How to Use a Smart TV Without the Internet (and Fake a Dumb TV in 2026)

Yes, a smart TV works fine with no internet. It just stops being smart. Leave it offline and you still get a big panel, the built-in tuner for free-to-air, every HDMI input and USB playback. What you give up is the streaming apps, firmware updates and the voice and casting features. For a lot of people that is the whole point: they want a screen for a console, a Foxtel or Fetch box, an antenna or a streaming stick, without the tracking and the ads that come with connecting it. This guide covers what still works offline, whether you can skip the WiFi step during setup on each TV system sold here, and how to get a proper dumb-TV experience in 2026 when nobody really sells dumb TVs anymore.

What still works with no internet

Almost everything you actually watch through does not need a connection. On any smart TV, offline you keep:

• Every settings menu. Picture calibration, sound, input naming and parental controls are all stored on the TV itself.
• The built-in digital tuner. Plug in an antenna and you get free-to-air. In Australia that is ABC, SBS, Seven, Nine, Ten and their subchannels over DVB-T, no internet needed. If you are weighing the aerial against a streaming box, our guide on antenna versus streaming in Australia breaks down the trade-off.
• Every HDMI input. Game consoles, a Blu-ray or DVD player, a Foxtel or Fetch set-top box, and external streamers like an Apple TV, Chromecast or Fire Stick all run straight through.
• USB media playback. Photos and video off a stick play locally.

What you lose offline

The parts that need the internet are the ones that phone out to it:

• All the built-in streaming apps. Netflix, Disney+, Stan, Binge, Prime, YouTube and the rest stream from the internet, so no connection means no apps.
• Firmware updates. This cuts both ways. You miss security and feature updates, but you also dodge surprise UI changes and newly added ads on the home screen.
• Voice control, casting and smart-home features. These all rely on the network.

The trade is simple. Offline, the TV is a display and a tuner. If you want apps, you add them back on your terms with an external streamer, which we get to below.

Can you skip the setup? It depends on the operating system

Here is where the systems differ, and it matters because some let you walk past the network screen and some hold you hostage until you connect. The ones you will almost certainly own are the flexible ones. Our smart TV operating systems compared guide covers which system is on which brand in more detail.

Samsung (Tizen) and LG (webOS): yes. During setup there is a network screen with a "Skip", "Set up later" or "Use without network" option. It asks if you are sure, you confirm, and you land on the home screen. From there the TV runs as a display and tuner.

Google TV (Sony, TCL, some Hisense sets, Kogan): yes, with a nudge. Google TV pushes WiFi and a Google account hard, but you can decline and continue to a basic setup. Some smart features stay locked until you finish a connected setup, but the picture, the inputs and the tuner all work. Google calls this the basic TV path.

Hisense VIDAA: yes. You can skip the network step the same way.

Roku TV: no. Roku requires an internet connection and a linked Roku account to finish the initial setup. You cannot reach the home screen without activating online. Once it is activated, the HDMI inputs and antenna work offline like any other set, but you have to get through that online wall first.

Amazon Fire TV: effectively no. Fire TV wants an Amazon account and a network to finish setup, the same wall as Roku.

The systems you actually meet on a TV bought here are Tizen (Samsung), webOS (LG), Google TV (Sony, TCL, Hisense, Kogan) and VIDAA (Hisense), and all of them let you skip the network step. Roku TVs and Fire TV Edition sets are largely a US thing and are barely sold at Australian retail, so the "can't skip" wall mostly does not apply to you. If you bought your TV from a major Australian retailer, you very likely have a skippable one.

Already set it up? How to go back to dumb

If you already connected during setup, you are not stuck. Go into the network settings and "forget" the WiFi network, or just never reconnect it. The TV drops back to a plain display and tuner.

Disconnecting also stops ongoing ACR tracking and stops new ad content loading onto the home screen. The home-screen layout itself stays, but it goes stale rather than serving fresh ads. Automatic Content Recognition is the feature that logs what is on the panel, including whatever you play over HDMI, and builds an ad profile from it. We cover exactly what it collects and why in our smart TV ACR and privacy guide.

One catch. Connecting first and disconnecting later is second-best. Some data may already have gone out during the time it was online, and an account may already have been created. The cleanest outcome is to never connect it at all, so no account exists and ACR never runs in the first place. If privacy is the reason you are here, skip the network step from the start rather than connecting and then backing out.

The "dumb TV in 2026" problem

If you have gone looking for a plain non-smart TV at a normal lounge-room size, you have noticed they are basically extinct. The reason is money. The smart-TV ad and data business is lucrative, and makers earn ongoing revenue from viewing data and from ad placement on the home screen, sometimes rivalling the thin margin on the hardware itself. So every set gets built smart, because the smart layer is where the recurring income is. For the background on what that "smart" layer actually is, see our explainer on what an AI TV really is.

You have a few ways to get a dumb-TV experience anyway:

1. Buy a normal smart TV and never connect it. For anything 50 inches and up, this is the answer for most people. Every major set boots and works fully without WiFi, so you get the panel you actually want and simply leave it offline.
2. Commercial or digital-signage displays, like Samsung's BE-series. These are built to be dumb, but they usually have no tuner, do not take a standard TV remote, and cost more per inch than a consumer TV.
3. A large computer monitor. Genuinely dumb and clean, but expensive at big sizes and it has no tuner for free-to-air.
4. Small budget non-smart TVs, generally 32 inches and under. These are still made and are fine for a bedroom or kitchen, but they are not a lounge-room size.

The best of both: never connect, then add a streamer you trust

For most people the sensible setup is a normal smart TV that you never connect, paired with an external streamer you control. Add an Apple TV, a Chromecast or a Fire Stick, and you get a smart layer that you can update, sign out of and wipe on your own terms, while the TV underneath stays a dumb panel that never phones home. The streamer handles the apps, the TV handles the picture, and the viewing data lives with a device you chose rather than baked into the set. Our smart TV versus streaming stick guide walks through picking one.

The verdict for Australian buyers

Buy the TV you actually want and just do not connect it. You almost certainly have a system that lets you skip the network step at setup, and offline you keep the tuner, every HDMI input and USB, losing only the apps and updates. If you want apps back, add a streaming stick you trust rather than handing the set your WiFi. It is not a hack and it is not a workaround, it is a supported path on every mainstream TV sold here, and it gets you the dumb TV that nobody bothers to sell anymore.