STREAMING INTERFACE · CHECKED 2026-08-28

Your TV home screen.
How much is actually yours?

Roku and Google TV both let users change parts of the experience, but neither currently provides a completely promotion-free mainstream home interface through its documented settings.

LESSBOTHER ANSWER

No winner yet. Both impose commercial surfaces in different ways.

Roku documents Home Screen and screensaver ads; hiding an eligible Home Screen ad replaces it with another ad. Google TV's Apps only mode removes personalized recommendations, but Google says sponsored content and teasers remain—and Search and Google Assistant become unavailable.

ROKU

Ads remain

Roku lets users hide certain display ads and limit sensitive categories, but hidden Home Screen ads are replaced and some ad types cannot be controlled through these preferences.

Commercial surface persists

GOOGLE TV

Apps-only compromise

Personalized recommendations disappear in Apps only mode, while sponsored content and teasers remain and several platform features are disabled.

Cleaner mode has tradeoffs

VERDICT

No strong winner

LessBother needs the Apple TV 4K and other current alternatives on the same criteria before declaring a best-current streaming interface.

Research remains open

Primary evidence

Roku — manage ad preferences updated 2026-06-18 Google TV — Apps only mode checked 2026-08-28