As promised from CES, TiVo has released a brand new Android app. While it looks similar to the app it replaces, it’s been “redesigned from the ground up” — which surely accounts for the much faster interaction. OnePass integration and What To Watch also make appearances, closing the platform parity gap with iPhone and iPad. As with the prior TiVo Android app, it’s still streaming-only from Roamio Plus, Roamio Pro, and Stream units… with downloads expected later this year. Most exciting for a number of customers, at least for the time being, is a newfound compatibility with rooted devices.
Attention people with rooted Android phones & TiVo streaming: TiVo app completely redesigned and streams with no issues!
— Rob (@RobTheIc0n) March 25, 2015
Sadly, as with Amazon Instant, to move the platform forward TiVo Series 3/HD owners have been left behind. For the time being, those on older platforms looking to review their guide and schedule recordings are being directed to the new, old “TiVo Classic” app download on Google Play.
Beyond code cleanup and perhaps new personnel, what might else motivate TiVo to rewrite the Android app? I can’t help but hope this foreshadows a Nexus Player or Fire TV app…
I got the update last night and so far I’m impressed. Definitely better than the “classic” version. I would like to be able to group shows by category, but that’s a pretty minor feature request. I’m also glad to see rooted phones are compatible. Although, I tried it via an Android emulator on a PC and it didn’t work (just streaming didn’t work, everything else did). That could be the result of trying it on an old PC, so I’ll keep testing…hopefully I can get it to work.
Can’t wait to get the download feature too…I’m hoping it comes with the same ability as iOS to download premium shows. Speaking of which, anyone know if it’s possible to download to iOS and than transfer/decrypt to PC?
it’s super nice, but totally lost any ability to remote control (pause, rewind etc). I suppose thats fine – the wife and kid hated when i did that from other rooms anyways.
“Root-compatible”
Most blatant case of false advertising I’ve ever seen.
I tried streaming on both a beet and a carrot. No good results. Video is extremely fuzzy.
I wonder if it will make it to the Amazon App Store for Kindle Fire? It doesn’t appear there (at least from the app store web page). While my Fire is a last-use device after my iPad(s) and iPhone, it still would be nice to see an update. Does it also look like a tablet version? The Fire version always looked like a scaled up layout of the iPhone app rather than the iPad layout.
Screenshots look more tablet-friendly, but I forgot to fire up my Asus Memopad last night to test it all out. I assume Fire tablet is inevitable.
The Play Store doesn’t list my Nexus 10 tablet as a compatible device. There were separate Tivo apps for phone and tablet in the past, so maybe that’s the reason. I’ll try going to the Play Store with my Nexus 10 later.
There’s no tablet layout in the app at all, jut the exploded phone layout. I tried on my Nexus 7 and got no joy.
I really would like to see a Nexus Player app that could take the place of a Mini. I have a Mini that I managed to find at Best Buy for the low, low price of $99 but I’d use the TiVo at other locations if I could use my Nexus Player.
I’d pay (reasonable) cash money to get the app as well.
I got it last night and it does seem faster. Also, the remote control and general functionality now works with the mini. Before you could not even connect to a mini.
Good to hear on the Mini!
Some nice improvements yes. However extremely disappointed they removed the Browse capability which previously allowed you to easily see all upcoming events like all NCAA basketball (or footbal) games or NFL games etc. BIG bummer.
Agreed the app is much faster (in terms of TiVo response; the app signing you in still takes too long to be useful) and slicker. But the loss of fast-forward, rewind, pause, even select on the remote is a big loss. The app remote is only useful until you get into a show, and then you have to switch to the TiVo remote, which negates the usefulness of an app remote.
I kinda wonder if they just wanted to get something out the door and many of these missing features will make a return in successive updates… Isn’t that how Apple did it with their video editing software?
John Smithy – when you’re in the remote section of the app, scroll up. The transport controls are on the second page.
“But the loss of fast-forward, rewind, pause, even select on the remote is a big loss.”
I’m sort of confused, my app has all of those functions. I liked how the old app looked like the remote, but I don’t see anything missing in the new one.
Im visiting my sister and really wish I could cast the shows to her Chromecast or her TiVo. But no joy. It works great on my moto x (ver1)
Just a note that streaming doesn’t appear to work for all rooted devices (my Cyanogen modded Touchpad, for instance, still throws up a rooted device message).
“…streaming doesn’t appear to work for all rooted devices”
Steve, I can’t get it to work on rooted devices either. Although, my rooted devices are emulators on the PC, but regardless I either get the “unauthorized modifications” error or it crashes.
Looks like I need to amend my last comment about not getting TiVo to work on rooted devices. After completely uninstalling and reinstalling the BlueStacks Android emulator, I can now stream shows to my PC. Very cool! I can’t believe it works. It would still be nice for TiVo to write a native Windows app, but since that’s probably not going to happen anytime soon I’ll rely on TiVo through the BlueStacks emulator for now.