If you’ve bought an Android box like I did , or really any other streaming device, you’ll already know one important thing.

They don’t come with a manual.

They might…IF YOU’RE LUCKY come with a little leaflet that explains where to put the cables, but that’s usually it. It’s the same thing if you have a PC. It’s easy to find someone who’ll sell it to you, but it’s up to you to figure out how to use it on your own.

Consider this your Android TV Box setup instruction manual.

Step 1 - How to hook it up

This is the fun part. Ripping open the box and hooking everything up.

Really, I love this part. This is where you’re still excited about getting cutting the cord and getting a new toy.

So let’s go over really briefly how to hook up your new Android box or streaming device.

It’s only two connections really – three in some cases. First is the HDMI cable. There’s usually one in the box. If not, you can find one on Amazon. Don’t get fooled into buying some super expensive, shielded HDMI cable with gold plated connectors for $50 or $100. Just stop.

Find the Amazon Basics cable for however long you need it and you’re done. You shouldn’t pay more than $1 per foot for the cable. If you have a lot of corners that you have to squeeze around or an angry cat that likes to chew wires, then and only then opt for a braided cable. Otherwise, cheap is good.

Second is the Ethernet cable. This one is optional. You can go wireless and that’s OK. Ethernet is faster and if you’re going to be streaming 4K, then you need all the speed (bandwidth) you can get. If you have the option, go wired Ethernet. If that’s not an option, you can still go wireless.

Personally, I like to get a flat ribbon Ethernet cable. They take up less space and you can hide them easier. There’s no difference in performance. As long as you go with at least Cat 5e, then you’ve essentially future-proofed your wiring.

The final connection is the easy one. Power. Find an outlet and plug it in. Just don’t overload your power strip and set the house on fire.

Step 2 - Choose your network

Before you can do anything else, you need to connect to the Internet. Some manufacturers make you chose how you’re connecting the device before you even get to the home screen. If I’m being honest, I think that’s the way to go and more manufacturers should do it that way.

If yours doesn’t, then you’re going to need to do it manually.

Head on over to the Settings screen and click on Network. From there you’ll be able to turn on Ethernet or Wi-Fi and select your network.

Step 3 - Add your Google account

Once you’ve hit the power button for the first time, the first thing you should do is enter in your Google account.

Why?

This starts the process of updating any preinstalled apps and syncing any data you want to have follow you from device to device.

For those of you that are super-protective of your privacy and don’t want any of your data on your Android box, that’s OK too. Just create a different Google account specifically for this box. You’re going to need to do this to download any apps from the Google Play Store and get updates.

If you’re really dead-set against including any personal information on your device, you can skip this step and go straight to…

Step 4 - Install the Aptoide App Store

Aptoide TV is an alternative Android app store that has a ton of different apps to choose from.

Even if you mostly use the Google Play Store, Aptoide gives you access to a bunch of different apps that Google may not like. For example, if Google and Amazon are fighting (like they normally are), you might only be able to find some Amazon apps on Aptoide.

Either way, it gives you more options to choose from. Options are good, right?

Step 5 - Google Play apps

Now that the system updates are done, here comes the fun part.

Let’s get some apps.

You can install apps in both the Google Play Store or the Aptoide TV app store in much the same way.

No matter which one you decide to use, you should double check that your existing apps have all been updated. Hopefully we started the process earlier when you entered your Google account information, but let’s double check.

Android TV box setup next steps

So where do you go from here?

I deliberately didn’t mention anything about Kodi or Plex in this new version of my Android box Setup Guide. That’s a whole other setup guide, you can find many guides on Google, however I may update my post in the future to contain this information too.