What TV do I have?
Open this page on the television and it identifies the platform underneath: Tizen, webOS, Android TV, Fire TV or Roku. That tells you which app store you have, what apps you can install, and roughly which generation your set belongs to.
Your TV
This check needs JavaScript to run. The guide below still explains how to identify each platform by eye, so the page is useful either way.
Identifying...
Details
Show the raw identification string
The user agent your browser sends. Occasionally useful in a support request.
What this check can and cannot tell you
Websites are told far less about your TV than people expect. Here is the line.
Not knowable from a browser. No TV reports its model to a web page. Anyone claiming to read it is inferring it, and usually guessing. Your model number is on a sticker on the back and in the TV's own settings menu.
Usually yes. Samsung and LG both report their platform, and often the version. This is the reliable part.
A rough guide only. The version-to-year table below is the vendor's own release schedule, but sets ship with whatever version was current at manufacture and update unevenly, so it dates the software rather than the television.
No. A browser sees a resolution in pixels, not a diagonal in inches, and never learns whether the panel is OLED, QLED or plain LCD.
They describe that device. To identify the television, the page has to be open on the television.
Identify your TV platform by eye
If you cannot open a browser on the set, the home screen gives it away immediately.
Samsung: Tizen
A horizontal bar of apps along the bottom of the screen, with a second row appearing above it as you highlight things. The remote has a colored Samsung Smart Hub button. App store is called Samsung Apps.
LG: webOS
A ribbon of colored app tiles across the bottom. The remote is the Magic Remote with a pointer you wave at the screen and a scroll wheel. App store is the LG Content Store.
Android TV or Google TV
Rows of content recommendations filling the whole screen, with a Google Assistant microphone button on the remote. Apps come from the Google Play Store. Used by Sony, Philips, TCL and Hisense among others.
Amazon Fire TV
A dark blue interface heavy on Prime Video, with an Alexa button on the remote. Apps come from the Amazon Appstore. Either a stick plugged into HDMI, or built into the television.
Roku
A simple purple grid of square channel tiles, and a remote with a purple or grey directional pad and shortcut buttons for streaming services. Used on TCL, Hisense and Sharp sets as well as Roku's own players.
Something older
A sparse menu with only a handful of apps, or nothing beyond a web browser, usually means a pre-2015 set or an HbbTV-only television. These will not receive new apps.
Why it matters which platform you have
It decides which apps you can install
Each platform has its own store and its own catalogue. An app on Android TV may simply not exist for webOS, and there is no way around that other than plugging in a streaming stick.
It decides how long you keep getting updates
Streaming services drop support for older platforms every year. Knowing your platform version tells you how exposed you are, and it is usually the reason an app suddenly stops working on a TV that is otherwise fine.
A streaming stick resets the clock
If your TV's platform is the limitation but the panel is still good, a Fire TV stick, Chromecast or Roku player gives you a current platform for very little money. The television carries on as a screen.
Questions people ask
Can you tell me my exact TV model?
No, and neither can any other website. Televisions do not report their model number to web pages. What we can identify reliably is the platform and often its version, which is what actually determines the apps and features you get. For the model number, look at the sticker on the back of the set, or open Settings and find Support or About.
How do I find my TV's model number and year?
Samsung and LG both encode the year in the model number. On Samsung, the letter after the screen size indicates the year, so a UE55TU7100 is a 2020 set. On LG, the digit after the series does the same, and OLED55C1 is a 2021 model. The full number is printed on the back of the television and repeated in the settings menu.
Why does it say this is not a TV?
Because you are reading this on a phone, tablet or computer. The check reports the device the page is actually open on. To identify your television, open its own web browser and go to tv-test.com.
My TV shows as unidentified. What does that mean?
It is a Smart TV, but it does not announce its platform in a way we recognize. That is most common on older sets, on regional brands, and on some HbbTV-only televisions. The raw identification string, expandable above, may still contain a clue.
Does knowing my platform tell me if I can get a particular app?
It tells you which app store to look in, which is most of the answer. Beyond that, availability depends on the individual app's support for your platform version, and on your region. Older platform versions are dropped by streaming services regularly.
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