Profiles allow you to login to different accounts for different streaming apps, without having to login and logout consistently. Profiles use your Google account to create a new profile, unlike something like Netflix where you can create five or six profiles under the same account. This is great if you have a number of people using the same TV and want to keep things like recommendations separate. This is the same way that profiles work on YouTube TV actually. It’s a good way to utilize profiles, especially considering there is so little space available on most Google TV devices.
Google TV Profiles features
Profiles on Google TV will not affect the apps or logins for the device. So you’ll have the same apps across all profiles, except for kids profiles. Parents are able to choose which apps are shown to kids on their profile. So if you download an app on your Chromecast with Google TV, it will be available to all users. With the addition of profiles, most apps will not change their profile based on the Google TV profile. And that is largely due to the fact that there’s no API available for this. And something like Netflix won’t know that Susan has a different email from Carl, when their Netflix account is the same email. Google apps, however, will change based on which Google account is being used. Apps like YouTube and YouTube TV will automatically change. Profiles basically provide a “personalized space” on Google TV. So you’ll get personalized recommendations on your home page, instead of having your kids or significant other messing up your recommendations because they binge watched Bridgerton and you don’t care for that show.
How to add Profiles on Google TV
Go to the Google TV home screen. Next, scroll to the right, until your profile picture or initial is highlighted. Now, select your name. Then click on +Add Account. Then select Add an account. From there, you will be asked to sign into the Google account that you want to add. You’ll then follow the prompts to complete the profile setup. Finally, you’ll select the streaming services you want to use with this profile. And now you’re all set. Repeat the steps above to add additional profiles to your Google TV device.
How to remove a Profile on Google TV
Removing a profile on Google TV is quite easy to do. From the home screen, scroll tot he right until your profile picture or initial is highlighted. Now select Settings. Scroll down to Accounts & Sign In and select that. Find the account you want to remove and select it. Next, select Remove. Then Remove account. And that’s it. You have now removed that account. Your Chromecast with Google TV may do a restart after you do this. And according to Google “if you remove the profile you added most recently, your device will be factory reset”. So keep that in mind.
