Before you start: the one hard requirement
TiviMate runs on Android TV and Fire TV devices. That includes Fire TV sticks and cubes, Nvidia Shield, Xiaomi and other Android TV boxes, Chromecast with Google TV, and televisions with Android TV or Google TV built in.
It is not available for iPhone, iPad or Apple TV, and it is not available for Samsung Tizen or LG webOS televisions. There is no workaround for this and no version in preparation that you should wait for. If you own one of those, our player comparison points to what does work on it.
It is also designed around a remote control. Running it on an Android phone technically works but fights the interface at every turn, so treat it as a television app.
Installing it
On Android TV and Google TV devices, the Play Store is the normal route. Search for it on the device itself rather than pushing an install from a phone, so you get the television build.
On Fire TV, check the Amazon Appstore first. If it is not there, the usual route is a downloader utility and the developer’s own installer address. Our Firestick guide covers that process, and our Android TV guide covers the Play Store route.
Storage is worth a thought on small sticks. TiviMate caches guide data for every channel it can see, and a very large list plus a full week of programme information adds up. If your device is nearly full before you start, clear some space first — our guide on freeing space on a streaming device covers what is safe to remove.
Adding your playlist
On first launch the app asks you to add a playlist, and offers the same two choices most players do.
Xtream Codes
You enter the server address, username and password separately. This is the option to take when you have it: the app can then pull live channels, on-demand content and the guide from one place, and refresh them on its own.
M3U playlist
You paste one long address. Everything arrives as a single list, and you will usually need to add a guide source separately afterwards.
Our comparison of Xtream Codes and M3U explains the trade-off in detail. Either way, enter the details exactly as they were sent to you.
Give the first load time. TiviMate downloads and indexes the whole list before it shows you anything useful, and on a large subscription that is a genuine wait. It is fast afterwards.
Attaching a guide
If you logged in with Xtream Codes the guide usually arrives on its own. If you used an M3U playlist, you add an EPG source separately in the settings, using the address your provider gave you.
Once it is attached, TiviMate matches guide data to channels by name. Matching is never perfect on a large list, and a handful of channels will show blank rows even when everything is configured correctly. The app lets you correct individual matches by hand, which is worth doing for the ten or so channels you actually watch and not worth doing for the other nine hundred.
If the guide stays empty across the board rather than in patches, that is a different problem — our guide on an EPG that will not load works through it, and what an EPG is explains where the data comes from.
Making a very large list usable
This is the part that makes the difference, and most people skip it. A subscription with hundreds or thousands of channels is unusable as a flat list, and no amount of tuning fixes that.
Spend twenty minutes doing three things. Hide the country groups you will never watch, so they stop appearing in the guide at all. Build a favourites group containing the channels you actually use, which for most households is between fifteen and forty. Then set that group as the one the app opens on.
After that the guide loads faster, scrolling is manageable, and channel numbers stay stable enough to learn. It is the single highest-value thing you can do in the app.
Settings that change how it feels
- Decoder: try hardware first, and switch to software only for the specific channels that fail on it
- Buffer size: raising it smooths a shaky connection at the cost of a slower channel change
- Guide layout: pick the number of visible channels and hours that suits your screen size
- Channel change behaviour: whether the previous channel keeps playing while the next one loads
- Auto-start on boot, if the device is used for television and nothing else
Change one at a time and watch a live channel for a few minutes after each. Changing five settings at once and declaring the result better is how people end up with a configuration nobody can explain. If channel changes feel slow even after tuning, our guide on why changing channels feels slow explains what is happening underneath.
Free version and paid version
TiviMate has a free version and a paid Premium unlock. The free version covers everyday viewing with a single playlist. Premium adds conveniences — multiple playlists, recording, picture-in-picture and similar.
The exact split between the two, and what Premium costs, has changed over time and is set by the app’s developer rather than by any IPTV provider. Check the current terms inside the app itself before assuming what you will get. Be wary of any site selling a "cracked" or pre-unlocked build; those are a common way to end up with a modified app doing things you did not agree to.
For most households the free version is genuinely enough. Pay for Premium when you have hit a specific limit you care about, not in advance.
Is it the right player for you?
Choose TiviMate if you own an Android TV or Fire TV device, you mostly watch live channels, and you are willing to spend a little time setting up groups and favourites. In return you get the fastest, most television-like guide of any of these apps.
Choose something else if you watch mostly films and series, where a library-focused app suits better, or if you are on Apple or a Smart TV platform where it simply does not run. IPTV Smarters Pro is the broader all-rounder, and our setup guide covers the steps common to all of them.
Frequently asked questions
Does TiviMate work on iPhone, Apple TV or a Samsung TV?
No. It is built for Android TV and Fire TV devices only. On Apple or on a Samsung or LG television you need a different app, or a cheap Android device plugged into an HDMI input.
Is TiviMate free?
There is a free version that covers everyday live viewing with one playlist, and a paid Premium unlock that adds extras such as multiple playlists and recording. The exact split and the price are set by the developer and change over time, so check inside the app.
Why do some channels have no programme information?
The app matches guide data to channels by name, and on a very large list some names will not match. You can correct individual channels by hand. If every channel is blank instead of just some, the guide source itself is the problem.
Should I use hardware or software decoding?
Start with hardware, which is easier on the device and usually smoother. Switch to software only for the specific channels that fail on hardware, rather than changing it globally.
Why is the first load so slow?
It downloads and indexes the whole channel list and the guide before showing anything. On a large subscription that is a real wait the first time, and much faster afterwards.