Navigate to the Settings menu on your device, then to the About screen. Depending on the device…

Settings > System > About or Settings > Device Preferences > About

Scroll down to Build and select Build several times until you get the message "You are now a developer!"

Return to Settings and look for the newly enabled Developer options page.

On the Developer options page, look for the USB debugging option and enable it.

Next, find the IP address of your device. Try looking in the Network & Internet settings of the device, check the properties of the current LAN or WIFI connection - that should list the current IP address eg. 192.168.1.105

Open Settings, then navigate to My Fire TV then the About screen.

Highlight your device name and press the action button on your remote seven times.

You'll now see a message confirming "You are now a developer", and it'll unlock the Developer Options in the previous menu.

Navigate to the Developer Options page, look for the ADB debugging option and enable it.

Next, find the IP address of your device and make a note of it. Navigate to the About then Network screen, which will show your current IP address eg. 192.168.1.120

If you have a TCL TV with Google TV, you need to allow the Auto Launch permission so that Aerial Views can be launched from the background when the screensaver starts.

Otherwise, the screensaver cannot be started, either automatically, or manually via the Screensaver menu shortcut, unless the Aerial Views app has been recently opened (see #191 for details).

1. Open the Safety Guard app on your TV
2. Navigate to Permission Shield > Auto Launch Permission
3. Change the Auto manager at the top to Closed - this allows you to manually select which apps can auto-launch instead of the system deciding automatically
4. Scroll to Aerial Views and change it to Opened

Not all TCL TVs have the same software and features. If the above Safety Guard app does not exist on your TV, the following ADB command might help…

appops set com.neilturner.aerialviews APP_AUTO_START allow

Find an iPhone app that is capable of running ADB commands, such as iSH Shell, which is free.

Once installed, run the app and install the Android Tools with the following commands…

apk update
apk add android-tools

To check if the ADB command is working, try typing…

adb version 

After pressing return, you should see something like this

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version  31.0.0p1-android-tools

Now you can execute ADB commands.

Find an Android app that is capable of running ADB commands, such as Remote Termux, which is free.

Once installed, run the app and install the Android Tools with the following commands…

pkg update
pkg install android-tools

To check if the ADB command is working, try typing…

adb version 

After pressing return, you should see something like this

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version  34.0.0p1-android-tools

Now you can execute ADB commands.

Download the official SDK Platform Tools for Mac.

Extract the files from the ZIP archive to a folder. Then open a Terminal or Command Prompt and navigate to the folder.

To check if the ADB command is working, try typing…

adb version

After pressing return, you should see something like this

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version  35.0.0-11411520

Now you can execute ADB commands.

Download the official SDK Platform Tools for Windows.

An alternate option is Tiny ADB and Fastboot Tool (Portable version) but they both work in the same way.

Extract the files from the ZIP archive to a folder. Then open a Terminal or Command Prompt and navigate to the folder.

To check if the ADB command is working, try typing…

adb version

After pressing return, you should see something like this

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version  35.0.0-11411520

Connect to your Android TV device and start a command shell...

adb connect <ip_address>

ℹ️ Use the IP address of your device from earlier steps, it should be something like 192.168.1.98

adb shell

ℹ️ The first time you connect to your Android TV device, you will probably see a confirmation dialogue asking to "allow" the connection

Next, set Aerial Views as the default screensaver with this command…

settings put secure screensaver_components com.neilturner.aerialviews/.ui.screensaver.DreamActivity

Optional: Confirm that the command was run successfully, as there is no confirmation when the command above is run.

settings get secure screensaver_components

If set correctly, you should see...

com.neilturner.aerialviews/.ui.screensaver.DreamActivity

Recent updates to Fire OS mean extra commands are required for Aerial Views to function properly as the default screensaver.

Like with previous ADB commands, connect to your Android TV device and start a command shell. Then run the following commands...

settings put secure screensaver_default_component com.neilturner.aerialviews/.ui.screensaver.DreamActivity
settings put secure contextual_screen_off_timeout 300000 
settings put secure screensaver_enabled 1

Fire OS 8.x introduces a new Ambient Experience screensaver. This must also be disabled for a 3rd party screensaver, like Aerial Views, to run normally.

To disable the Ambient Experience, run this ADB command...

settings put secure amazon_ambient_enabled 0

Then reboot your Fire TV for the setting to take effect.

To change the default timeout use this command with a value in milliseconds. So, 5 minutes is 300000, 10 minutes is 600000 and so on.

settings put system screen_off_timeout 600000

ℹ️ On modern Google TV devices (Android TV 12+), the minimum value is 6 minutes or 360000. If you set a value lower than this, the screensaver won't start.

ℹ️ If you are using Projectivy launcher, make sure to disable: Projectivy Launcher settings > Power > Enable internal idle detection

For whatever reason, if you would like to stop using Aerial Views and revert back to the original screensaver, there are two options…

• Reset your device. Doing so will also reset the screensaver preference
• Use an ADB commands to enable the default screensaver, depending on your device

1. Follow the instructions above to connect to your Android/Google TV device using an iPhone, Android phone, Mac, PC, etc
2. Run one of the following commands...

settings put secure screensaver_components com.google.android.apps.tv.dreamx/.service.Backdrop

settings put secure screensaver_components com.amazon.bueller.photos/.daydream.ScreenSaverService

settings put secure screensaver_components com.google.android.backdrop/.Backdrop

The TDUK Screensaver Manager is a paid app (approx. $2/£2/€2) which allows you to easily change the active screensaver on your Android/Google TV device using a simple interface.

Please make sure to enable Developer Mode and USB/Networking Debugging. Instructions are above.

ℹ️ This app will not work on recent Fire TV devices due to changes by Amazon.

If your device is running Android 11 (Shield Experience 9+) and you want to play videos from a USB storage device, make sure the following setting is enabled:

Settings > Device Preferences > Storage > Scan for media automatically

To change the default screensaver on your Nvidia Shield, use the following menu:

Settings > Device Preferences > Screen saver

Fire OS has no menu to allow advanced permissions for apps, so it must be done manually with an ADB command...

adb shell appops set com.neilturner.aerialviews SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW allow

Apple's videos only support Dolby Vision HDR. Even if your TV supports HDR, it might not support Dolby Vision.

Here are some things to try...

• Find the make and model of your TV, search online for a product page for that device and it should list the supported HDR modes (there are a few!)

• If you use a Nvidia Shield, please follow their instructions on how to enable (or confirm) that Dolby Vision playback is possible

• Confirm that Dolby Vision playback works in other apps like Netflix, Disney+, or Amazon Prime Video

Android screensaver use a special intent (DreamService) which cannot be called by 3rd party apps, only the OS itself.

Instead, Aerial Views uses a standard intent which can be called by 3rd party to launch the 'Test screensaver' (Activity) which works in the same way as launching the screensaver.

To do this, launch the following intent in apps like Button Mapper or tvQuickActions

com.neilturner.aerialviews/.ui.screensaver.TestActivity

If you are using Fully Kiosk, try the following...

intent://#Intent;component=com.neilturner.aerialviews/.ui.screensaver.TestActivity;end

When Aerial Views is launched, it starts in the Settings menu.

If you want to launch into the screensaver directly, the equivalent of selecting "Test screensaver settings", you must enable to following option:

Settings > Appearance > Startup > Start screensaver on launch

Then you must assign an "Exit to settings" action to a d-pad, button press or swipe on one of these screens:

Settings > D-Pad/Remote, Tap & Swipe Gestures > D-Pad, Button Press, etc