Google is pushing forward with major upgrades to its Android TV OS and Google TV platforms, which now serve over 270 million monthly active devices. With a clear focus on enhancing app engagement and developer experience, the company unveiled several updates during its I/O 2025 announcements, including Gemini integration, a new Video Discovery API, and the release of Jetpack Compose for TV 1.0.
Conversational TV with Gemini
Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, is making its way to Google TV this fall. Designed to improve content discovery through natural language interactions, Gemini allows users to ask for movie recommendations or get help answering questions right from the comfort of their couch.
Examples include asking for “kid-friendly movies like Jurassic Park” or getting help explaining the solar system to a first grader. Gemini responds with curated suggestions or educational video content, boosting visibility for partner apps in the process.
Video Discovery API Now Open for Enrollment
To further boost app engagement, Google has launched partner enrollment for its new Video Discovery API. This API is built around three core features:
- Resumption: Lets users jump back into paused content via the ‘Continue Watching’ row, one of the most popular entry points on Google TV, responsible for 60% of all user interactions.
- Entitlements: Helps apps match content with subscription status, removing the hassle of manually syncing account info.
- Recommendations: Surfaces personalized viewing suggestions based on a user’s in-app activity.
Partners can begin implementing resumption and entitlement features today. More information is available at g.co/tv/vda.
Jetpack Compose for TV Hits Stable Release
After a year in beta, Compose for TV 1.0 is now stable, offering a streamlined way to build responsive UIs across Android TV OS. Built on core and Material Compose libraries, the latest version delivers faster app startup, up to 20% improvement in some internal benchmarks.
For developers new to Compose, Google has updated its Jetcaster sample app to demonstrate best practices for building shared logic across phone and TV platforms.
New Tools for Better TV App Development
Google is rolling out several developer resources aimed at improving performance and usability on TV devices:
- A Focus Management Codelab walks through strategies for handling input focus across TV UIs.
- A Memory Optimization Guide helps developers understand memory constraints on low-RAM devices, using Android Studio’s profiler for debugging.
- In-App Ratings and Reviews are now supported on Google TV, enabling developers to collect user feedback directly within the TV interface.
Android 16 for TV Beta Now Available
Android 16 for TV enters beta with updates aimed at improving media quality and playback. Notable additions include:
- MediaQualityManager for customizing picture profiles.
- Support for the Eclipsa Audio codec and IAMF spatial audio format.
- Improvements in HDMI-CEC behavior and overall media playback stability.
- 64-bit kernel performance enhancements and API extensions for developers.
Interested developers can dive into the full Android 16 for TV release notes for more detail.
More updates from Google I/O 2025, including these announcements, can be found at io.google.
