A file manager built for the big screen
Client
MaximusDevs
Year
2026
Duration
2 months
Platform
Android TV
Technologies
Maximus Explorer is a native Android TV file manager with a built-in web upload server. Browse internal storage and SD cards from the couch with the remote, drag files from a laptop or phone browser straight onto the TV over Wi-Fi, and install APKs — all wrapped in a cinematic, D-pad-first dark interface.
Android TV and set-top boxes ship without a decent file explorer. Getting files onto a TV usually means USB sticks, cloud accounts, or adb, and most file managers are built for touchscreens — not a 10-foot interface driven by a remote control.
A TV-native app built entirely in Jetpack Compose for TV with rigorous D-pad focus management, paired with an embedded HTTP server that turns any browser on the same network into a drag-and-drop upload client. No cloud, no account, no cable — just open the URL and drop your files.
No USB sticks, no cloud accounts, no cables — just your TV and any browser on the same network.
Select Web Upload on the TV. The app spins up a local server and shows you an address like http://192.168.1.42:8080.
On your phone or laptop, open that URL in any browser. You get a clean drag-and-drop upload page, themed and localized to match the app.
Drag files in and watch the progress bars. They land in the TV's Uploads folder, ready to open, play, or install.
A two-panel, D-pad-optimized file grid with color-coded type icons for folders, media, documents, archives, and APKs.
An embedded HTTP server lets you drag and drop files from any browser on the same Wi-Fi network straight onto the TV — no cloud required.
Sideload apps directly: open an .apk and install it through the system package installer with secure FileProvider sharing.
Create folders, rename, delete with confirmation, and copy or move files across folders with a clipboard-style flow.
Built for the 10-foot experience: precise focus handling, long-press and Menu-key actions, and a landscape leanback layout.
Dark and light themes plus full English and Spanish localization across both the TV app and the web upload page.
D-pad file browser with color-coded type icons
Open this address in any browser on your network
Web upload server with a scan-and-go address
Context actions: open, copy, move, rename, delete
Theme, language, permissions, and app info
A NanoHTTPD server runs inside the app and starts and stops with the Web Upload screen's lifecycle. It serves a theme- and language-aware HTML upload page, accepts multipart uploads, and exposes a small status API — all on the local network with no external backend.
The entire interface is built with Jetpack Compose and Compose for TV — a fixed two-panel layout with a persistent sidebar and a content panel, designed around D-pad navigation and proper focus traversal rather than touch.
TV hardware varies wildly, so the app adapts. A rich animated splash runs on capable devices while low-end boxes get a safe fallback, a crash-loop breaker disables GPU effects if they fail, and a global exception handler captures stack traces for diagnostics.
Local-network transfers with no accounts or internet
Any browser on the network becomes an upload client
Runs on modern Android TVs and older set-top boxes
Full English and Spanish across app and web page
Anywhere files need to reach a TV without the usual friction, Maximus Explorer makes it effortless.
Install APKs the Play Store doesn't carry, straight from the TV.
Push movies, music, and photos from your laptop in seconds.
Open PDFs and presentations on the big screen for the room.
Browse, organize, and clear out internal storage and SD cards.
Bring a real file manager to Fire TV and generic Android boxes.
Move files device-to-device without accounts or the internet.
We build polished, performant native apps — for Android TV, mobile, and beyond — that feel right at home on any device. Let's build yours.