ATV Launcher 0.1.41 Adds Widgets to Android TV App Rows

ATV Launcher Pro 0.1.41 lets you put a widget in the same row as your Android TV app shortcuts. I like the practical angle here: a clock or weather tile can sit next to the apps you open every night, without demanding its own section of the home screen. This is a customization update, though, and how much of it works depends partly on your TV.

Widgets where the apps are

Open a tile's menu and choose Add Widget to place one inside an app row. The built-in choices include Weather, Digital Clock, System Info, Favorite App, Watch Next, and Recommended. The developer says standard Android widgets can join them when the TV's firmware supports system widgets. That's an important condition; a widget that appears on one streaming box may not be available on another.

If I were setting up a shared living-room TV, I'd start with a clock beside the handful of streaming apps everyone actually uses. It is easy to see whether that saves remote clicks. A separate free clock pack adds 15 designs for people who want a different look, but it is an extra app to install.

More control over rows and tiles

The update also adds ten fixed row arrangements, including layouts with double-sized featured tiles. The existing flowing horizontal and vertical rows remain. You can use a large tile to draw attention to one app, then leave the rest of the row compact. Folders can preview their contents as a grid, banner grid, or mosaic, and the tile editor now shows changes live before you settle on a design.

Watch Next and Recommended cards have been redrawn with edge-to-edge artwork and a progress indicator. You can show them as rows or widgets and choose which apps provide content. Up top, the status bar can be fixed or floating, full-width or boxed; its elements can be reordered, and it includes an option to switch TV inputs.

Check the device before paying

ATV Launcher Pro is a paid app, and the setup is not identical on every Android TV device. The Play listing warns that some manufacturers restrict standard Android widgets. It also says some TVs will not let a third-party launcher take over the Home button directly; on those sets, an optional Accessibility-based Home Button Redirect may be needed. That permission lets the launcher see the foreground app and remote key presses; the developer says it uses that access to intercept only the Home button.

That is where I'd pause before rebuilding the whole screen. Confirm the launcher can become your default on your particular TV, then try one row and one widget. If both behave the way you expect with the remote, the new layouts and status bar are worth exploring. If your firmware blocks the widget you wanted, the attractive screenshots will not fix that limitation.

Share: