Love Youtube but need more than that?
The beauty of owning an Android TV box means you get to enjoy a wealth of different media contents regardless of games, movies, music, sports and others. Of course, it all depends on the apps that you install into your Android TV box.
Skip downloading APK apps; all you need is our list of 15 best Android TV apps that are worth downloading based on your respective criteria.
Editor
Table of Contents
Top 15 Apps For Your Android TV Box In Malaysia
- Netflix
- Iflix
- Spotify
- Viu
- Viki
- ESPN
- Live Football TV HD
- Steam Link
- Red Bull TV
- Twitch
- Kodi
- Cx File Explorer
- ExpressVPN
- AirScreen
- Google Chrome
Price: Free or Premium (From RM35.00)
Why It’s Our Top Pick:
“Netflix is no stranger to most consumers these days; this streaming giant is largely credited for changing our perspective on how we view movies and TV series.
It also allows us to “binge-watch” - a popular term whereby one continuously views movies and TV series such as a movie trilogy or an entire season in one sitting.”
Features:
Netflix offers economical subscription plans, which sets you back only RM35 (one screen) per month with no contractual obligation (means, you can cancel it anytime!). If you have a bigger budget to spare, you can opt for RM45 (with HD and 2 screens) or RM55 (with Ultra HD and 4 screens).
Performance:
Netflix is packed with a diverse range of genres from different countries such as action, thriller, horror, sci-fi and drama. Not to mention, Netflix houses a lot of original films which have received critical acclaim worldwide.
Price: Free or Premium (From RM10.00)
The best things in life are free and that certainly rings true for our locally-owned streaming platform, iflix.
Features:
All you have to do is download the app from Google Play and start watching movies, TV series or even football matches without paying a single cent as long as it marks “Free”. But if you are looking to watch the premium stuff, iflix allows you to pay monthly (RM10) or annually (RM96).
Performance:
The app interface is crisp and cleanly designed, making it easy for anyone to scroll and browse through iflix’s catalogue of various streaming contents.
Price: Free or Premium (From RM0.75)
Are you truly a music lover if you've never heard of Spotify?
Features:
You should seriously consider Spotify if you love your music but do not have enough money to splurge on multiple albums. This digital music streaming app has an extensive library with millions of songs ranging from indie to pop.
Performance:
You can create playlists or even download your favourite songs (tied to the app) and listen to them offline, though the latter is only possible via Spotify Premium. Best of all, Spotify itself can be accessed on multiple platforms across different devices such as smartphones and your PC, all logged in at the same time.
Price: Free or Premium (From RM12.90)
This Hong Kong-based streaming platform is primarily known for offering Asian movies and series, which means if you like all things Korean, Viu has them in spades.
Features:
Watch your favourite content for free or go premium for just RM8 a month. This gives you full access to their services such as enabling you to watch both free and premium content with SD or HD download options. And unlike basic accounts, premium subscribers can watch their favourite K-dramas with no ads interrupting the viewing experience.
Performance:
Easily browse through hundreds of K-dramas at your fingertips, where the app covers both past and recent series regardless of genre, be it romantic comedy, drama or action. Just like Netflix, they have house productions, coined Viu Originals.
Price: Free or Premium (From RM 3.99)
The Rakuten-owned Viki specialises in providing Asian-related streaming content including Chinese and Taiwanese channels.
Features:
You can watch for free or subscribe to Viki Pass Standard, which costs RM20.73 a month. The paid plan allows you to watch your favourite movies or series in HD quality without any ads. It also grants you first access to the likes of Viki Exclusives and Viki Originals.
Performance:
Filter your search based on its popularity (all-time or this week) as well as top-rated or recently-added options. As for the app itself, the interface is simple enough for you to explore with minimum fuss.
Price: Free or Premium (From RM29.04)
ESPN is synonymous with sports.
Features:
If you want to tune in to live events, you would need to subscribe to ESPN Plus, its paid streaming service package, though its on-demand content, premium articles plus original programmes (all found nowhere else!) more than make up for its subscription fee.
Performance:
The highlights, scores and news updates of your favourite team are a tap away. The app conveniently covers every sports-related event under one platform, namely football (e.g. EPL, UCL), basketball (NBA) as well as tennis and even WWE.
Price: Free
A fan of football? You might want to look into this.
Features:
Instead of going to your local mamak or switching from channel to channel, download this app and access all football matches and events in HD resolution. The app promises to offer videos in high-quality viewing and smooth-streaming with no buffers.
Performance:
While there are ads, users generally appreciate the clarity of the matches and the fact that they can access all European leagues.
Price: Free
Steam Link is the answer to those who love streaming their favourite games straight from the PC to any Android device.
Features:
Its setup is relatively simple. Here’s how it works: Install the app from Google Play for free, followed by pairing your controller (e.g. Steam Controller, Bluetooth Controller or trackpad mouse) and connect to your computer to run Steam.
Performance:
You can use Steam Link with a wide range of devices, be it via Android TV, smartphone or tablet, as long as you have a strong, high-speed connection. For a seamless gaming experience, it's best to use wired ethernet or a 5GHz WiFi network.
Price: Free
Red Bull TV offers a wealth of free-to-stream content.
Features:
It covers everything from sports and achievements to films, documentaries and varieties that are hosted by Redbull. They also include a dedicated Live TV feature, allowing you to scroll through various videos of competitions for sports like biking, climbing, dance, motocross and music.
Performance:
The app even includes some handy functions where you can add to ‘favourites’ or download the videos for viewing later. A cool feature is the Augmented Reality (AR) experience which lets you view immersive videos in 360°.
Price: Free
Interact and support your favourite streamers via Twitch!
Features:
The live streaming service focuses on the gaming scene, though other content including music and sports do exist on the platform. Interact with content creators live through the chat, and if you so wish, pay for a Subscription or send Bits through Cheers; both can financially support them.
Performance:
The free app offers Global Emotes - Twitch emoticons - which are accessible by everyone. But Custom Emotes are only available to subscribers, so you will need to spend some cash to access those. And even then, there can be additional emotes that are locked behind certain Tiers.
Price: Free
Kodi needs no introduction, especially if you are an Android TV user.
Features:
It is a one-stop media centre that allows you to stream all of your applications from various home devices on your home network using only one screen. Think of it as your personal online library and you will roughly get the idea on Kodi's system.
Performance:
Its convenient add-on feature is its biggest selling point. You can either install from the repository, a zip file or even search by typing any available app you are looking for. It can be anything from movies and music to sports and other programmes.
Price: Free
Too many files? Organise them all with the easy-to-navigate Cx File Explorer.
Features:
The free app has a nice handful of features for sorting files and folders, including browsing, copying, compressing and sharing on both internal and external storage of your Android TV box. It also provides a visualised storage analysis for convenient app management.
Performance:
Many users love its clean and simple UI as well as the fact that it is advertisement-free. Users also commended its speed and reliability when accessing or transferring files. To quote a user, “the app simply does exactly what it is supposed to do!”
Price: Premium (From RM 49.30)
Bypass geo-blocking by connecting to a virtual private network (VPN). Among the most reliable ones out there is ExpressVPN.
Features:
The app comes with a wealth of cool features including powerful encryption. This means your browsing history or IP addresses are safe and secure from the prying eyes of potential hackers and even government agencies.
Performance:
Watch previously-inaccessible media with the help of its wide range of servers located worldwide. It scores well on the speed test on most servers regardless of upload or download speeds, so you won’t have to worry about janky video loading.
Price: Free or Premium (From RM5.49)
Apple owners won’t feel left out of the party, not with AirScreen around.
Features:
It works by allowing you to mirror your Apple device (e.g. iPhone, iPad) so you can stream your saved videos and/or music on your Android TV box. The app also supports various applications such as Google Chrome and YouTube.
Performance:
You only need to install the app on devices on the receiving end, and not on any of the devices you want to send media from. Not only does this save you from the trouble of dealing with app installation on an extra device, but it also saves storage on your Apple device, killing two birds with one stone.
Price: Free
Everything is possible, and that includes using your Android TV to browse the web.
Features:
By installing Google Chrome on Android TV, it allows you to access the likes of your browsing history and all your saved bookmarks on a bigger screen. Moreover, it has Google Translate on board, great for instant translation of an entire web page.
Performance:
The app is designed to be a tap away from your favourite content; visit your favourite websites with ease using the new tab page. You can also browse through the Internet using the speedy Google Search or utilise the hands-free Google Voice Search.
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