Fair questions.

Yes. You are changing settings and app states on a TV you own, through the debug interface the manufacturer ships. Nothing bypasses a licence check, and no Amazon code is modified or redistributed.

The scripts never write to /system, never remount it, never touch the bootloader, and refuse to disable anything on data/fireos/never-disable.txt: the home screen, settings, inputs, the tuner, remote pairing and Prime Video. The realistic worst case is a TV that boots to Amazon's home screen, which ./scripts/restore.sh or ./scripts/launcher.sh fixes.

No. Everything runs as the shell user that ADB debugging gives you.

./scripts/restore.sh. It turns every package back on, clears the app-ops and network rules, puts back the settings your TV had before (saved by preflight.sh), switches the DNS filter off and returns HOME to Amazon. Apps you asked to have uninstalled come back from the Appstore.

No. On your computer the scripts download the personalDNSfilter app from F-Droid, dumbtv home from this repository's releases (checked against a pinned SHA-256), and the HaGeZi tracker list; SmartTube too, if you ask for it. Nothing is uploaded. The launcher has no internet permission.

No. Amazon's ads, trackers and telemetry are disabled; apps are not touched. An app is only removed when you name it, in configure.sh or with ./scripts/configure.sh --remove <package>.

Yes, by default. Prime Video needs its video CDN and Amazon's push service, and both stay reachable unless you answer no to Prime in configure.sh (PRIME=0).

Yes. The filter never blocks Google or YouTube, and verify.sh checks that. The YouTube app is only replaced if you ask for SmartTube; see YOUTUBE.md for why YouTube's own ads cannot be blocked by DNS.

Yes, by default: Alexa is kept. If you answer no to Alexa in configure.sh (ALEXA=0), Alexa and the app that owns the microphone are switched off and their servers blocked; the buttons and pairing keep working. To bring it back:

./scripts/configure.sh --alexa 1   # then run ./scripts/restore.sh and ./scripts/all.sh

Yes. Its hosts are never blocked.

Yes. Disabled packages, the filter and the home screen all come back on their own.

Updates do not arrive while the DNS filter runs: it blocks the update servers. If an update does land, it can re-enable packages and reset settings; run ./scripts/all.sh again. To update on purpose, run ./scripts/restore.sh, let the TV update, then ./scripts/all.sh.

No. A factory reset undoes everything, including this. Run the scripts again.

Only to run the scripts. After that the TV works on its own.

Wi-Fi: adb connect <tv-ip>:5555.

Pressing HOME shows Amazon's home for a few seconds. It should land on dumbtv home in about a quarter of a second. Run ./scripts/launcher.sh -y; see TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

The scripts are for Fire OS: Fire TV sticks, cubes and Fire TV Edition televisions. Android TV and Google TV can be cleaned the same way by hand, and the catalog has reports from people who did. Samsung, LG, Roku, VIDAA, Vizio, Panasonic and Philips Saphi give an owner no shell. OTHER-TVS.md has the detail for each.

No. Every current TV has a signed boot chain and a verified system partition. WHY-NOT-REPLACE-OS.md explains why.

If your router lets you set DNS, a network blocker is a good choice. dumbtv's filter runs on the TV itself, so it works on any network, and it is paired with the rest of the cleanup: the packages, the settings and the home screen.

A home screen needs no internet access, no advertising ID and no permission to install apps. dumbtv home is 54 KB, open source and asks for no permissions on Fire OS 7 and 8. Check it yourself: aapt2 dump permissions dumbtv-home.apk lists three, each limited to Android 8.1 and earlier, which only Fire OS 6's Keeper uses.

Muzzammil, with people who ran it on their own TVs and sent fixes and device reports. They are credited in the README.

Yes. Tell us which TV you have at dumbtv.org/help and we will reply by email.