Dispatch is out of testing and now available on the Google Play Store! Originally announced a little over a year ago on Reddit, Dispatch is a unique launcher for Android and Google TV devices that integrates directly with your Plex Library (if you use Plex), as well as other apps installed on your device.
Before we dive into everything, here’s a quick tour of Dispatch’s interface:
What is a “Launcher”?
In Android-Land, launchers are a special type of app that act as the default interface for your device. On Android phones, whenever you turn on your screen and see your home screen, app icons, widgets, etc… this is all part of one app: the default launcher for your phone.
Android TV and Google TV devices also have default launchers, and that is what you see whenever you turn on your TV. Here’s a photo of Google TV’s default launcher, courtesy of 9to5google:
Dispatch, on the other hand, takes a different approach:
Dispatch has many features that differentiate from the default Google TV experience, but let’s start with one of the most important ones: Dispatch only displays content that you actually want to see. This is achieved in two ways:
- Dispatch connects directly to your Plex library, and thus generates your Watch Next list and media recommendations based only on content that you already have access to.
- Dispatch syncs with apps already installed on your device and can, optionally, show you recommendations from these apps as well.
Dispatch has many customization options, some of which we’ll cover in this post. One important one, however, is the ability to hide any content you aren't interested in. Any row you see on Dispatch’s home page can be toggled on and off:
Don’t want to see a list of trending movies and television? You can hide it.
Don’t want to see a list of media featured on Netflix, because you don’t even use Netflix? You can hide it.
Don’t want to see any media of any kind? You can hide all that, too.
Dispatch also comes with a handy Wallpaper Mode, which allows you to select any photo on your device to serve as a backdrop for your TV.
Wallpaper mode provides an option for users who prefer a simple, more straightforward experience from their TV. In the future, Dispatch will also allow displaying images from various online sources, such as Unsplash or Google Photos.
Let’s take a look at the basic flow of Dispatch’s interface
Your Favorite Apps
In the top left of your screen, you’ll find all of your favorited apps. Any app installed on your device can be pinned here for quick access.
Highlight a particular app, and you’ll be presented with a feature unique to Dispatch: App Peek.
App Peek
App Peek conveniently displays context appropriate media whenever a favorite app is selected. You can, of course, press enter to simply open the selected app right away. Or you can press the down button on your remote to start browsing the content contained in the App Peek card.
Of course, App Peek can, like everything else, be entirely disabled from the Settings menu, if that’s your preference.
The Home Feed
The Home Feed is the primary way users will navigate media in Dispatch. It’s comprised of a vertical list of categorized carousels of content.
By default, the first row is your Watch Next list. Here, you’ll find unfinished TV show episodes, the next episode of a show you’re watching, as well as any movies or television that you have added to your watchlist in Plex.
(you also have the option of keeping your Plex Watchlist and Dispatch Watch Next rows separate)
The Watch Next row can show content from Plex as well as from apps installed on your device. You can select exactly which apps are allowed to place content in your Watch Next row, and which apps are not.
The Home Directory
Pressing the left button while inside the Home Feed will activate the Home Directory. The Home Directory provides a zoomed out view of all the content in your feed, allowing you to more quickly skip up and down the feed.
The Home Directory is also activated by holding the up or down buttons while on the Home page.
The Control Center
The control center can be activated at any time while using Dispatch. From here, you can access Dispatch’s main Settings page, an input switcher for your TV, a recent apps menu (handy, since Google TV does not have one), and more.
By the way, have you noticed something about the colors? Dispatch dynamically themes its UI elements to harmonize with the currently selected media item. Careful consideration was made as to how these color harmonies are calculated. The end result is that, hopefully, everything always feels dynamic yet cohesive.
The Context Menu
While browsing media, long click on the selected item to open the context menu. Useful, but less used actions, are available here.
The Navigation Menu
In the top right of your screen, you’ll find the Navigation Menu. From here, you can switch to the Movies, Television, and Apps tabs. Each tab gives you an overview of all your movies, television, and installed apps.
In addition, you can see localized weather information, as well as access the control center by pressing right once the Apps tab has been highlighted (so just keep pressing right until the Control Center pops in)
The Movies & Television Tabs
The movies and television tabs offer you a straightforward way to browse the entirety of your media libraries from A to Z.
Library Scrubbing
The letter picker on the right is a familiar concept to most, I’m sure, however, a feature unique to Dispatch is Library Scrubbing.
Simply hold the down or up keys while on these pages, and a simple, easy to ready, text indicator will show you where you are in your library. This comes in handy for those with very large libraries and know the struggle of trying to move through their content quickly.
By the way, the top row of the Movies and Television tabs is called the Library Spotlight, and it too can be customized.
For your spotlight lists, you can choose to show either:
- New television / movies
- Watchlisted television / movies
- Trending television / movies
The Apps Tab
The Apps tab shows all installed apps. By default, only Android TV apps are shown. However, you can elect to show non-Android TV apps you may have sideloaded as well.
Library Search
There is, of course, a search page. It functions like most search pages do.
Graphics Modes
Dispatch comes with 3 graphics modes to help target the various Android TV devices out there.
- High
- Medium
- Low
Dispatch is an app that prioritizes presentation, animations, and large imagery. As such, a moderately powerful Android TV device will give you the best experience. However, since Android TV devices vary wildly in terms of performance, these options will allow users of lower-end devices to use Dispatch as well.
Other Settings
There are a lot of ways to customize your experience with Dispatch, many of which we haven’t even covered here. So be sure to poke around the Settings page.
Pricing & Availability
Dispatch comes with a free 14-day trial. Afterward, users have the option of buying the app outright. Pricing differs per region, but in general, the lifetime license hovers around the Big Mac meal range 🍔.
Lifetime license: ~$9.99 USD/CAD
Monthly license: ~$0.99 USD/CAD
Why is Google sign in required?
In order to offer a 14-day trial without users having to pre-purchase the app, I must track the installation date for each user. This is the only reason Dispatch requires a Google sign in. Without this mechanism, users would be forced to “pre-buy” the app, after which they’d need to remember to manually cancel their purchase if they decide they don’t want to continue using it. Like most people, I am not a fan of this system, and so this alternate method is used to track the trial status. I hope Google will re-think this mechanism in the future.
