Digital signage on an Android TV box, display or tablet.
One APK turns an Android device into a signage player that locks itself full-screen, starts with the power, keeps playing when the network drops and installs its own updates. Pair it with a six-character code and it plays whatever you publish.
What the app does that a browser tab cannot
The APK is a thin native shell around the same web player every SignageStack screen runs. Everything it adds is for a screen on a wall that nobody is going to touch.
Kiosk mode
The player takes the whole screen, hides the system bars and keeps the display on. On a box provisioned as Device Owner, Android itself enforces the lock; on an ordinary box it falls back to screen pinning.
Starts with the power
It opens at boot, after a power cut and after its own updates. A supervisor service watches the player and brings it back if it ever disappears, so a box hidden behind a TV never needs a button pressed.
Repairs a frozen page
The page reports a heartbeat. When it stops, the app reloads the page, then rebuilds it, then restarts itself — and if all of that fails, it shows a built-in offline page that keeps retrying until the player is back.
Installs its own updates
It checks the release channel, downloads the new build and verifies it against the published SHA-256 hash before installing. On a Device Owner box that happens silently; elsewhere the screen asks the next person standing in front of it.
Keeps playing offline
Playlists, media and working hours are stored on the device. A dropped connection delays changes; it does not blank the screen. Apps that need the internet — a web page, a YouTube video — step aside until it returns.
Reachable when the page is not
Every five minutes the app checks in with SignageStack on its own, separately from the page it shows. A screen whose page has failed can still be reached and restarted by our support, without anyone going to the box.
From a box in a drawer to a playing screen
Install the APK
Download it on the device, or copy it across on a USB stick. Android asks before installing an app from outside the Play Store: allow it for the browser or file manager you are installing from.
Open it
The player starts full-screen and shows a six-character pairing code. On Android TV it also sits in the TV's own row of apps, so the remote can open it.
Pair it
In the dashboard, choose Add screen, type the code, name the screen and give it a playlist. It starts playing within seconds.
What the device needs
Most Android TV boxes sold today clear this easily. The ones worth avoiding are the cheapest: too little memory to play video smoothly all day, and no way to switch themselves back on after a power cut.
- Android 8.0 or newer
- 2 GB of RAM or more
- An HDMI output — or a screen of its own, on a display or tablet
- Wired ethernet if you can run the cable, 5 GHz Wi-Fi if you cannot
- Outbound HTTPS to the internet; no open ports, no VPN
- Automatic power-on after a power cut
Before you roll out a fleet
None of this matters for one screen on a trial. All of it matters on the twentieth.
Device Owner turns pinning into a lock
Provisioned as Device Owner, the app holds a kiosk lock that Android enforces and installs updates without asking anyone. It is set up once, on a freshly reset device, before any account is added — ask us and we will walk you through it.
Test one before you buy twenty
Kiosk mode, autostart and silent installs all rely on parts of Android that manufacturers change. The 21-day trial is long enough to find out whether a model behaves — before it is on every wall.
One file for every screen
The same APK runs on every device, and each one pairs with its own code. Rolling out is: install it everywhere, then type each screen's code into the dashboard.
Android questions
No. It is a signed APK you download from this site and install directly, once — after that it updates itself from our release channel.
Fire TV runs its own version of Android and can install an APK, but we have not qualified one, so we do not promise it. For a single screen the trial will tell you quickly; for a fleet, buy an Android TV box.
Only if it cannot install an APK. A TV running Android TV or Google TV takes the app directly. A TV on Tizen or webOS cannot — put a small Android box behind it.
The screen keeps playing. The playlist, its media and its working hours live on the device, so an outage delays changes rather than blanking the screen. Apps that need a live connection step aside until it returns, and the screen catches up on its own.
Other ways to run a screen
- WindowsAn app for the PC behind the screen: full-screen, started with Windows, restarted if it freezes, and updated by itself.
- MacA Mac mini or iMac as a signage player, with the four macOS settings that keep it running unattended.
- BrowserNothing to install: open the web player in any current browser, pair it, and it plays — offline too.
- What hardware to buyWhat to look for in a box or a display, and what is not worth paying for.
From the blog
- Android TV box for digital signage: what to buy and what to skipWhat an Android TV box for digital signage needs, what to skip, kiosk mode and Device Owner in plain words, and how to test one before buying twenty.
- Smart TV digital signage: which TVs can run it on their ownWhich smart TVs run digital signage by themselves, when a Samsung or LG needs an Android box, and where a USB-stick slideshow stops being enough.
Three steps between a blank TV and a live one.
No server to run, no licence per seat, nothing to install on your network. A display, a power socket and an internet connection.