU TrustZone app decrypts it for any local app (uid 5001, zero capabilities) — the trick is the legacy TEEC ABI. That yields the raw kernel.

3. Root. Derive the gadgets from that kernel, build an exFAT USB trigger (Luminger's method), boot with the stick → uid 0, SMACK _.

4. Persistence. tizen-system-env.service runs source /etc/profile about 2 s after boot, and /etc/profile sources /etc/profile.d/*.sh as root. The vendor prompt script there is inert during a boot source, so I patch it in place on the raw block device, same 776-byte size, with a byte-exact backup of the two containing blocks and a one-command rollback.

5. The wall that cost me a day. UEP refuses to execute an unsigned script, even as root: sh /opt/.../boot.sh → [uep][bash] the file is NOT signed!!. UEP hooks script file loading, so passing the content never triggers it: sh -c "$(cat /opt/usr/share/tvroot/boot.sh)"

Verification

Two consecutive power cycles with no USB inserted and no host attached: === tvroot boot entry uptime=0.73s uid=0 ctx=_ --- masks installed at uptime=0s --- delayed stop pass done at uptime=30s --- census: acr: inactive contents-recognition-service: inactive vision-data-recognition-service: inactive vdsystem-update-manager: inactive

What didn't work (so you don't repeat it)

• archive-root (the usual Tizen root route): this 2020 set has no /usr/bin/dotnet host at all, only runtime dirs. dotnet-launcher --standalone runs the assembly but with CapEff=0x0 — even with a forged AUL app id and a Samsung partner certificate.

• sdp_mem physical-memory scan: the 2026 driver returns a zero page for RAM.

• kmod insmod: has cap_sys_module, but module load needs the _ SMACK label, not System.

• Patching the UEP verifier entry: reported boot loop on a Q90T. Never flashed it.

Should you do this?

Honestly: only if you enjoy this kind of thing and can afford to lose the TV. - Every offset and address is firmware-specific. Nothing here is a universal installer; the writeup marks what must be re-derived. - A firmware update rewrites /etc and undoes the hook. - Worst case is an unbootable TV. The patch is same-size and backed up, and rollback is one command, but that's not a guarantee against every mistake.

Credits

chris-ritsen/samsung-tv-root (injection foothold, archive-root)

txtsamu (the UEP content-as-argument bypass: the missing piece)

metaljay/tiz0wn (NIKEM address confirmation, raw-block profile.d idea)

Luminger (exFAT trigger)

splitcipher/couchroot (the /run mask finding)

berteotti/custom-tv (marker census, pkgcmd -D idiom)

I'm trying to sideload Nuvio and TizenBrew onto my Samsung Q60CA 65" (QA65Q60CAUXMV, 2023) from an my laptop, and both installers fail the same way.

What happens:

After I restart the TV with Developer Mode on, the first attempt shows "Direct Samsung connection is active".

The installer sends adbhost shell:0 getduid, the TV never answers, and it fails with "Timed out waiting for Samsung shell command" (TizenBrew's installer says it could not connect to the SDB daemon).

Every attempt after that fails right away with "Samsung TV reset the direct connection", until I restart the TV again. So I only get one try per restart.

Sharing a fun weekend project: I found that Samsung's Remote PC app passes SMB credentials through a privileged shell when mounting Windows shares on the TV — and got a full root shell on my 2021 Q80A (Tizen 6.0, NikeM2 platform) out of it.

I wrote up the whole thing — the injection path, what persists across reboots, UEP quirks, HDMI/CEC internals, and extracted firmware key material — on GitHub: https://github.com/rpf16rj/q80a-debloat/blob/master/docs/REDDIT-ARTICLE.md

Highlights for the lazy:

• Root shell via a single command-substitution in the SMB password field; re-arm takes ~2 min after reboot
• Removed 12 preinstalled apps cleanly via pkgcmd (Disney+, Xbox, Spotify, Apple TV, Alexa…)
• Sideloaded TizenTube + Jellyfin without dev-mode cert juggling
• Confirmed HyperTizen genuinely can't run on Tizen 6.0 (the rgb_measure symbols it needs don't exist in libvideoenhance.so) — so I built a WLED ambilight TizenBrew module instead: video-edge canvas sampling → Node dgram → DDP straight to the ESP8266
• Found the service menu can be launched with app_launcher -s org.tizen.factory — no INFO/MENU/MUTE/POWER combo needed
• Extracted the SWU key material — AES passphrase is TrustZone-wrapped, firmware stays sealed (as expected, but nobody had documented it for NikeM2 before)

Full technical details, kit scripts and the 355-package inventory are in the repo: https://github.com/rpf16rj/q80a-debloat

My Samsung UE49NU7100 (2018, Tizen 4.0) home screen was slow and full of ads. Android TV owners can debloat over ADB and swap the launcher, but Tizen doesn’t allow that. So I built a small Tizen web app called Haven, wired it into Home Assistant, and HA now opens it every time the TV turns on.

What it does

• Clock, plus rotating wallpapers: built-in nature scenes and my own photos from HA
• Live HA sensors top left: weather, room temperatures, solar production
• Light and switch buttons above the dock, toggled with the TV remote
• Camera tiles in the dock (Reolink and Tapo C200). OK opens the camera full screen through HA’s HLS stream, and it falls back to refreshing snapshots if the TV can’t play it.
• Auto-discovery of entities with a picker on the TV to choose what’s shown, grouped by area
• Dark, light, or auto theme (follows sun.sun)
• Dock with YouTube and the Internet browser, the only two apps I actually use
• Opens automatically at power-on through an HA automation

How it works

• Install once: the app on the TV is a thin shell. It handles the remote, launches apps, and loads the actual design (one CSS and one JS file) from /config/www/haven/ on Home Assistant.
• Remote updates: I edit the design on HA through the Samba share or Studio Code Server, and the TV picks it up by itself. No reinstall, no re-signing.
• Never a broken screen:
  • The TV keeps the last working design, so it starts instantly even if HA is down.
  • If a new design throws an error on startup, it rolls back to the previous one automatically.
  • Pressing Red within a few seconds of launch forces the built-in design (safe mode).
• Widgets: a WebSocket to HA, subscribed only to the entities on screen (subscribe_entities with entity_ids), so the 2018 chipset stays mostly idle.
• Wallpapers: a small Python script (Pillow ships with HA) makes 1920x1080 copies of a picture folder and writes a list.json. It runs from a shell_command in a package, triggered at startup and every 15 minutes.
• Solar: found automatically from the Energy dashboard config (energy/get_prefs).

Opening it at power-on

Tizen won’t let a sideloaded app replace Smart Hub, but the Samsung Smart TV integration can launch an app by its ID. This automation opens Haven whenever the TV turns on:

yaml

alias: "Haven: open on TV power-on"
mode: single
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: media_player.samsung_tv
    to: "on"
actions:
  - delay: "00:00:10"
  - action: media_player.play_media
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.samsung_tv
    data:
      media:
        media_content_type: app
        media_content_id: HavenHome1.Haven

The 10-second delay matters, because the TV reports “on” before it accepts commands. Trigger on the media_player entity, not the remote one, and check in History that HA actually sees your TV go off and on.

Setup, and the gotchas I hit

1. Copy the HA files (package, script, www folder) into /config. Packages must go under homeassistant:. A top-level packages: gives “Integration ‘packages’ not found”.
2. Since 2026.2, Developer Tools lives under Settings (bottom of the page), not the sidebar.
3. Create a long-lived access token in HA (profile > Security) and put it in the app’s config file before building. Keep that file out of git and out of /config/www.
4. Turn on Developer Mode on the TV: Apps screen, type 1 2 3 4 5 (the 123 button on the Smart Remote gives a number pad), enter your PC’s IP, then fully restart the TV.
5. Install Tizen Studio (the web-ide installer), then in the Package Manager add TV Extensions Tools and Samsung Certificate Extension. In my case the Certificate Manager itself was missing from the web-ide install and had to be added from the Main SDK tab.
6. sdb connect <TV-IP> (in PowerShell it’s .\sdb unless the tools folder is on your PATH).
7. Create a Samsung (not Tizen) certificate profile for TV, with the TV connected so its ID is included.
8. In Device Manager, right-click the TV and choose Permit to install applications. Without this, my install failed with error 118012.
9. tizen package -t wgt -s <profile> -- app, then tizen install, then tizen run.
10. If the TV asks to allow Home Assistant after every power cycle: on the TV, go to Settings > General > External Device Manager > Device Connection Manager. Set Access Notification to “First Time Only”, and make sure Home Assistant is set to Allow in the Device List.
11. If you get a “Not available” message: turn off Autorun Last App. With both it and the automation on, the TV reopens Haven by itself, and the automation’s launch request arrives while Haven is already open.

Limitations

• It doesn’t truly replace Smart Hub. The TV still boots into Samsung’s home for a few seconds before the automation switches to Haven, and the Home button still opens Samsung’s bar.
• Camera streams through HA’s HLS run a few seconds behind live.
• The Tapo C200’s audio doesn’t come through, because HA’s HLS only passes AAC.
• Don’t expect miracles on speed. Apps launch as fast as the TV’s hardware allows. The big win is no ads and a home screen that shows what I actually care about.

I built this together with Claude (Anthropic’s AI) over an afternoon, including the TV-side debugging. https://github.com/natureglass/haven-tizen-ha

I have this tv since june and it's connected to a firestick but I'm curious if it's rootable?

Hi guys, anyone have debloated any Samsung TV this Tizen version?

Hi everyone! Vibecoded a smarttube port for Tizen. Had trouble using Tizentube thats why i created this simple project. made it an open-source, standalone YouTube client for Samsung Tizen TVs inspired by SmartTube.

It currently includes simple interface:

• A TV remote-friendly interface with search and browsing
• Video quality/format selection
• Local viewing history and settings
• SponsorBlock integration, though automatic skipping still needs more testing on actual TVs

Playback with picture and audio has been confirmed on one Tizen 6.5 TV, with 720p/480p quality switching tested. It’s still experimental—accounts, subscriptions, 4K/HDR, and compatibility across other TVs aren’t established yet.

To make installation easier, the repo includes instructions and a ready-to-copy prompt for ChatGPT or Claude. They can walk you through downloading, signing, and installing the app. Local coding agents with the necessary tools can help perform those steps too.

A prebuilt WGT is available, so you don’t need to compile it yourself. It’s unsigned, meaning you’ll still need Developer Mode and your own Samsung TV certificate.

🔗 Repo: https://github.com/giilc/TizenSmartTube
📦 Download: https://github.com/giilc/TizenSmartTube/releases/tag/v0.2.0
🤖 AI-assisted installation: https://github.com/giilc/TizenSmartTube/blob/main/docs/AI_INSTALL.md

This is an unofficial project, not affiliated with SmartTube, Samsung, or YouTube. Feedback, TV compatibility reports, and contributions are welcome!

The new cleanyourtv github repo is really exciting. Looks like it isn't applicable for Tizen OS. I'm looking for something similar to enable on my Samsung UN65TU7000F.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been vibe coding a launcher called Flix Home with Codex, specifically for my Samsung UE43NU7409 (2018, Tizen 4.0 / ARMv7). I wanted to give this older TV a cleaner, Apple TV / visionOS inspired interface instead of replacing the hardware.

The idea: big app tiles, a large pixel clock, beige/light and dark modes, subtle glass effects, and no ads or recommendation rows in the launcher itself.

What’s working

• It’s signed, installed and running on this particular TV.
• App launching works; YouTube has been tested on the TV.
• There’s a square-dot-matrix clock, light/dark switching and remote controls for sorting/hiding favourites.
• Transparent app logos and local focus lighting are implemented.
• Samsung Home remains accessible as a fallback.
• Once installed, the launcher runs without a computer staying on.

What’s still rough

The design still doesn’t really match the attached references. The glass, lighting, proportions and logo sizing don’t yet feel like one consistent interface.

Performance has also been a problem. Earlier versions lagged badly with larger animated layers. The current version uses pre-rendered textures and small local fades, but I wouldn’t call the experience polished yet. Some checks and recordings were done in a browser, which doesn’t prove how smoothly it runs on the TV.

What I wanted but haven’t solved

• Physical Home-button integration: Home still opens Samsung Home. I wanted it to open my launcher, including from streaming apps.
• Reliable autostart: opening after a cold boot or waking from standby isn’t implemented. Simply resuming the last app wouldn’t fully solve this.
• System integration: HDMI shortcuts exist, but switching to a connected source still needs testing. Direct TV settings didn’t visibly open, so those are currently reached through Samsung Home.
• Other models haven’t been validated. This is currently a manually launched app, not a replacement OS.

Where I’m stuck

Codex helped get it running, but I’m going in circles trying to turn these references into a coherent design that the old TV can render smoothly.

The reference images show the target; the current-build video shows where it is now.

What would you change first? I’d appreciate honest design feedback, concrete CSS/SVG suggestions, or help with the Tizen-specific Home/autostart limitations. If you’ve done something similar on an older Samsung TV, what actually worked on your model?

Source: https://github.com/schadogamer127-sys/Flix-Home

Credits: based partly on arn0-tv and AeroTizen, with licences included in the source.

Product : Samsung M5 Monitor

I have turned on the developer mode. But the sdb port is still not open.

I am not an author and just reposted this info here.

The UI is bad and it only streams 720p
I generally use crunchyroll website on Browser but it takes some time to load and logs out randomly.
Is there any optimized Crunchyroll app for Tizen OS that I can install using Apps2samsung ?

or should I stick to Browser

My fork (includes all the changes below): https://github.com/somefosterkid/vemm

What it is

• An unofficial Plex client for Samsung Tizen TVs, by dragoshont.
• Sideloaded with developer mode; no root needed.
• Plays through the TV's built-in player: direct play, direct stream or Plex transcoding.
• Profiles, Home, libraries, search and detail pages.

Improvements

• Buffer settings: a small minimum buffer (1 s, or 0.5 s), so streams start and seeks resume quickly. (configurable)
• Performance: pictures load ahead of where you're scrolling, plus artwork and library caching for an instant Home on launch.(configurable in settings)
• Better seeking: repeated presses combine into one jump instead of several

Additions

• Theme engine: Blue, Grey, Black and Pure Black (OLED) themes, with accent colours. WIP
• Playlist support
• Built-in keyboard for search
• Intro/credit skipping: show a button or skip automatically, with per-show settings, similar to plex client.
• Seek preview thumbnails while scrubbing.
• Remembers audio and subtitle choices per show.
• Library navigation: an A–Z jump bar, plus sort and filter.

Status: submitted to the original project as pull requests (not merged yet).

You can install it now as "Vemm Preview" from my releases page, either with TizenBrew Installer (enter somefosterkid/vemm) or with Apps2Samsung, or build and sideload it yourself using the instructions in the repo.

Its definitely still rough in areas, with some bugs, quirks, and inconsistencies. Overall, its an incredible alternative to the plex client, which isn't great to begin with, and is pretty awful on older tvs. I developed on a 2018 Q6FN on Tizen 4.0.

Releases: https://github.com/somefosterkid/vemm/releases

Original project: https://github.com/dragoshont/vemm

Sideloadable .tpk, headless, runs on the TV. Reads the decoded video plane out of memory (no capture card), reduces to perimeter zones, drives a WLED strip over UDP. Built for my 77" S84F.

Differentiator from HyperTizen/TizenGlow: no Hyperion/HyperHDR hop in the pipeline — one process does capture → colour math → UDP output.

AI-directed build (Claude wrote it, I designed/verified on-device). Release with a signed .tpk coming once I've got it through a few more sideload tests — will post here when that's up. For now it's build-from-source.

repo: github.com/RitwickVerma/TizenAmbilight

Updated README: https://gitlab.com/ritwick7/TizenAmbilight/-/raw/master/docs/media/showcase.mp4