tv-hero
Profileseach child
Time Todaygive or take
Homecalm screen
Bedtimegood night
Earn Timefun questions
Approve Appsyou decide
Parents' Appfrom the sofa
Guestown allowance
Toolstimer · HIIT
Pauseone tap
Screensavera quiet watch
tv-hero · Family TV, calmer

The TV your kids love.
The rules you trust.

One calm screen for every child. Real limits and bedtime that hold, fun questions to earn a little more, and you in charge from your phone.

Download 2.11.2 See how it works ›
Android TV & Google TVFree & open sourceNo ads · no accounts · no tracking
How it works · Phone, TV, family

From your phone to the living room.
In three quiet steps.

You set the rules. The TV keeps them, even when your phone is in another room.

You
Your phone

The parents' app

The remote for the rules.

Profiles, time, bedtime and requests, over your home Wi-Fi or the internet when you allow it.

Living room
The TV

The guard

Where the rules live.

A calm Home screen and a guard that keeps limits, bedtime and approved apps, online or not.

Every child
Your family

Their own screen

Fair, clear, and fun.

Their apps, their time, and a way to earn more by answering questions on the big screen.

01 · On the TV

Home

Calm, and awake to your family.

No ads, no autoplay rows, no feeds. A clock, a greeting, your apps, and a line about what you're on: what you watched there lately, or what a button does.

tv-hero's Home screen on a TV: a clock, a greeting and a dock of apps
Capabilities
02 · For kids

Earn Time

Out of time? Earn some more.

When the day's TV is used up, kids press Earn Time and answer questions on the big screen. Each right answer adds minutes, up to a daily maximum you choose. A wrong answer costs nothing, but three in a row means a short break, so guessing doesn't pay.

  • Easy, Medium and Hard
  • Set for each child
  • Works offline
  • Nothing tracked
  • Cheers for right answers
  • Kind words for wrong ones
Subjects
➗ Maths🔤 English words🌍 General knowledgeअ Hindi🧩 Puzzles
Illustration
The phone app's Family tab: profiles and Guest
03 · For parents

The parents' app

Everything, from the sofa or the office.

What's on now, who's watching and how much time is left. Kids' requests arrive under Needs You; approve them with a tap.

  • Profiles and Guest
  • Give or take minutes
  • End today's TV now
  • Pause the whole TV
  • Sleep timer, night volume
  • Remote and game pad
Works over
Home Wi-FiInternet, when you allow itAndroid 9+Fingerprint lock
04 · Time & bedtime

Rules that hold

Time's up means stop.

The video pauses, the app closes and nothing opens behind the screen. The only ways on: ask you, earn time, or your PIN. At bedtime, a good-night screen, then standby.

  • Daily limit per child
  • Bedtime per child
  • One free profile switch
  • Then kids ask you
  • Only real watching counts
  • Password to loosen, never to tighten
The watch screensaver
The phone as a remote
05 · Tools & screensaver

Tools

The living room, put to work.

Timer, Stopwatch and Workout with big digits and progress rings for the whole room. Start a Tabata, open YouTube, and a small timer stays in the corner.

  • HIIT presets like Tabata
  • 3-2-1 beeps, colour per phase
  • Corner timer over any app
  • Start them from the phone
  • A quiet watch screensaver
  • Never counted as screen time
06 · Set up

A new TV in about two minutes.
No computer, no cables.

1

Install the phone app

Download tv-hero for your phone from the latest release.

2

Tap Set Up a New TV

Switch on TV debugging (the app shows you where). The phone finds the TV, you press Allow, and it installs and sets up tv-hero.

3

Pair and add your family

Compare a six-digit code on both screens, press Allow on the TV, and create profiles.

Step-by-step guide ›

Security & privacy

Every way in is visible.
And revocable.

Nothing about your family leaves your home.

Encrypted and pinned

Mutual TLS between phone and TV, with keys that can't leave either device.

A person says yes

Pairing shows the same code on both screens and needs Allow on the TV.

Off by default

Control over the internet stays off until you turn it on at home.

Verified updates

Checksums, versions and the release signature are checked before anything installs.

Mutual TLSAndroid KeystoreSHA-256 pinningSigned releasesNo analytics

How tv-hero keeps your family safe ›

Roadmap · What's next

Built in the open.
Shaped by families.

Each step ships as its own release. Tell us what your family needs, or vote for the ideas you want first.

2.9

Fair time

Screen time that's exact to the second, an optional time-left corner, and on-screen notes you can switch off.

2.10

Phone to TV

Send a link, show photos without saving them on the TV, and search with a safe default for each child.

2.11

Live and free TV

Weather on Home and as a screensaver, and a Free TV row of channels you choose.

Request a featureSee the full roadmap ›
Free & open source

Made by a parent,
in the open.

tv-hero started as one dad's fix for one family TV. The code is public, so you can see exactly what runs in your living room, and every release is built and signed by its public pipeline.

Download 2.11.2Source code ›
Questions
Which TVs does it work on?

Android TV and Google TV from Android 9 on. It was built on a Xiaomi Mi TV 4A Pro and is being tested on more. On Google TV devices that insist on their own Home screen, tv-hero runs as a guard: profiles, limits and lock screens still work.

Do I need the phone all the time?

No. The rules live on the TV and work without the phone. A Parent Menu on the TV, behind your PIN, does the essentials too.

Can kids get around it?

Settings and the Play Store are parent-only in kid profiles, new apps wait for approval, and switching to a profile without limits needs a parent. Someone with access to Settings in the Parent profile could switch the guard off, which is why Parent is behind a PIN.

What does it collect?

Nothing. No accounts, analytics or ads. The only outside connection is the phone app's update check to GitHub, which you can switch off.

Is it free?

Yes. Free and open source under the MIT licence.