Google TV User Profiles Might Finally Be Arriving Soon

Google TV, which launched with the newly redesigned Chromecast, is supposed to offer an upgraded Android TV experience even while being based on Android TV underneath. That said, it ironically lacked some features that Android TV has long had. Google did eventually address one of those when it rolled out Kid Profiles to put parents at ease. Still missing, however, is support for multiple grownup profiles, something that may finally be coming soon to Google TV, or at least hopefully soon.

Although TVs are often viewed as family or group devices, not everyone has the same tastes when it comes to entertainment. The advent of smart TVs and their myriad content sources made things a bit more personal and gave rise to the need for different profiles for different users to keep their content from mixing up with others.

With platforms like Android TV and Google TV, however, the need is even greater because of the recommendation systems that take into account users' viewing and search histories. When Google TV launched, it lacked any such profile support even while it allowed multiple Google accounts to be signed into the same device. The end result is that only the main account's recommendations and history are considered.

Google TV will eventually support multiple user profiles and 9to5Google's examination of the latest APK hints that it might be coming sooner rather than later. The Google TV Home app apparently has text that points to preparations being made for rolling out this feature. When that will happen, however, is still anyone's guess.

The latest version of the app also hides preparations being made to improve the already existing kids profile support. There will be an onboarding tutorial for parents to guide them on how to create such profiles and, more importantly, how to hide inappropriate content from those profiles.