Author Archives: Rob Caruso

Make Google TV more you with personalized profiles

If you're like me, you live in a house where each person has their own taste in entertainment. Everyone brings their likes, dislikes and “no WAYs'' to the sofa. To keep everyone in the house happy -- whether that's your partner, kids, other family members or roommates -- we’re bringing features to Google TV that will make TV a little more tailored for whoever’s sitting on the couch.

TV screen with 4 heads showing different profiles in circles.

Set up a personalized profile.

Create a space for your own tastes

Google TV profiles let everyone in your home enjoy their own personalized space with their Google Account. With a personalized profile, you’ll get TV show and movie recommendations just for you, easy access to your personal watchlist and help from your Google Assistant.

Recommendations tailored to you, and only you: As you watch TV, your profile takes into account your interests and preferences to help you discover more of what’s out there for you. And for the little ones, you can always set up a kids profile to help them access a fun collection of movies and shows under your guidance.

Access to your own watchlist: When a friend tips you off to a hot new show, you can always add it to your watchlist to save it for later. Each Google Account has its own watchlist, so your finds will show up right in your profile and stay separate from your other’s lists in your household.

Help from your Google Assistant: Ask for recommendations by saying, “what should I watch?” or get help streamlining your day by saying “show me my day.” Your profile is linked to your account’s Google Assistant, so you’ll get the personalized answers you are looking for.

And setting up a new profile is easy. Your downloaded apps and app login details will be used across profiles, so you won’t have to start from scratch each time you set up a new profile.

TV screen showing a photo of three kids as the background, with a rectangle square overlay naming the location.

Stay up to date at a glance in ambient mode.

Stay up to date even when your TV is idle

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.

Pick your favorite live TV service

With Google TV’s Live and For you tabs, your favorite live shows are just a click away. To give you more live TV provider options, we’ve now integrated Philo into our live TV features, in addition to YouTube TV and SLING TV. To see your shows on the Live TV tab and in your recommendations, just add your Live TV provider.

Support for profiles and glanceable cards in ambient mode will begin rolling out on Chromecast with Google TV and Google TVs from Sony and TCL soon. Profiles will be available globally, while ambient modes cards will be first available in the U.S. only. Philo is now available as an integrated live TV provider in the US. We hope all of this makes your TV feel a little moreyou.

Some features and availability may vary by OEM and/or device manufacturer.