Yes, an Android TV box makes a cheap digital sign. Install a signage app from Google Play, pair it with your account, and the box plays your content. Six apps have a free plan, and a $39.98 Walmart onn is enough hardware for most screens.
What a box cannot do is look after itself. No Play Store app can restart it or switch the TV off from a distance, so free Android signage fits screens you can walk up to.
Free digital signage apps for Android TV
Every app below installs from Google Play on Android TV and Google TV boxes. Prices are per screen per month.
Yodeck
- Free plan: 1 screen, for as long as the account has only that screen.
- Paid from: $8, monthly or billed annually.
- Android: 5.0 or later.
- Watch out for: the free plan ends when you add a second screen.
Play Digital Signage
- Free plan: the first screen, if you leave a review within 30 days.
- Paid from: $7.20 billed annually (4 screens), $8 monthly.
- Android: Android TV and Google TV from Google Play.
- Watch out for: on Android 10 and later the app needs "Display over other apps" to open itself.
AbleSign
- Free plan: no screen limit, 500 MB of storage (about 15 short videos).
- Paid from: $9.99 a month for 100 GB of storage.
- Android: 7.0 or later.
- Watch out for: 500 MB fills fast with video.
DigitalSignage.com
- Free plan: 3 screens, 1 GB of storage.
- Paid from: $3 (mediaCLOUD+).
- Android: its SignPlayer app for Android TV.
- Watch out for: 1 GB is shared by all three screens.
PosterBooking
- Free plan: 10 screens, with a watermark on screen.
- Paid from: $6.49 for each screen after the tenth.
- Android: Android TV and Google TV from Google Play.
- Watch out for: the watermark stays on the free plan.
Fugo
- Free plan: 1 test screen, with a watermark.
- Paid from: $20 billed annually, $24 monthly.
- Android: Google TV from Google Play, with a kiosk option.
- Watch out for: the free screen is for testing, not for customers.
OptiSigns has 3 free screens, but not on an Android TV box you bought yourself: its free plan runs on OptiSigns' own players and computers.
The cheapest paid Android signage apps
If no free plan fits, these cost the least per screen, read from each vendor's pricing page:
| App | Billed annually | Billed monthly |
|---|---|---|
| DigitalSignage.com mediaCLOUD+ | Monthly only | $3 |
| Juuno Business | Monthly only | $5 |
| Brix | $6 | $8 |
| PosterBooking (after 10 screens) | Monthly only | $6.49 |
| Play Digital Signage Essential | $7.20 (4 screens) | $8 |
| Yodeck Basic | $8 | $8 |
| OptiSigns Standard | $9 | $10 |
Xibo charges £3.50 per display per month (GBP only), with its Android player included.
For full plans and features, see the cheapest digital signage software and free digital signage software.
Which Android box to buy
| Box | Price | Choose it for |
|---|---|---|
| Walmart onn Full HD | $29.98 | A 1080p TV with images and simple video |
| Walmart onn 4K | $39.98 | Most screens |
| Google TV Streamer | $149.99 | A screen that needs wired Ethernet |
| NVIDIA SHIELD TV | $149.99 | Heavy video playlists |
Setup on the onn, with the four settings that keep a sign on, is in digital signage on the Walmart onn. The same steps work on any Google TV box. For Chromecast and the Google TV Streamer, see Chromecast digital signage.
Avoid no-name "Android TV" boxes without Google Play. They often run an old Android version with no security updates, and you install apps from a file (APK) by hand. Check the box shows the Google Play Store before you buy it.
What a signage app can and cannot do on an Android box
A Play Store app runs as an ordinary app. Android keeps device control for the system and for apps set up as the "device owner".
| Task | On an Android TV box | On a managed signage player |
|---|---|---|
| Play, schedule and update content | Yes | Yes |
| Open the app after a power cut | Yes, after you allow "Display over other apps" | Yes |
| Restart the signage app | Yes | Yes |
| Restart the box | No, unplug it | Yes |
| Turn the TV off and on (HDMI-CEC) | No, use the TV's own timer | Yes, on TVs that support it |
| Change Wi-Fi from a distance | No | Depends on the player |
| Stop staff opening YouTube | No, keep the remote | Yes, kiosk mode |
At closing time, a signage app on a box can only show a black screen. The TV stays on unless its own sleep timer turns it off.
Device-owner mode closes most of that gap on a plain Android box: kiosk lock and remote restart. It needs a factory-reset box with no Google account, an app installed from a file, and a command sent from a computer.
Where Brix fits
Brix runs on Android TV and Google TV boxes:
- On the box, open Google Play, search for "Brix Digital Signage" and install it. It needs Android 6.0 or later. A box without Google Play takes the APK from Brix downloads.
- Open the app. It shows a pairing code.
- In the CMS, go to Screens > Add screen > Pair a hardware device and type the code.
- Allow "Display over other apps" when Brix asks, so it reopens after a power cut.
On a Play Store install, Brix plays, schedules and updates content, restarts its own app, sets the volume and reports the box's memory, storage and network. It cannot restart the box or switch the TV off. Its screenshots show video as black unless someone at the TV allows screen capture.
For screens at other sites, use the Amazon Signage Stick ($99.99) instead. There, Brix restarts the stick, turns the TV off and on over HDMI-CEC, sets Wi-Fi and the time zone, and rotates the whole display for portrait, video included. Compare the two in Signage Stick vs Walmart onn.
Brix costs $6 per screen per month billed annually, or $8 billed monthly. It has no free plan, so for one screen at $0 a month, a free app above suits you better. Moving from another app? Brix moves your content, playlists and screens for you, free, usually in a day.
Start a free 7-day Brix trial. No card needed.