Skip to main content

Google TV is adding personalized profiles, better info in ambient mode

Get ready for recommendations on Google TV to become better, and more personalized, with the addition of top-level profiles. Starting first with Chromecast with Google TV and smart TVs from Sony and TCL, you’ll soon get recommendations that are relevant to you instead of, say, your spouse or kids — which is important for the obvious reasons.

The personalization will extend into watchlists, too, as well as Google Assistant, so you’ll get more of the right results more of the time.

The addition will mean adding a full Google account to Google TV. Google didn’t go into details on if there’d be any sort of password protection, or if one user will be able to hop into another’s account unfettered. It did, however, say that downloaded apps and logins can be used across profiles, so you’re not effectively setting up a new device two or three or four times for each user.

Google TV ambient cards.
Google

Also getting a sprucing up is one the most underrated features of Google TV — ambient mode. You’ll start to get more personalized information and recommendations there, too, including weather, news, sports scores, and more. Here’s how Google puts it:

Google TV already lets you see your favorite memories from Google Photos when your TV is idle. Now, we’re making ambient mode more useful by bringing in more personalized information and recommendations at a glance. From the latest game score to the weather, news, and more, your TV will keep you up to date with info based on your profile. You can even scroll through the on-screen shortcuts to jump into your photos or start playing your music and podcasts with just a click. If you are off for a longer break, your TV will shift fully to your ambient mode’s photos or curated artwork after a few minutes.

One more addition coming with this update is the inclusion of low-cost streaming service Philo into the live TV provider options, along with YouTube TV and Sling TV. So if you’re using the $25-a-month streaming service, you’ll see it integrated right into the Google TV home screen.

Google says that profiles will be available to everyone globally, while the ambient mode cards will only be available in the United States at first.

Editors' Recommendations

Phil Nickinson
Section Editor, Audio/Video
Phil spent the 2000s making newspapers with the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal, the 2010s with Android Central and then the…
You Asked: how to turn off motion smoothing; Disney+ Atmos issues on Chromecast
You Asked Ep 19 Feature

In this installment of You Asked: When should you plug something into your soundbar instead of directly into your TV? How do you turn off motion smoothing on your folks' TVs? What should you know when gifting a gaming console? And what happened to Disney+ on Chromecast with Google TV?

Motion smoothing quick guide

Read more
Don’t like giant ads on Amazon Fire TV? Then don’t buy one
A promo for a show on Amazon Freevee.

Oh, no! A full-screen promotion for a service on the platform you basically got for free! Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

There’s been a little bit of a kerfuffle of late regarding Amazon Fire TV and advertising. Not that it has ads on the home screen, mind you. That’s not exactly new. But, rather, that you’re getting pushed onto a full-screen promo when coming out of sleep mode because you’re landing right atop the featured carousel, which in turns triggers the full-screen ad. Previously, you’d have to click up into the carousel for it to expand.

Read more
Everyone is missing the point on streaming video
App icons on the Apple TV homescreen.

Yes, there are a million ways to watch streaming video. And that's the way it should be. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

There's a tremendous amount of gnashing of teeth anytime a streaming service increases its prices. There's a scramble by media outlets to update SEO-friendly posts and quickly offer alternatives, as if this was all a zero-sum game and you're able to watch the same things on all the services. Or maybe it's time to go back to cable altogether because streaming video is just too darn expensive and it's too hard to find what you want to watch. We're in one of those times in which it feels like all the services are increasing all the prices, to the extent that Engadget has plainly asked "Is streaming even still worth it?"

Read more