A VPN on a Samsung or LG TV: what to do when there is no app

If your TV does not run Android TV inside, we have no app for it — and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Below, honestly: which paths are left, what each one costs you, and which popular advice does not work at all.

Why there is no app for Samsung and LG

We have one app of our own — for Android, version 7.0 or newer, and the same app runs on TVs and set-top boxes with Android TV. Samsung TVs run their own system, Tizen; LG TVs run webOS. Those are different systems: an Android app cannot be carried over, it has to be written again. We are not doing that and we are not naming dates — a promise we cannot keep is worse than an honest “no”.

“What about typing the settings in by hand?” A fair question: your account does hand out a config file, and on a computer it works. But a TV running its own system will not take it: our file carries protection against traffic recognition, which plain WireGuard does not have, and the firmware of such TVs only speaks the plain one. Routers are a different story: our file is accepted by firmware that knows AmneziaWG 3.0 or newer. Stock Keenetic and Netcraze firmware knows only 2.0 so far and will not take it, while OpenWrt with a recent AmneziaWG package does — we checked that in a virtual machine, step by step in the router article.

And one thing about the edge of our knowledge, right away: we own no Samsung or LG TV. What exactly their menus show, and whether there is even a place to type such settings into, we have not checked and will not claim.

Path 1: an Android box

This is the only path where Mayak runs on the TV itself — or rather on the little box plugged into its HDMI port. A box has its own Android system, its own remote and its own apps; Mayak is installed on it in the same four steps as on an Android TV set: an account on your phone, install, sign in with the code from the screen, connect.

What the box needs: Android version 7.0 or newer. The version is in its settings, under “About” or “System”. Android TV is the most convenient: there Mayak shows a sign-in code. On a box with plain Android it works too, and since version 1.0.0 it shows a code for signing in from your phone there as well, if the box has no touchscreen. If the box claims to have a touchscreen, only the email and password form opens: in our test the on-screen keyboard ignored the remote, so then plug a keyboard into the box (with one, the email went in straight away) or a mouse remote (we have not tested one). Which box will do — in “A VPN on a TV box”.

What it costs you — honestly, point by point.

• It is a purchase. We have measured no box prices and recommend no particular model — we have never held one in our hands.
• You will be watching through the box. This is the part nobody warns you about. The apps of the TV itself — its home screen, its built-in services — live in the TV, while Mayak lives in the box. Only what runs on the box goes through the tunnel. The TV becomes a screen: the right HDMI input, a second remote.
• A box takes a plan slot — exactly like one more phone. We charge nothing extra for a TV: how many slots each plan has is in the neighbouring article.
• Not every box has Google Play. If there is no store, install the file from our site at the short address mayak.ws/dl/app — that is the “not found in Google Play” branch of step 2.

Path 2: the TV as a screen

If you would rather not buy a box, there is a simpler trick: let the secure connection be held by a device you already own, and let the TV show the picture.

A cable from a computer. A laptop or a mini PC connects to the TV with an HDMI cable, and in that arrangement the TV is an ordinary monitor. We have no app of our own for computers yet, but your account hands out a config file: on Linux with AmneziaWG we verified it with a live connection, while on Windows and Mac the tunnel may not come up at all. That is what the help says, in those words. On Windows and Mac there is another path — the third-party Happ app with the subscription link from your account.

Screen mirroring from an Android phone. A phone with Mayak is a device that already does everything; the TV simply shows what is on its screen. The rule here is simple, and it will serve you with any service: what goes through the tunnel is what the device with Mayak downloads. While the phone is the one preparing the picture, it goes through the phone. But if you press “send to TV” and the TV then fetches the video by itself, that traffic has nothing to do with Mayak.

⚠️ We have not measured this. Neither screen mirroring nor casting to a Samsung or LG TV has been tested by us — there is nothing here to test it on. If you try, write to us: we work through such cases one by one and publish what comes out.

What will not work

Three pieces of advice you will meet most often. Two of them do not help with Mayak, and the third works only under one condition.

• Tethering Wi-Fi from your phone. It looks obvious: the phone is connected through Mayak, the TV takes its internet from the phone — so the TV must be covered too. It is not. Android is built so that tethered traffic goes past the app holding the connection: the TV gets your operator’s ordinary internet. We do not promise this and we will not.
• Hunting for the right page in the TV settings. Even if you find one, there is nothing to type into it: the TV will not accept our config file, for the reason given above.
• Setting it up on a router — only if the firmware knows AmneziaWG 3.0. A router can connect with our file from your account, and then the whole home goes through Mayak, the TV included. There is one condition: the router firmware must know AmneziaWG 3.0 or newer — our file carries header protection that older versions lack. Stock Keenetic and Netcraze firmware knows only 2.0 so far and will not accept the file; OpenWrt 24.10.8 with the awg-openwrt package does — we checked that with a live connection on 24 September 2026 in a virtual machine, not on a hardware router. We do not promise it will work on yours: the steps are in “A VPN on a router”, how to check the version — in the help.

What we tested

• The app on Android TV — on an emulator (Android 14, 1920×1080, release build): install, sign-in with a code from the phone and a connection up to “Protected” — in early September 2026; on 16 September, installing the website version and signing in with a code once more, without testing the connection that time.
• A box with plain Android — on an emulator (no Android TV, no Google), 24 September 2026: Mayak installed from the file on our site, there was no sign-in code then — the usual form opened, the remote reached every field, the on-screen keyboard ignored the remote buttons. We went no further than the sign-in form. We fixed that: on 28 September, on the same kind of emulator, a release build showed a QR code and a code for signing in from a phone; this reached the app in version 1.0.0.
• Boxes do work for people. As of 18 September 2026 Mayak is installed and signed in on TCL, Haier, Xiaomi, Sber and HKC TVs and on set-top boxes — from our own data about the devices on accounts.
• The config file — on Linux with an AmneziaWG client: a live connection, our own exit address.
• That a Samsung TV does not get to the end, we saw in our own logs. Between 17 and 19 September 2026 people started downloading our app file from Samsung TVs: it never finished downloading — and had it finished, it would not have installed on Tizen anyway. That is part of why this page exists.

What we do not know

• What the Samsung and LG menus look like. We own no such TV — and we are not going to describe their settings from other people’s stories.
• We have not tested a real box with our own hands. Our measurements are emulators of an Android TV and of a plain Android box, and data about people’s devices; we have nothing to recommend a specific model with.
• We have not measured casting or screen mirroring — on any TV.
• We have not measured box prices. Anything we wrote here would be a retelling of somebody else’s shop window.
• Whether an app for Tizen or webOS will ever appear. No plans, no dates. If we take it on, we will say so here and in the help.

Short answers

How do I install a VPN on an LG TV? There is no Mayak app for webOS, and it cannot be installed on an LG TV. The path that works is an Android box.

And on a Samsung TV? The same: there is no Mayak app for Tizen, you need a box.

Does the TV have its own built-in page for such settings? We have not checked — we own no Samsung or LG TV. But even if yours has one, the TV will not accept our config file.

Will tethering from my phone help? No. Tethered traffic goes past the app, and the TV gets ordinary internet.

What about a router? Yes, if its firmware knows AmneziaWG 3.0 or newer: then it connects with our file from your account. Stock Keenetic and Netcraze firmware knows only 2.0 so far and will not accept the file; OpenWrt with the awg-openwrt package does — tested in a virtual machine on 24 September 2026. How to set it up — in the router article.

Which box will do? Any on Android 7.0 or newer. Android TV is the most convenient: there Mayak is built for the remote. Sign-in with a code from the screen works there and, since version 1.0.0, on plain Android with no touchscreen; you need a keyboard only if the box opens just the email form. We recommend no particular models: we have never held one. More — in the TV box article.

Does a box take a plan slot? Yes, as one more device. The trial has two slots for the whole account: a phone and a box both fit.

Will there be an app for Samsung and LG? We make no promise. No plans and no dates; if that changes, we will say so here.