Skip to main content
SmartTube provides extensive customization options through its settings menu. This guide covers the main settings sections and important configuration options.

​
Accessing Settings

Open SmartTube and navigate to the settings menu from the main screen. Settings are organized into logical sections for easy navigation.

​
Settings Sections

General Settings

App behavior, language, country, and basic preferences

Video Player

Quality presets, codecs, playback speed, and player controls

Remote Control

Device pairing, casting, and TV code linking

Background Playback

Picture-in-Picture and background audio settings

Interface

Themes, UI scale, customizable buttons, and appearance

About

Updates, version info, and built-in updater

​
Buffer Settings

Buffer settings control how much video data is preloaded ahead of your current playback position.

​
High vs Low Buffer

How to adjust buffer:
  1. Open SmartTube
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Navigate to Video Player section
  4. Look for Buffer options
  5. Select High or Low
The higher your buffer, the more video will be preloaded. A high buffer increases RAM usage slightly but shouldn’t cause issues on modern devices.
Seeking backwards: When you seek back (e.g., jump back 5 seconds), SmartTube will have to rebuffer. The buffer is not retained when seeking backwards.
This may be improved in a future update.

​
Background Playback Options

SmartTube supports playing videos while using other apps or when the screen is off.

​
Picture-in-Picture (PiP)

1

Enable Picture-in-Picture

Navigate to Settings → General → Background playback → Picture in pictureEnable this option to allow videos to continue in a small floating window.
2

Configure PiP Activation

Set when PiP should activate:
  • Home button: Video enters PiP when you press home (default)
  • Back button: Video enters PiP when you press back (optional)
Configure in Settings → General → Background playback (activation)
3

Use Picture-in-Picture

While playing a video:
  • Press the Home button (or Back if enabled)
  • Video continues in a small window
  • Navigate to other apps while watching
  • Tap the PiP window to return to full screen
Available PiP options:
  • Enable/Disable PiP: Turn the feature on or off
  • Activation triggers: Choose which buttons activate PiP
  • Window size: Some devices allow PiP window size adjustment
  • Position: PiP window position on screen (device dependent)
PiP support and options vary by device and Android version. Some features may not be available on older devices.

​
Background Audio

Background audio allows music or podcasts to continue playing with the screen off.Configuration:
  1. Go to Settings → General → Background playback
  2. Enable background audio options
  3. Choose screen-off behavior
Use cases:
  • Music videos and playlists
  • Podcasts and interviews
  • Saving battery on long audio content

​
Customization Options

​
Theme and UI Settings

SmartTube offers multiple theme choices for different preferences and viewing conditions.Available themes:
  • Dark theme (default) - Best for low-light environments
  • Light theme - Better for bright environments
  • Black/OLED theme - Pure black backgrounds for OLED displays
  • Custom color themes - Various color scheme options
How to change theme:
  1. Go to Settings → Interface
  2. Select Theme or Appearance
  3. Choose your preferred theme
  4. Theme applies immediately
OLED users: Use the pure black theme to save power and reduce screen burn-in risk.
Adjust UI size and layout to match your screen size and viewing distance.Options:
  • UI scale: Make interface elements larger or smaller
  • Card size: Adjust thumbnail/card dimensions
  • Text size: Increase or decrease text readability
  • Sidebar position: Customize menu placement
Configuration:
  • Navigate to Settings → Interface
  • Adjust scale and layout options
  • Changes apply immediately

​
Customizable Buttons

SmartTube allows customization of on-screen buttons and remote control mappings.
You can customize which buttons appear in the player interface:Customizable elements:
  • Player control buttons
  • Quick action buttons
  • Menu shortcuts
  • Long-press actions
How to customize:
  1. Go to Settings → Interface
  2. Look for Buttons or Controls section
  3. Enable/disable specific buttons
  4. Reorder button positions (if supported)
Customizable buttons give you quick access to frequently used features like playback speed, quality selection, and SponsorBlock.

Remote Control Configuration

Learn about remote control pairing, TV code linking, and button customization

​
Playback Settings

​
Autoplay Modes

Control what happens when a video ends.How to change autoplay mode:
  • While playing a video, press the loop button 🔁
  • Cycles through different autoplay modes
Available modes:
  • Autoplay on: Next video starts automatically
  • Autoplay off: Video stops after each video ends
  • Repeat one: Current video loops continuously
  • Repeat all: Playlist or queue loops continuously
You can quickly switch between autoplay modes using the loop button in the player interface.

​
Playback Speed

Change video playback speed for faster or slower viewing.How to adjust:
  1. While playing a video, press the speed indicator icon (gauge) in the top row
  2. Select desired speed (0.25x to 2x or higher)
  3. Speed is remembered across videos
Common speeds:
  • 0.5x: Slow motion, tutorials
  • 1.0x: Normal speed
  • 1.25x: Slightly faster, comfortable for most content
  • 1.5x: Faster pacing, good for podcasts
  • 2.0x: Very fast, for familiar content
Known issue: Some playback speeds may cause frame drops. This is a known limitation and cannot currently be fixed.

​
Update Settings

SmartTube includes a built-in updater for easy updates.
Built-in updater features:
  • Automatic update checks (few seconds after launch)
  • Changelog display
  • Manual update option
  • Beta vs Stable channel selection
How to configure:
  1. Go to Settings → About
  2. Choose update preferences:
    • Enable/disable automatic update checks
    • Select update channel (beta or stable)
  3. Manual update: Tap “Check for updates” to update immediately
You only need to manually install SmartTube once. All future updates can be done through the built-in updater.
If update fails:
  1. Check disk space: Most common cause - free up storage
  2. Retry download: Update may not have downloaded correctly
  3. Manual update: Go to Settings → About → Check for updates
  4. Verify storage: Install to internal memory, not SD card
Updates require sufficient disk space. Clear up storage if installation fails.

​
Advanced Settings

Country Selection

Change your region to affect video recommendations and trending content. Based on YouTube’s algorithm, not the app.

Language Settings

Select interface language and preferred subtitle languages for videos.

SponsorBlock

Configure automatic skipping of sponsored segments, intros, outros, and other video segments.

AFR (Auto Frame Rate)

Adjust TV refresh rate to match video content. Most users should keep this off unless testing.

​
Auto Frame Rate (AFR)

AFR = Auto Frame RateIt adjusts your TV’s refresh rate to match the content you’re watching.Benefits:
  • Slightly smoother playback
  • Eliminates judder on some displays
  • The difference is very small
Drawbacks:
  • Doesn’t work well on all hardware
  • May cause screen blanking during transitions
  • Most people barely notice the improvement
Recommendation: You can turn AFR on to see if it works on your device. If it causes issues or you don’t care to test, turn it off.

Video Quality

Configure default quality presets and resolution settings

Video Codecs

Choose between AV1, VP9, and AVC codecs

Remote Control

Set up device pairing and TV code linking

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us