The horror home screen for Android TV
The home screen that makes you leave the lights on.
SCARY turns your Android TV into a horror cinema. A hand-picked library of horror and psychological thrillers with real posters, a new film for tonight every evening, and Stremio, Google Play and all your apps in one place.
- Free
- 2.7 MB
- Android TV 8.0 and up
- No account, no ads
What you get
A cinema of fear, on the remote you already have
170 hand-picked films
Each with a fear meter from 1 to 5, plus rows from the web (popular, new this year, thrillers, mysteries) that keep loading as you scroll.
What do you feel like tonight?
Eight moods, from mind games and "short and sharp" to "slow-burn dread", or pick a decade. Plus rows for found footage, folk and Asian horror, zombies, vampires and haunted houses.
The shiver
The film's title trembles and flickers in the dark for a moment before the movie opens.
Where to watch
Look the film up in the apps you have, such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube and Plex, or in Google TV search. Not there? With a TMDB key, it shows where to rent or buy it in your country.
Family night
Only the gentlest films, everywhere in the app. Leaving family night takes your PIN.
My list and Watched
Hold OK on a poster to keep it, hold again to remove it. Come back from a movie and SCARY marks it as watched.
Surprise me
A random film at the fear level you pick, preferring ones you haven't seen.
Search by text or voice
In the library and across the web. Web results are horror, thriller and mystery only.
Five languages
English, Hebrew, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian, right to left where it should be. Full TalkBack and remote support.
Real screens
Scroll it like a row on your TV
Every build is installed on an Android TV emulator and these screens are captured automatically. They show the English interface.
Install in three minutes
From download to your new home screen
Allow the install
On the TV, open Settings → Device Preferences → Security & restrictions and allow installs from unknown sources for the app you will install with.
Get scary.apk onto the TV
Download it on the TV with a downloader app, or on your phone and send it with an app like Send Files to TV. Developers can use
adb install scary.apk.Make SCARY the home screen
Open SCARY and choose Make SCARY the home screen. If your TV offers no choice, turn on SCARY Home button in the accessibility settings.
Download link
Always the latest build, tested on a TV emulator before it is published. A new build installs over the old one and keeps your settings.
Not on Google Play yet: this is a personal-use build you install yourself.
No video, no illegal files
SCARY does not host, store, stream, search for or link to video files, legal or otherwise. It shows public movie information such as titles, posters and ratings, and opens the movie in a streaming app that is already installed on the same device: your TV, or a tablet or phone if you install SCARY there. Playback happens entirely in that app, under its terms. SCARY installs and recommends no add-ons.
No account, no ads, no tracking. Your list, settings and PIN stay on your TV.
Support SCARY
If it scared you just right, buy the popcorn
SCARY is free and open source, and it stays that way. Scan the code with your phone's camera to donate with PayPal. Any amount helps keep new films and fixes coming. Giving is optional, and nothing in the app is locked behind it.
The same code is in the app, under Settings → About.
Privacy, cookies and accessibility
The fine print, in plain words
Privacy policy
Who is responsible
This page and the SCARY app are an open-source project by diamondrubinny. To reach us about privacy, email d@rubinny.net. For general questions you can also open an issue at github.com/diamondrubinny/Scary/issues, but please don't post personal details in a public issue.
What this page collects
Nothing. There are no forms, no accounts, no analytics and no advertising, and the page loads no outside fonts or scripts.
What stays in your browser
- Your cookie choice and the date you made it, so the page doesn't ask again. This is strictly necessary to respect your choice.
- The language you picked, only if you allow Preferences.
Both are kept in your browser's local storage on your device. We never receive them. Change your choice in Privacy and cookie settings, or delete them by clearing this site's data in your browser.
Hosting
Like every website, the service that delivers this page receives technical data such as your IP address and browser type, to deliver it and keep it secure. That processing follows the hosting service's own privacy policy.
Download and donations
The download button opens GitHub and the donate button opens PayPal. Those sites process your data under their own privacy policies. Donations are handled entirely by PayPal. PayPal may share details such as your name, email address and the amount with the recipient, as described in PayPal's terms.
The app
The SCARY app has its own privacy notice: docs/PRIVACY.md. In short: no account, no ads and no tracking; your settings stay on your TV.
Legal basis and your rights
Remembering your language is based on your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Storing your cookie choice is needed to comply with the law. Under the Israeli Privacy Protection Law and, where it applies, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you can ask to see, correct or delete personal data about you, object to its use, and complain to the Privacy Protection Authority in Israel or to the data protection authority in your EU country. Because this page collects no personal data, we usually hold nothing about you.
Accessibility statement
We want everyone to be able to read this page and install SCARY, including people who use a screen reader, a keyboard or a magnifier. The page aims to meet WCAG 2.1 level AA and the Israeli Standard IS 5568.
What we did
- Semantic headings and landmarks, and a "Skip to content" link.
- Everything works with a keyboard, with a clearly visible focus ring.
- Text descriptions for every image, including the screenshots.
- Right-to-left layout for Hebrew and Arabic, and the page language set for screen readers.
- Strong colour contrast, text that can be zoomed to 200% and a layout that fits phones.
- No flashing. The logo dims twice when the page loads, and not at all if your device asks for reduced motion.
Known limitations
- The screenshots show the app in English; their text descriptions are translated.
- The page has been checked by its developers but not yet audited by an accessibility expert.
Report a problem
If something is hard to use, email d@rubinny.net or open an issue at github.com/diamondrubinny/Scary/issues. Describe the page, the problem and the device or assistive technology you use. We aim to reply within 14 days.