TiviMate setup guide: add your playlist step by step

TiviMate is the player many people end up with once they’ve tried a few: it looks like a cable box guide, it’s fast, and it handles large channel lists well. This guide covers installation, adding your playlist, the settings worth changing and the errors people hit most often.

What TiviMate is (and isn’t)

TiviMate is a player. It doesn’t come with any channels: it plays the service you subscribe to, using the login details your provider gives you. Once your playlist is added, you get a grid-style TV guide with what’s on now and next, channel groups, favourites and, if your subscription supports it, catch-up.

It only runs on Android TV-based devices: Google TV, Android TV boxes, the Nvidia Shield and Amazon Fire TV devices running Fire OS. It isn’t available for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Samsung or LG TVs. If that’s what you watch on, the IPTV Smarters Pro guide is a better starting point.

Install TiviMate

How you install it depends on your device:

• Google TV and Android TV (including most IPTV boxes): open the Google Play Store on the TV, search for TiviMate and install TiviMate IPTV Player.
• Firestick and Fire TV: TiviMate isn’t in the Amazon Appstore, so you install it with the Downloader app. Follow steps 1 to 4 of our Firestick setup guide, then come back here.

Add your playlist

Have your login details ready. With an Xtream Codes login you need a server address, a username and a password. With an M3U link, you need the full URL.

1. Start a new playlist

   Open TiviMate and select Add playlist. On the next screen, pick the type that matches your details.

2. Choose Xtream Codes (recommended)

   Select Xtream Codes, then fill in the server address, username and password exactly as we sent them. Include http:// and the port number if your server address has one. Xtream Codes logins bring the TV guide along automatically, which saves a step.

3. Or use an M3U link

   Select M3U playlist and type or paste the full link. With M3U you may also need to add a TV guide (EPG) link when TiviMate asks for one. If we sent you an EPG link, enter it there.

4. Let it load, then name the playlist

   TiviMate checks the playlist and shows how many channels it found. Select Next, give the playlist a name you’ll recognise, and select Done. The TV guide fills in over the next minute or so.

Find your way around

The main screen is the TV guide: channels down the left, programmes across a timeline. Press OK on a channel to watch it, and press Back to return to the guide.

A long press on OK opens the options for the channel under the cursor: add it to favourites, hide it, or move it. Press left on the remote to open the side menu, where you’ll find channel groups, favourites, search and settings. Hiding the groups you never watch makes the guide much quicker to scroll.

Settings worth changing

Open the side menu and go to Settings. Three changes help most people:

1. EPG: switch on updating the guide when the app starts, so you never see an empty grid after a few days.
2. Playback: if channels pause to load, raise the buffer size one step. A larger buffer starts a little slower but copes better with Wi-Fi hiccups.
3. Playlist settings: if programme times are an hour off, adjust the EPG time shift for your playlist instead of changing your TV’s clock.

TiviMate Premium

The free version is enough to watch. Premium adds features such as multiple playlists, catch-up, recording, multi-view and more control over the guide. You buy it in the TiviMate Companion app on an Android phone, then sign in to that account inside TiviMate on your TV. One Premium account can be used on up to five devices.

Premium is sold by the app’s developer, not by us, and it’s optional: your subscription works the same either way.

Common problems and fixes

“Playlist can’t be loaded” or no channels appear. Check every character of the server address, including http://, the port and any trailing slash. Usernames and passwords are case-sensitive. If you copied the details from a message, look for a stray space at the end.

The TV guide is empty. Open Settings → EPG and update the guide manually. With an M3U playlist, make sure an EPG link is added. Guides can take a minute to fill after the first load.

Channels buffer or freeze. Raise the buffer size as described above, use 5 GHz Wi-Fi or an Ethernet cable, and restart the device. If several screens are watching at once, each one needs its own connection on your plan.

Still stuck? Send us a message on WhatsApp with a photo of the error and we’ll take it from there. Need a login first? Compare our plans for the US, the UK or Canada.