Televisions, streaming sticks, and set-top boxes with Android TV have access to millions of applications through the Google Play Store. However, there are some situations where you might want to sideload your own applications (APKs). Maybe you want the latest app updates quicker than the Play Store rolls them out, or you want to try an application that isn't officially available for your specific device.

Android TV supports a mechanism called 'sideloading,' where you can install any valid APK file, no matter where it came from. You can even install most applications designed for Android smartphones and tablets — though whether or not they will be usable is another question entirely.

The Play Store on Android TV

The only part you need to figure out is if your Hisense TV runs Android TV, or some other platform. Some of Hisense's televisions come with Roku OS, which is a completely different operating system that can't run APK files. If you have the Google Play Store on your TV, you definitely have Android TV.

We have a general guide for sideloading applications on Android TV at the link below. The instructions work for any Android TV device, so you don't need to worry about doing anything different for your Hisense model.