A VPN on Yandex TV: how to install Mayak on a TV Station or a YaOS TV

There is no Google Play on Yandex devices, and Mayak is not in the YaOS Store catalogue either. But Yandex itself allows installing apps from a file — and itself names where that is not possible.

What Yandex TV and YaOS are

Yandex TV is now called YaOS — Yandex's system for TVs and boxes (Yandex help, in Russian). It runs on:

• TV Stations — Yandex's own TVs, from Basic to Pro;
• the Yandex Smart TV with Alice and the Module with Alice — Yandex no longer sells them;
• TVs and boxes of other brands whose specifications say YaOS.

YaOS is built on the open part of Android, without Google services (iXBT). So Android apps can run on it in principle, but there is no Google Play: Yandex has its own catalogue, the YaOS Store. We have not published Mayak there, so a file is what remains.

Where Yandex allows APK files and where it does not

• TV Station — allowed, in two ways: from a USB stick through the File Manager, or through Yandex's cloud platform (help).
• The Yandex Smart TV and TVs of other brands on YaOS — allowed, from a USB stick (help).
• A device bought on a subscription — not allowed: according to Yandex's help, APK files and the File Manager stay unavailable until the subscription is fully paid off.
• The Module with Alice — Yandex's help names only installing from the app store (help) and says nothing about APK files. Mayak is not in the store, so there is no way described by Yandex to install it on the Module.

The file check. YaOS rejects APKs that ask for rights giving full control of the device: administrator control, installing and updating packages without the person taking part, forced permission changes. Mayak asks for no administrator rights and does not update itself without you, and on 28 September 2026 it passed the check — but on one TV Station; we cannot vouch for every model.

How to install Mayak on a TV Station or a YaOS TV

1. Create an account on your phone or in your account page: signing up on a TV is awkward.
2. Download the file on a computer. Open mayaknetworks.com/dl/app — the Mayak file downloads, about 18 MB. Copy it to a USB stick.
3. Install it from the stick. Plug the stick into the TV, on the home screen press Apps, open the File Manager, pick the Mayak file and install it.
4. Sign in with a code. Open Mayak: the screen shows a QR code and an eight-character code. On the phone: Mayak → Settings → “Sign in a TV” → “Scan QR” → “Confirm sign-in”. No app on the phone? Confirm the code in your account page, Devices section. That is exactly how the TV Station signed in on 28 September.
5. Connect. Pick a country and press the connect button; the first time, the TV asks for permission — press OK.

Without a USB stick, on a TV Station only. Open the YaOS Store, press the upload button at the top and scan the QR code with your phone — the Yandex Dialogs platform opens. Sign in with the same Yandex account as on the TV, press Upload app, pick the Mayak file, then install it from the same place in the YaOS Store. We retell this path from Yandex's help and have not gone through it ourselves.

The TV takes a plan slot as one more device; the trial has two slots — a phone and a TV both fit.

If installing does not work

The Module, a subscription device, or a file that failed the check — the working paths are the same as for Samsung and LG owners:

• An Android box. Mayak installs on it, and the TV serves as a screen. Only what runs on the box goes through the protected connection. Easiest with Android TV: there you sign in with a code. Which box will do — in the TV box article.
• A router. The whole home goes through Mayak, the TV too. One condition: the router firmware must know AmneziaWG 3.0 or newer. Stock Keenetic and Netcraze know only 2.0 so far and will not accept our file; OpenWrt with the awg-openwrt package will — we checked this in a virtual machine, not on a hardware router. Steps — in the router article.
• The TV as a screen. A laptop over HDMI or screen mirroring from a phone: the device with Mayak holds the connection, the TV only shows. We did not measure casting and mirroring — more.

Sharing Wi-Fi from your phone will not help. Android sends tethered traffic past the app that holds the connection, and the TV gets your operator's ordinary internet.

What we tested

• Yandex's help on apps for the TV Station, the Yandex Smart TV, other brands' TVs on YaOS and the Module, 28 September 2026.
• Mayak on someone's TV Station. According to our data on account devices, on 28 September 2026 the Mayak version from our site was installed on a first-generation TV Station, signed in with a code from the phone, and its connection to our lines was there. That is one device and one day; before it, there were no Yandex devices with Mayak in our data.
• The app on Android TV — on an emulator: install, sign-in with a code and a connection up to “Protected” — details in the TV article.

What we do not know

• Whether Mayak passes the check on other models — TV Station Pro, Basic and other brands' TVs on YaOS. We own no YaOS device.
• Updates. New versions install the same way, from a file; whether the app's built-in update works on YaOS, we have not tested.
• Whether YaOS's own services go through Mayak, not only the apps — not measured.
• The Yandex cloud path we have not gone through ourselves.

Installed Mayak on a Yandex device, or it did not work — write to us: we look into such cases and add them here.

Short answers

Can I install a VPN on Yandex TV? On a TV Station and TVs on YaOS — yes, as an APK from a USB stick, unless the device was bought on an unpaid subscription. For the Module there is no way described by Yandex.

How do I download a VPN to Yandex TV? On a computer: mayaknetworks.com/dl/app, the file onto a USB stick, on the TV Apps → File Manager.

Is Mayak in the YaOS Store? No, only as a file.

Can I put a VPN on the Yandex Module? There is no way described by Yandex: its help for the Module names only the app store, and Mayak is not there. The working path is an Android box or a router.

Why will the APK not install on my TV Station? According to Yandex's help, either the device is on a subscription, or the file failed the rights check.