How to watch porn on a smart TV (every method, any brand)

You have a smart TV and you want to watch porn on the big screen. Simple enough, except when you open the TV’s app store and there is no porn app to install. That, however, should not be surprising, as Samsung, LG, Google TV, Fire TV and Roku all ban adult apps from their official stores, so getting porn onto a smart TV always comes down to one of a few workarounds rather than a download.

This guide is the only map you’ll need to choose the best method for your tech. It explains the four methods that actually work, shows you which one fits your specific TV brand, and points you to our full step-by-step guide for each route. If you already know your device, jump straight to it: Chromecast, Google TV and Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV or AirPlay from an iPhone.

Is there a porn app for smart TVs?

No,not in the official app store, on any major platform. Samsung’s Tizen store, LG’s webOS store, the Google TV Play Store, Amazon’s Fire TV Appstore and the Roku Channel Store all prohibit pornographic apps, so you will never find a ‘Pornhub’ or ‘xHamster’ app to download the way you would Netflix. Anyone selling you a paid ‘smart TV porn app’ from an official store is selling you something that does not exist.

That sounds like bad news, but it is not. The web has everything the apps would, and every platform gives you at least one way to reach it. There are four, and which ones are open to you depends entirely on your TV brand.

The one thing to understand: every method below is a way around the app-store ban, not an app you install from the store. Once that clicks, the rest is easy. You are simply choosing between a browser, a cast, a sideload or a stick.

How to watch porn on a smart TV: the four methods

Every route to porn on a smart TV is one of these four. Skim them, then check the brand table below to see which apply to your set.

1. Use the TV’s web browser

If your TV has a built-in web browser — Samsung and LG both do — you can go straight to any adult site and play video with no extra hardware or phone involved. It is the most self-contained method: no casting, no second device, nothing to install. The trade-off is that TV browsers are slow to type on and the on-screen keyboard is a chore, so it suits sites you visit often more than casual browsing. More on which brands have a usable browser below.

2. Cast or AirPlay from your phone

This is the easiest method for most people, and it works with almost every TV made in the last few years. You find the video on your phone and send it to the TV: Google Cast from an Android phone, or AirPlay from an iPhone or iPad. Your phone does the browsing and the TV does the playing. For the full walkthrough and which sites cast cleanly, see our guides to casting porn with Chromecast (Android) and AirPlaying porn (Apple).

3. Sideload an app (Android TV and Fire TV only)

Two platforms — Google TV / Android TV and Amazon Fire TV — are built on Android underneath, which means you can install adult apps directly onto the TV from outside the official store (‘sideloading’). This gives you a proper on-TV app experience without a phone in the loop. It is the most involved method and only these two platforms support it. Full instructions are in our guides to porn on Google TV and Android TV and porn on Amazon Fire TV.

4. Add a cheap streaming stick

If your TV is older, locked down or has no browser (Roku TVs and some budget sets), the cheapest fix is to plug a streaming stick into a spare HDMI port. A Google TV or Fire TV stick adds both casting and sideloading; an Apple TV adds flawless AirPlay. For $30 to $50 you turn any ‘dumb’ or restrictive TV into one that handles porn easily, and you get a better interface than most built-in smart-TV software anyway.

The best method for your TV brand

Smart TV is an umbrella term for several different operating systems, and the method that works depends on which one your set runs. Here is the quick lookup:

TV / platform	Web browser	Sideload apps	Cast / AirPlay	Best method
Samsung (Tizen)	✓	✗	✓	Web browser or cast
LG (webOS)	✓	✗	✓	Web browser or AirPlay
Sony / TCL / Philips (Google TV)	✓	✓	✓	Sideload or cast
Amazon (Fire TV)	✓	✓	Omni / 4-Series only	Sideload an app
Roku TV	✗	✗	✓	Cast or AirPlay
Vizio (SmartCast)	✗	✗	✓	Cast or AirPlay
Apple TV (box)	✓	✗	✓	AirPlay from an iPhone

Once you know your method, follow the full guide for your device:

• Samsung or LG: use the browser (below), or cast from your phone
• Google TV / Android TV (Sony, TCL, Philips, Hisense): our Google TV & Android TV guide
• Amazon Fire TV: our Fire TV guide
• Roku TV: our Roku guide, or cast to it
• Any Android phone: our Chromecast casting guide
• iPhone or iPad: our AirPlay guide

Which smart TVs have a web browser?

The browser method only works if your TV has one, and not all do. Here is where the big platforms stand:

• Samsung (Tizen): yes — a full web browser is built in, and it plays standard HTML5 video well.
• LG (webOS): yes — the built-in browser handles adult sites and video without extra setup.
• Google TV / Android TV: no full browser out of the box, but because it is Android you can install one (or sideload an app instead).
• Amazon Fire TV: yes — Amazon’s Silk browser (and Firefox) are available, so a TV browser is one tap away.
• Roku: no — Roku has no web browser at all, which is why casting or AirPlay is the route on a Roku TV.

If you have a Samsung or LG, the browser is genuinely the simplest option: open it, go to your site, done. On Roku and Vizio, skip the browser idea entirely and cast from your phone instead.

What to watch on the big screen

Whichever method you use, the sites are the same ones you already know. The free tube sites — Pornhub, xHamster and xVideos — all use standard HTML5 video, so they play in a TV browser and cast cleanly. For an ad-free, higher-production experience, a subscription service like Adult Time streams beautifully to a big screen and is also available natively on Roku.

We break down exactly which sites cast without a fight — and which throw a black screen — in our guide to the best sites for casting to a TV. If live content is what you are after, our best cam sites roundup covers the platforms that stream live to the big screen.

Smart TV porn troubleshooting

• There is no porn app in my TV’s store: there never will be, every platform bans them. Use the browser, cast from your phone, or sideload (Android TV / Fire TV only).
• The TV browser loads the site but the video will not play: the browser is choking on the player. Cast the same video from your phone instead, it almost always works where the TV browser stalls.
• My TV does not appear when I try to cast: the phone and TV must be on the same Wi-Fi network, and casting or AirPlay has to be switched on in the TV’s settings.
• My TV has no browser and will not cast: it is too old or too locked down — a $30–50 streaming stick is the fastest fix and upgrades the whole TV.
• The picture is buffering: use a 5GHz network if you can, and lower the site’s quality setting a notch if it will not settle.

Staying private on a shared TV

• In a TV browser, use a private or incognito window, and clear the browsing history and autocomplete afterwards — TV keyboards love to suggest your last site to the next person who types.
• When casting, cast from a private tab on your phone so nothing is stored on the TV, and do not sign into premium accounts on a communal set.
• If you sideload an app, put it in a folder or profile the rest of the household will not stumble into, and lock it if the platform allows.

Smart TV porn FAQs

Read next

• The best Chromecast porn sites — casting from Android
• Porn on Google TV and Android TV — apps and sideloading
• Roku porn channel access codes
• Watching porn on Amazon Fire TV
• How to AirPlay porn to your TV — the Apple route
• The best porn sites for iPhone
• The best Android porn apps