Few applications aspire to be as ubiquitous as WhatsApp. Because it is not only useful on the mobile, also on the tablet, in the car, on phones that are not smartphones and even in the fridge, why not. Even on television, although it’s not that practical to text from there unless a keyboard is available.
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One of the advantages of having Android on television is that most applications and games are compatible with the system and, therefore, with the big screen. Now, the Google Play Store for Android TV isn’t that full, so many apps escape direct download access, like WhatsApp. Do you know that it is possible to install Whatsapp on your TV?
The simplest- duplicate your mobile screen
Let’s start with the basics when using WhatsApp on television- creating a duplicate of the phone screen or “mirroring”. Since Android TV includes support for Google Chromecast, the process is more than simple:
- Search for the Google Home application on your mobile. If you haven’t installed it, you just have to download it from the Google Play Store.
- Open Home and search for the name of the TV (or player) with Android TV. Click on the icon.
- You will see a Chromecast icon below next to “Send my screen”. Click here.
- The same thing will be played on TV on the phone screen. You just have to open WhatsApp and you will see it on the big screen.
This is useful for watching videos and photos sent on TV, for example, also for listening to audio. Let’s continue now with the ways to install WhatsApp on TV and use it independently from mobile.
WhatsApp Web is a good solution
As with Android tablets, an easy way to use WhatsApp on Android TV is through a browser and with WhatsApp Web. The problem is that the television operating system has no serial browser, so the process is quite complicated- you have to install the latest versions of Google Chrome (or Firefox, for example- only in this way will WhatsApp be web compatible). From here you will always need a connected mouse, via Bluetooth or cable. Some menus do not work with the remote control.
As there is no WhatsApp Web compatible browser in the Android TV store, you need to do the following:
- Go to the Google Play Store on your Android TV and search for a file manager. TV File Commander is a great recommendation.
- Download the latest version of Google Chrome for Android from Apk Mirror and upload the file to your Drive account.
- Open TV File Commander on TV, connect to your Google Drive account, and install Google Chrome Apk.
- Since Chrome is a file that is not compatible with Android TV, the login will not be displayed on the TV interface. To have access you need a launcher, such as Sideload Launcher. Install it on your Android TV.
- Open Sideload Launcher and run Chrome.
- Go to the Chrome settings and choose the desktop view.
- Go to web.whatsapp.com on the Chrome of the TV.
- Access WhatsApp from your mobile, enter the settings, and click on the WhatsApp Web option.
- Scan the TV QR code with your mobile phone- you will have access to the session in the web browser.
- From that moment on, you will have WhatsApp on the big screen of your Android TV. You can use it as if you were on a computer, but with the disadvantage that typing with the remote control is complicated.
To solve the letter-by-letter writing of the remote control, you can use a wireless keyboard connected via Bluetooth to Android TV. You can also use the Android TV app on your mobile- from this application, you can write in the areas enabled for it on your Android TV.
Install WhatsApp apk on your Android TV
Since your Android TV is an Android with a TV adapted interface, it is also suitable for installing any Apk file, as you have seen with Google Chrome. Of course, they don’t have to work properly – only apps adapted to Android TV look like they should be on TV. However, you can always try, as we will do with WhatsApp.
- Follow the steps above- Install Android TV File Commander and Sideload Launcher.
- Download the Apk from Apk Mirror, upload it to Drive, and install it on the TV from Android TV File Commander.
- Open WhatsApp on TV using Sideload Launcher and start the account startup process.
- WhatsApp works on the TV, although it is better to use a keyboard connected to the Android TV to make typing more convenient.
- Remember that you can only have one linked account – linking WhatsApp on Android TV will remove access from your phone.
