Google TV homescreen redesign rolling out with new Quick Settings on Chromecast

A Google TV homescreen revamp was announced at the end of February, and it’s now rolling out with new Quick Settings in tow.

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The Google TV homescreen now starts with your profile picture in the top-left corner of the screen. It acts as a quick account switcher when clicked. You then get the For you tab that incorporates what appeared in Movies and Shows. This is followed by Live, Apps, and Library.

Search (which now lacks Assistant branding) and Settings, as well as a Google TV logo, appear in the right corner. While the microphone and settings gear are housed and appear as rounded buttons, they are in fact tabs that you just slide over to without needing to click.

Notably, Settings features a redesigned panel with the day, date, and time in the top-left. You also get shortcuts to the full preferences app and account switcher.

This — on a Chromecast with Google TV — is followed by a 2×2 grid of Quick Settings tiles for Screensaver, Wi-Fi, Accessibility, and Bluetooth. It’s rather reminiscent of QS on Pixel phones, and makes for an interesting display of cross-platform consistency, especially if Google ever rolls out the Nest Hub redesign.

Previously, you just had an account switcher, Settings tile, and shortcut to launch the screensaver that featured the time. Clicking a QS tile opens the full preferences page. Finally, “Tip of the day” or notifications round out this feed.

Google announced this homescreen redesign last week, but did not detail the full extent of this Quick Settings change.

All new discovery and navigational updates will be available on Chromecast with Google TV and other Google TV devices including Hisense, Philips, Sony and TCL.

More on Google TV:

• Google TV integrates with over 50 streaming services and apps, here’s the full list
• Google TV’s biggest partner, TCL, is overtaking LG as the world’s second-largest TV brand
• Abode home security systems get new Google TV, Wear OS apps