ArtFrame

Setting up your TV for ArtFrameRemote

ArtFrameRemote turns a Google TV or Android TV into a gallery. It installs a small screensaver app called ArtFrame on your TV, fills it with museum art and photography, and can show an information screen with the time, weather, your calendar, markets and headlines.

To install ArtFrame, your Mac needs permission to talk to the TV. Android calls this developer mode with debugging turned on. This guide walks through every setting, once, start to finish. It takes about ten minutes.

The setup assistant in ArtFrameRemote (File › Set Up a TV…) shows the same steps. Keep this guide for reference, or if something doesn’t go as described.

Have a specific TV or streaming device? The TV guides have exact menus, quirks and fixes for Sony BRAVIA, TCL, Hisense, Philips, Sharp, Chromecast with Google TV, Google TV Streamer, NVIDIA SHIELD, onn. and Xiaomi, plus a compatibility table and a list of TVs that can’t run ArtFrame.

What you need

  • A Google TV or Android TV. That includes Sony BRAVIA, TCL, Hisense, Philips and Sharp TVs running Google TV or Android TV, and Chromecast with Google TV. Fire TV, Roku, Samsung (Tizen) and LG (webOS) TVs won’t work.
  • A Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, with ArtFrameRemote.
  • The TV and Mac on the same home network. Wi‑Fi or Ethernet both work.
  • Your TV remote.

Menu names below are from Google TV. Older Android TV menus differ slightly, and those differences are noted where they matter.

Step 1: Turn on Developer options

Developer options is a hidden menu. You unlock it by pressing one item seven times.

  1. On the TV’s home screen, open Settings (the gear icon, top right).
  2. Go to System › About. Older Android TV: Settings › Device Preferences › About.
  3. Scroll down to Android TV OS build. Older Android TV: Build.
  4. Select it and press OK on the remote seven times. After a few presses the TV shows how many steps are left; at the end it says “You are now a developer!”
  5. If the TV asks for your PIN, enter it.

If it says “You are already a developer”, Developer options was already on.

Can’t find it, or it says “Developer options are not available for this user”? You’re probably in a kids’ or restricted profile. Switch to the main account (the profile picture at the top right of the home screen) and try again.

Step 2: Turn on debugging

  1. Go back to Settings › System. Developer options is now near the bottom of the list. Older Android TV: Settings › Device Preferences › Developer options.
  2. Turn on USB debugging. Confirm the warning with OK. On TVs, this also allows connections over your home network, so you don’t need a cable.
  3. If your TV also lists ADB debugging or Network debugging (Sony BRAVIA and some others do), turn that on too.

Newer TVs with Wireless debugging only. Some TVs don’t accept network connections through USB debugging and instead have Wireless debugging. This is normal on Android 14 Google devices: Chromecast with Google TV after its 2025 update, the Google TV Streamer, and onn. boxes. If Step 4 says the TV refused the connection, come back here:

  1. Turn on Wireless debugging in Developer options.
  2. Open it and choose Pair device with pairing code.
  3. Leave that screen up; you’ll type its code into ArtFrameRemote in Step 4.

Step 3: Find the TV’s address

ArtFrameRemote finds most TVs on its own. When the setup assistant opens, your TV should be listed by name with its address underneath. Pick it and skip to Step 4.

If your TV isn’t listed:

  1. On the TV, open Settings › Network & Internet.
  2. Select the Wi‑Fi network you’re connected to (or Ethernet).
  3. Note the IP address, for example 192.168.1.40.
  4. In ArtFrameRemote, choose Not listed? Enter its address and type it in.

If ArtFrameRemote stops connecting one day, check the address again, or reserve a fixed address for the TV in your router’s settings (often called DHCP reservation).

Step 4: Connect and allow this Mac

  1. In the setup assistant’s Connect step, click Connect.
  2. Look at the TV. It shows “Allow USB debugging?” with your Mac’s key fingerprint.
  3. Tick Always allow from this computer, then choose OK. Without the tick, the TV asks again every time.
  4. ArtFrameRemote notices by itself and shows Connected to your TV’s name.

If you’re using Wireless debugging instead:

  1. In the Connect step, open My TV uses Wireless debugging with a pairing code.
  2. Enter the IP address & port and the 6‑digit code from the TV’s Pair device with pairing code screen.
  3. Enter the IP address & Port from the main Wireless debugging screen. It’s a different port from the pairing one.
  4. Click Pair and Connect. Pairing codes expire after a minute or so; if pairing fails, ask the TV for a new code.

Step 5: Install ArtFrame and make it the screensaver

  1. In the Install ArtFrame step, click Install. It takes a few seconds; nothing is downloaded from an app store.
  2. In the Screensaver step, click Use ArtFrame. Google TV only offers its own screensavers in Settings, so ArtFrameRemote switches it for you. Your previous screensaver is remembered, and you can switch back from the TV page at any time.
  3. Click Show It Now to see it straight away. Until you add art, it shows a short message.

Step 6: Make sure the screen stays on long enough

Two TV settings decide whether you ever see the screensaver.

Screensaver delay. How long the TV waits, with no remote presses, before the screensaver starts. Set it in ArtFrameRemote under TV Settings › Power & Screensaver › Start screensaver after. Use 10 minutes or more: on Android TV 12 and later, delays under 6 minutes reportedly stop the screensaver from starting.

Energy saver. How long before the TV turns the screen off entirely. If this is shorter than the screensaver delay, the screen goes dark before the art appears. On the TV:

  1. Open Settings › System › Power and energy › Energy saver.
  2. Choose a time longer than the screensaver delay, or the longest option.

Note: a playing app, such as a paused video, can keep the TV from counting as idle. Go back to the home screen and the screensaver starts after the delay.

Step 7 (Sony BRAVIA only, optional): Picture, sound and power control

On Sony BRAVIA TVs, ArtFrameRemote can also adjust picture mode, brightness, the light sensor, volume and power from your Mac. This uses Sony’s own network control, which needs a key you choose. Other TVs skip this step.

  1. On the TV, open Settings › Network & Internet. Scroll down past the Wi‑Fi network list to Local network (it may be labeled Local network setup).
  2. Open Remote device settings and turn on Control remotely.
  3. Go back to Local network and open IP control:
    • Set Authentication to Normal and Pre-Shared Key.
    • Open Pre-Shared Key and type a key of your choice. Treat it like a password; anyone on your network with it can change TV settings.
  4. In ArtFrameRemote, open TV Settings, scroll to IP Control, and enter the same key. It’s stored in your Mac’s Keychain.
  5. Change any setting, for example Light sensor, to check it works. A green “The TV accepts changes from this Mac” line appears.

To use Wake from the Mac while the TV is off, also turn on Remote start. It’s in Settings › Network & Internet on most BRAVIA models, sometimes inside Local network or Remote device settings. It uses a little more power in standby.

Next: fill it with art

  • Artwork › Fetch Art downloads free paintings and photography that fit your screen, by theme (for example Deep Space, Impressionism, or the current season), by painter, or by search. Then click Send to TV.
  • You can also drag your own images into the Artwork page.
  • HUD sets up the information screen: your city, a private calendar link, stock symbols and news feeds. Under Show, choose whether it alternates with the art or replaces it.
  • TV Settings › ArtFrame controls timing, the blur behind paintings, dimming, and night hours.

Undoing it all

You can turn any of this off; nothing is permanent.

To… Do this
Go back to your old screensaver ArtFrameRemote › TV › Restore Previous Screensaver
Remove ArtFrame from the TV TV: Settings › Apps › See all apps › ArtFrame › Uninstall
Stop this Mac from connecting TV: Developer options › Revoke USB debugging authorizations
Turn off debugging TV: Developer options › USB debugging off (and ADB debugging / Wireless debugging)
Hide Developer options again TV: turn the switch at the top of Developer options off
Turn off Sony network control TV: Local network › Remote device settings › Control remotely off

ArtFrame keeps working as a screensaver with debugging turned off. You only need debugging on when you want to change things from your Mac: sending new art, changing the HUD, or updating ArtFrame.

Troubleshooting

“The TV didn’t accept the connection.” Check USB debugging (and ADB debugging if your TV has it) is on, and that the TV and Mac are on the same network. Guest Wi‑Fi networks often block devices from seeing each other. If it still fails, use the Wireless debugging pairing option in Step 4.

No “Allow USB debugging?” prompt appears on the TV. The prompt only shows while the TV is on and awake. Press a button on the remote, then click Connect again. If you previously chose Cancel, go to Developer options › Revoke USB debugging authorizations, then connect again.

It worked yesterday, now the Mac can’t find the TV. The TV’s address probably changed; see the tip in Step 3. Some TVs also switch debugging off after a system update, so check Step 2.

The screensaver never appears. Check Step 6: the Energy saver time must be longer than the screensaver delay, and the delay should be 10 minutes or more. On TCL Google TVs, also allow ArtFrame to auto-launch (see the TCL guide). Also check the TV page in ArtFrameRemote says ArtFrame is the screensaver. TV system updates sometimes reset it; if so, click Use ArtFrame as Screensaver again.

The picture looks dark. TVs with a Light sensor dim everything in a dim room, and OLED TVs dim still images on their own to protect the screen. On Sony BRAVIA, turn off Light sensor in TV Settings › Picture. On any TV, lower Blur behind paintings and HUD in TV Settings › ArtFrame.

A “Verify it’s you” Google sign-in screen appears. That comes from Google, not ArtFrame: your Google account needs you to sign in again on the TV. Choose Sign in and follow the prompts on your phone.

What turning on debugging allows

Debugging lets a computer you’ve approved install apps and change settings on the TV. Two things keep that in check: the TV only accepts computers you allow on its screen, and only devices on your home network can reach it. To close it off completely, use Revoke USB debugging authorizations and turn debugging off when you’re done; ArtFrame keeps running.