How To Download Apps On A Smart Tv

The convenience of having a smart TV is that you don't have to use a separate device like a streaming stick or game console to access your favorite services. And while most Samsung smart TVs come with popular apps like Netflix preinstalled, they offer other apps to download too.

Let's see how to download apps on your Samsung smart TV to expand what you can do with it.

How to Download Apps on a Samsung Smart TV

To download apps, you'll need to have your TV connected to the internet via an Ethernet cable or wirelessly. As long as that's the case, hit the Home button on your remote to open the main menu. There, use the navigation pad to scroll over to and select Apps, which is on the left side of the menu.

This will open the Apps page (essentially the store and settings all in one), where you can see all the offerings available for your Samsung TV. Use the navigation page to look around the headings on the homepage, such as Editor's Choice and Most Popular.

If you scroll to the bottom, you'll see other groups of apps, like Music & Radio and Sports. There's even a selection of games, if you really want to play those with a TV remote for some reason.

If you can't find the app you're looking for by scrolling through the menu, select the Search magnifying glass icon at the top-right to enter a query.

When you open an app's page, you'll see information about it, like its size, date of last update, screenshots, and a brief description. To install the app to your TV, simply hit the big Install button here.

This will immediately begin the download process, then install the app to your TV. You'll see a notification at the top of your screen when it's done.

How to Open Installed Apps on Your Samsung TV

You'll find all the apps on your TV listed under the Downloaded App section of the main Apps menu mentioned above. Your three most recently used apps also appear under Recent when you select the Apps icon from the menu.

However, neither of these locations are convenient if you use a lot of apps. Thus, it's a good idea to add apps that you use regularly to your home screen. You'll see an Add to Home button on an app's page right after you install it.

To add one later, select the Settings gear at the top-right of the main Apps menu. This brings you to a page where you can see all the apps you've downloaded. Scroll down underneath one and choose Add to Home to place a shortcut to it on your main menu. You can move left and right to decide where you'd like it to go.

From this menu, you can also choose Reinstall to grab a fresh copy of the app, if it ever becomes damaged for some reason.

How to Keep Your Samsung TV Apps Updated

Finally, while on the Settings page, we recommend enabling the Auto Update option in the top-right. With this, you won't have to worry about updating apps manually.

Smart TV apps don't update nearly as often as apps on your smartphone or computer, but automatic updates mean you'll have one less task to worry about.

Installing Apps on a Samsung Smart TV, Made Simple

That's all it takes to install apps on your Samsung smart TV. While there's not a huge selection available, and some of the apps are poor-quality, now you know how to grab apps for services like Funimation that aren't preinstalled on your device.

If your smart TV doesn't offer the apps you need, it might be time to look at an alternative streaming platform with more options.

Image Credit: Manuel Esteban/Shutterstock

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