Okay, so I had held off on updating my Mi Box S, but accidentally let it update it's Android one day, and bam, I couldn't roll back the Home app any more.
From the bottom of my heart, FUCK YOU GOOGLE.
Okay, on to the solution. It's somewhat jank, but it works. You'll need two apps: Button Mapper and ATV Launcher.
Install these from the Play Store (or sideload them, but they should both be certified for Android TV). Next set up Button Mapper and remap the home button to App>ATV Launcher (this is necessary since you can't set a home app in Android settings).
Now, set up ATV Launcher to your liking. You'll need to check "app wallpaper" if you're on a Mi Box S or other ATV device.
Now, upon pressing the home button, I have a clean, simple home screen with all my apps and no damn ads or uneccessary clutter. (with the exception of the ATV Launcher logo, which I would happily pay to remove, but alas).
BTW, yes I realize I could use ADB to make this a little cleaner. However, I didn't want something that required connecting to a computer in any way, and in the end this setup works beautifully.
I also went one step further and force killed the Android TV Home app, and after doing so everything on my box is more responsive. Crazy.
EDIT: It would seem killing the normal home app tenders Google Assistant commands (pause, volume, tv power) inoperable. If anyone finds a workaround for this, please let me know!
Please ask any questions or roast me for buying a Mi Box S. I deserve it.
I've just been through a firmware update of my Philips Android TV today, including reinstalling the TV from fresh after upgrade.
Because of the hassle in reinstalling the TV from scratch, I decided to make some Linux BASH scripts to help with backing up specific APK and their data; reinstalling each APK and its data; and removal of individual bloatware apps; all via ADB.
If anyone is interested the code can be found here : https://github.com/kaipee/android-backup-removal
