Does occo work on a smart TV by itself?

No. The browser built into a smart TV cannot run it, and neither can a games console or a streaming stick. Connect a laptop or a small computer to the TV over HDMI instead — see putting occo on your TV.

Do I have to install anything?

No. occo runs in Google Chrome. There is nothing to download, no app store, and no console to buy. Sign in to occo in your browser and it opens. On a phone or tablet, occo offers an Install button that puts it on your home screen like an app, if you would like it there.

Will it run on an old laptop?

It may, at lower quality. occo draws real-time 3D scenes and automatically lowers the render quality to keep things moving, so an older machine tends to look softer and move less smoothly rather than refuse to start. If a scene stutters, run Chrome full screen and close everything else first.

How many devices can I use?

As many as you like. Unlimited household devices are included on the plan, so the computer at the TV, the tablet, and a laptop can all be signed in.

Does it work on an iPhone or an Android phone?

It opens, and a phone is handy for checking Progress. But a phone screen is not what the activities are built for — they are designed for a screen a child can move in front of. Use a tablet, a laptop, or a TV with a computer attached.

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What you need to run occo

occo runs in a web browser, so the short answer is: a reasonably recent computer or tablet, the latest Google Chrome, a camera, and home internet. Here is the longer answer.

The four things you need

There is no occo box, no console, and nothing to install. Everything below is probably already in your house.

A computer or tablet. A Mac, a Windows PC, or an iPad. This is the thing that actually runs occo.
The latest Google Chrome. occo is a browser app and Chrome is the browser we recommend and test on. Keep it updated. Browsers built on the same engine, like Microsoft Edge, work too. On a computer, Safari and Firefox show an Unsupported browser button suggesting Chrome; you can carry on, but scenes may not run as well. On an iPad every browser is Safari underneath, so use Safari there.
A camera — optional, but it is how waving a hand moves the scene. Built into the laptop or tablet, or a USB webcam. Without one, scenes still respond to touch and clicks. See camera setup.
Home internet. occo loads in the browser and pulls scene media as you go, so a stable connection matters more than a fast one. There is no offline mode.

A bigger screen is optional but it is the whole point — a TV, a monitor, or a projector turns this from an app into a room. Putting occo on your TV covers that.

What makes it run well

occo draws real-time 3D scenes, the same way a game does. That means performance depends on how capable your computer’s graphics are, whether the browser is allowed to use them, and how big the screen is. occo automatically lowers the resolution it draws at to keep the frame rate up, so a less powerful machine usually means a softer picture rather than a refusal to start. It also never draws more than 1080 pixels tall, however big the screen, so a 4K TV costs no more than a Full HD one.

These are the setups that have been used successfully:

Mac. Apple silicon machines handle it well — a MacBook Air with an M2 chip and 8 GB of memory, or a Mac Mini M4 with 16 GB, are both known-good.
Windows. Best with a dedicated graphics card. Tested machines run an Intel Core i7 with an NVIDIA GeForce card and 16 GB of memory. As a floor, a modern 4-core processor and 8 GB of memory will run it; 8 cores and 16 GB is comfortable.
iPad. Tested on an iPad Pro with an M-series chip. Other recent iPads are likely to be fine; older ones will run at reduced quality.

Built-in (“integrated”) graphics can work, but complex scenes will show it. If you are speccing a machine for a clinic or a school rather than a living room, the full component-level specification is in the technical documentation.

If a scene stutters or feels laggy

Work down this list — the first two fix most of it.

Go full screen with the four-corners button at the top right of occo, or the F key, so nothing else on the screen is competing with the scene.
Close other tabs and other apps, so occo is the only demanding thing running.
Update Chrome, and on a Windows machine update your graphics drivers.
Check that graphics acceleration is switched on in Chrome: Settings → System → Use graphics acceleration when available. Relaunch Chrome afterwards.
Turn off browser extensions you do not need.
Still heavy? In occo, open Settings, then Advanced Settings, and open the Advanced Settings section at the bottom. A lower Max Resolution Height draws fewer pixels on every screen that profile uses.

Windows laptops: make Chrome use the good graphics card

Many Windows machines have two graphics chips — a low-power one built into the processor, and a faster dedicated one. Chrome often picks the slow one by default, which is why a powerful laptop can still feel sluggish. To fix it:

Open Settings → System → Power & battery and set the power mode to Best performance.
Open Settings → System → Display → Graphics, find Google Chrome in the list (or add it with Browse), choose Options, and select High performance.
Make sure graphics acceleration is on in Chrome, then relaunch it. You can confirm which card it ended up using by typing chrome://gpu into the address bar.

If you use a laptop with an external monitor and it seems to switch back to the slow card, restart Chrome after plugging the monitor in.

What is not supported

A smart TV’s own browser. Samsung, LG, Roku, Fire TV, Android TV — occo is not built for them: they cannot use a webcam, and rarely have the graphics to draw a scene. Attach a computer instead.
Games consoles and streaming sticks. Same reason.
Phones, for movement. occo opens on a phone, but the activities are built for a child moving in front of something bigger. On a phone the camera starts off and activities ask you to turn the phone sideways.
A computer or browser that cannot draw 3D. occo needs WebGL 2, which every recent browser has. Without it, a scene stops with a message instead of starting.

How many devices are covered

Unlimited household devices are included in the occo plan, so the computer at the TV, the tablet, and the laptop are all covered by one subscription. See family profiles and devices.