Your Google TV has an expiration date. Here’s how to find it

Released Oct 22, 2026, 2:01 PM EDT

Cory Gunther is a senior author and Newsletter Editor at Valnet, covering advanced tech, Android, and more for How-To Geek. He’s covered Android, automobiles, and innovation for over a years. When he’s not evaluating the most recent gizmo, you can discover him off-roading in his Toyota truck, repairing stated truck, or doing something outdoors with loved ones.

He’s covered CES, SEMA, and MWC and evaluated many phones, TVs, speakers, EVs, e-bikes, and more. Before Valnet, Cory worked for GottaBeMobileHis writing has actually likewise appeared on SlashGearInputMagand AndroidCentral. He’s edited 9,000 short articles.

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Inform me if this sounds familiar. You have an older clever television that’s no longer suitable with your preferred streaming apps like Netflix, Prime Video, and others. It’s really relatively typical since absolutely nothing lasts permanently, and software application updates ultimately stop. That’s particularly real with electronic devices, which’s precisely why your Google television has an expiration date.

Software application updates aren’t constantly ensured, and ultimately, the software application on your television will not work the method it does today. While the majority of Samsung (Tizen OS) TVs are ensured to get updates for 3– 7 years, and numerous LG TVs will get 4, Google TV-powered sets are a various story. Here’s what you require to understand.

All Google TVs have an expiration date

The issue is figuring out when

Simply as the mobile phone in your pocket will ultimately stop getting software application assistance and updates, the television on your wall will, too. It’s inescapable, however finding out when that’ll occur gets a little challenging if you have a Sony, TCL, Hisense, or among numerous other brand names that run Google television or Android Television.

See, tech business just support items for a restricted time. Ultimately, innovation and software application develop, enhance, and progress, and those older items get left in the dust. There’s a factor Netflix reveals a list of TVs that are no longer supported every year or two, and the very same reasoning uses to the primary software application that powers your television.

Naturally, you can’t anticipate a television producer to support the software application on a television constantly. Ultimately, they require to offer the majority of the attention and top priority to more recent items, much better apps, and the current innovation.

Ultimately, your Google television will stop getting software application updates, security spots, and brand-new variations of Google television (the Android Television OS). As an outcome, it’ll slowly decrease and lose compatibility with your preferred apps, consisting of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Hulu, among others. Similar to your phone gets updates every couple of months and a larger OS upgrade annual, your television will too. Well, for a couple of years, a minimum of.

Here’s the issue. Many producers supply clear standards for basic software application updates and smaller sized security or upkeep updates, however Google does not.

Google does not mandate or need a set variety of years of software application updates, nor does it ensure a specific variety of security and upkeep updates. Rather, that’s left approximately the producer. Google offers the software application to partners like Sony or TCL, however it’s up to those brand names to keep gadgets upgraded.

The length of time does my Google television have?

Well, it depends

When you purchase a television from Samsung, LG, or Roku, each brand name determines the length of time it’ll support that television, and it can even differ by design. When it pertains to Google television gadgets, we’re in a comparable boat.

If you have a more recent Google Television Streamer, you’re assured at least 5 years of software application updates. And after that, when that time is up, you’ll still have the ability to utilize that gadget for many years to come, however you’ll be on the clock. And if you have a Google television from among its partners, the timeline is most likely even less. Here are a few of the most popular Google television brand names, and their assistance standards:

• Sony: Does not use a repaired company-wide warranty. Rather, assistance durations differ by design. Some 2025 and 2026 Sony Bravia Google Television designs will get 4 to 5 years of assistance, and will be excellent up until 2030 or beyond.
• TCL: Like Sony, TCL does not supply a particular long-lasting OS upgrade warranty for TVs. That stated, security updates are generally guaranteed for a minimum of 2 years from the television’s preliminary release date. Not the date you purchased it, however the year the television began shipping.
• Hisense: While the business guarantees 8 years of updates for its exclusive VIDAA OS, there are no particular times or dates for Google television gadgets, and assistance can differ by area. Anticipate around 2– 3 years of assistance.
• Xiaomi and Redmi: Like the others, Xiaomi does not have an official, multi-year warranty for its clever TVs running Google television or Android Television. It uses assistance timelines for phones, however not TVs.
• Phillips, RCA, Panasonic, Sharp, and more: Once again, more of the exact same. A lot of Google television makers supply 2– 3 years of software application updates, security spots, or upkeep releases.

At the end of the day, a lot of Google television gadgets will see 2– 3 years of software application or security updates, if not a bit more. To learn more, you’ll require to search for your precise design on its particular producer’s site. Simply do not be shocked if you do not discover anything. It’s not that huge of an offer, and there’s more to the story than that.

Your Google television will be great for several years to come

It’s not as bad as it sounds

Even if your Google television stops getting core Android OS upgrades from the producer, it must still get security and upkeep updates for a couple of years. Those will be either over-the-air, or some makers will let you download and flash brand-new firmware.

Even if your maker does not offer updates, Google will continue to upgrade the Google Television user interface, system apps, and the Play Store for a prolonged duration. Essentially, that expiration date does not matter much, and it’s a bit more fluid than a set variety of years.

I have a 2022 TCL Google Television, and it’s still working completely. I do not keep in mind the last time it got an upgrade. All my apps work, the Google Play Store still periodically updates apps, and it continues to be my go-to television in the garage. I stream NFL video games on YouTube television, Netflix for the kiddo, and all is great. It simply runs a little slower than a brand-new television.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that this isn’t an instant issue, however it’ll end up being a concern gradually. Your television will stay completely great, even without software application updates from the maker, however ultimately, app assistance will end up being the larger issue. In 2024, Netflix revealed that older wise TVs, Fire Television sticks, and Apple Television gadgets from around 2014 would stop working, implying TVs that were almost a years old would lose assistance. That’s about the going rate nowadays.

You’ll be great for a while

If you purchased a Google television within the in 2015, anticipate it to keep getting significant OS and security updates for a minimum of 2– 3 years. It’ll keep working for far longer, depending on the apps and services you utilize.

And in the coming years, or at some point in 2030, if your television is no longer getting software application assistance and apps like Disney+ or Netflix are no longer suitable, you’ll likely have the ability to merely purchase the current Fire television Stick, Google television dongle, or Roku box, plug it in, and it’ll be excellent as brand-new, filled with contemporary abilities.

The software application on your television will ultimately end up being too dated to run present apps, which is why streaming dongles are so popular. They restore old TVs and provide modern-day smarts.

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