How to Unblock a Website or App on Android TV and Google TV

Android TV and Google TV are Android with the phone settings stripped out. There is no Private DNS screen to open and no browser to configure, and the television build of most VPN apps is deliberately limited. The setting you need lives on the router, not on the television.

The quick answer

Change DNS on the router the TV uses. The television inherits the resolver over DHCP, and that is the only DNS control you realistically have. If a TV app is region-locked by licence, no DNS change will alter it — that needs an address in the licensed country.

Change it once, at the router

• In the router admin page, set primary and secondary DNS to 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1, or 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
• Reboot the router, then reboot the TV so it re-requests its network settings.
• Do not set DNS on the TV's static IP configuration unless you also fill in the gateway and netmask — that is the usual way people take a television entirely offline.
• If the router is managed by the building or ISP and you cannot change DNS, that layer is simply not available to you.

Why sideloaded VPN apps disappoint on televisions

Television builds are usually the least maintained version of a VPN client, and many tunnel only their own app rather than the whole device. A network that blocks the protocol still blocks it. And a remote control is a poor way to debug a tunnel that half-works.

Where a proxy is configured at the router, the address changes without asking the television to run anything new, which is why that route behaves better here.

Apps are usually licence-locked, not blocked

If a streaming app offers a smaller catalogue than the same app on a laptop abroad, that is licensing rather than an IP block. The app checks the country of the address it sees and offers what is licensed there. Nothing about the television is broken.

Where this stops, and what solves it

Router-level DNS fixes name-level filtering for every device in the house, including the television. It does not change your country, so licence-driven catalogues and region refusals are untouched.

An address in the licensed country is what changes a licence outcome. Our static IPs are delivered as plain host, port, username and password, so they can be set on a router once and used by every device on it for the full 30-day term.

Common questions

Can I install a VPN on an Android TV?

Sometimes, from the Play Store or by sideloading an APK, but coverage varies and some builds tunnel only their own app. Test with an IP lookup on the television itself.

Where are DNS settings on Google TV?

There is no global DNS screen. Set it on the router, or on a static IP configuration for that one connection if you are prepared to fill in gateway and netmask as well.

Does a DNS change unblock a streaming app abroad?

No. Streaming catalogues are decided by licensing, which follows the country of your address. A DNS change leaves your country exactly where it was.