TiviGlass keeps three things separate: your TiviGlass account (identity, plan and cloud features), your TV services (the IPTV services, M3U playlists and addons you actually watch), and your profiles (the people in the house). You can use the app with just a TV service — the account is what carries your plan and syncs between TVs.
1
Choose how to sign in Free
Path: First launch → sign-in screen
How
- Choose Sign in, then Use phone — recommended. Scan the QR code or enter the short code and the TV connects itself. On a phone or tablet the same card offers Open the sign-in page on this device, so you sign in right there and the app connects on its own when you come back.
- Choose Use remote only when you want to type your email and password on this TV.
- Create account opens the phone flow for a brand-new account.
- Continue as guest skips the account entirely.
Good to know
This is your TiviGlass account, not your IPTV provider login — that comes next. The phone route is far quicker than typing a password with a remote. If you started as a guest and sign in later, TiviGlass asks whether to keep the profiles you already made or start fresh.
2
Add your first TV service Free
Path: Settings › TV services › Your TV services › Add a TV service
How
- Choose — pick Type it on my phone instead, or the connection type your service supplied (see the table below).
- Enter — fill in only the required details. A friendly name, backup addresses, guide URL and unusual device headers are under Optional details. Anything missing or malformed is flagged under the box it belongs to, not in one message at the bottom.
- Test — select Run test. TiviGlass checks the details against your provider and tells you what it found. Nothing is saved at this point, so a wrong password or a mistyped address costs you a retype and nothing else.
- Content — choose which of your provider’s groups to bring in. Everything is on to begin with, and providers often offer hundreds of groups, so the step is built for picking a few out of a lot: there is a search box, a row of section chips (UK, US, Sports and so on, taken from your own provider’s group names, each showing how many groups it covers), and bulk buttons that act on what is on screen. The quick way is: press a section chip, then Only these — that keeps the ones you are looking at and drops the rest in one press. Use the strip at the top to move between Live TV groups, Movie groups and Show groups. Anything you leave out is never downloaded at all, which makes both this import and every later update quicker. A playlist file or a pasted list has no groups until it has been downloaded, and Stremio catalogues come from each addon as you browse — for those two the step says so and you choose afterwards instead.
- Review — check the summary. If you left the friendly name blank, TiviGlass fills one in for you here: what the source calls itself where it says so, and otherwise its address, so two services never arrive with the same name. It is only a suggestion, so step back to Enter and type over it whenever you prefer your own. Your password and any debrid key are shown masked, never in full. Select Add and import to go ahead.
- Import — the stages are listed as they happen, with real counts. As soon as your channels are in, Start watching appears and the TV guide keeps loading behind you. You can also leave the screen entirely; the import carries on. A very large service can take longer than this screen waits, and when that happens it says so and offers Leave it running — closing the screen does not stop the import, and nothing you have added is lost.
Good to know
Nothing is created until you confirm. Choosing a type, filling in the boxes and running the test all leave your TV exactly as it was, so you can back out at any point — and if you do, TiviGlass asks before clearing what you typed. Everything you have entered also survives a failed test or a failed import, so fixing one field never means retyping the other six.
A TV service is not your TiviGlass account. The account is your sign-in and your plan; a TV service is the provider whose channels you are adding. TiviGlass does not supply or sell channels.
If the test cannot get through, it says which part failed — the address was never reached, or it was reached and your login was refused — because those need different fixes. Where your provider only accepts a particular User-Agent, the test finds a working one and tells you it has set it for you; where you have entered backup addresses and the first one is down, it says which one answered.
You can add as many playlists as you like — multiple playlists are free. Each TV uses one current source at a time, and every TV chooses independently. To change which one you are watching, you do not need Settings: open the sidebar and press the TV service line in the panel header. It lists everything this profile can use, says whether each one is on your account or only on this device, and switching keeps you exactly where you were in the app. The line is only pressable when you have more than one service to choose between. Separate TVs can play at once as long as they are within your TiviGlass account’s device allowance and each provider allows the required connections. Your credentials are encrypted on the device, never stored in plain text.
On a new install, your channels and TV guide start loading automatically. Once your channels are ready, choose Start watching, even if the guide is still updating. Any guide update already running continues in the background. If the guide has not finished, you can retry it from setup or manage it later under Settings › TV guide › Guide listings.
A TV service is not your TiviGlass account. The account is your sign-in and your plan; a TV service is the provider whose channels you are adding. TiviGlass does not supply or sell channels.
If the test cannot get through, it says which part failed — the address was never reached, or it was reached and your login was refused — because those need different fixes. Where your provider only accepts a particular User-Agent, the test finds a working one and tells you it has set it for you; where you have entered backup addresses and the first one is down, it says which one answered.
You can add as many playlists as you like — multiple playlists are free. Each TV uses one current source at a time, and every TV chooses independently. To change which one you are watching, you do not need Settings: open the sidebar and press the TV service line in the panel header. It lists everything this profile can use, says whether each one is on your account or only on this device, and switching keeps you exactly where you were in the app. The line is only pressable when you have more than one service to choose between. Separate TVs can play at once as long as they are within your TiviGlass account’s device allowance and each provider allows the required connections. Your credentials are encrypted on the device, never stored in plain text.
On a new install, your channels and TV guide start loading automatically. Once your channels are ready, choose Start watching, even if the guide is still updating. Any guide update already running continues in the background. If the guide has not finished, you can retry it from setup or manage it later under Settings › TV guide › Guide listings.
| Provider type | What you need | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Xtream Codes | Server URL, username, password | The most common IPTV format. Brings Live TV, movies, shows, guide data and catch-up. Given more than one URL? See the note below. |
| M3U playlist | A URL, a local .m3u/.m3u8 file, or pasted text | Optional XMLTV guide URL. Plain, gzip-compressed and ZIP-wrapped playlist files are accepted, even when a provider omits the expected filename or compression header. Mixed lists are sorted automatically into Live, Movies and Shows. A group named Movies or Films can still contain live channels; its name alone does not move them into Movies. Refresh an existing playlist to apply corrected classification. If the list supplies Catch Up rules, guide time shifts, relative stream/guide links or per-item User-Agent/Referer headers (including VLC, Kodi adaptive and #EXTHTTP forms), TiviGlass applies them automatically across Live, Movies and Shows. Kodi-style User-Agent/Referer options attached to the playlist URL itself are also understood. A link copied without http:// is accepted too. Before you confirm a new M3U service, TiviGlass reads the playlist and shows its groups in Content. Choose which groups to bring in; the confirmed import uses that same playlist and applies your choices before adding channels, movies or shows. Changing the address, file or pasted text reads the groups again. If reading fails, choose Retry or go back to correct the source. A URL remains an M3U source throughout this journey; use Xtream login separately if your provider does not allow playlist exports.Channel groups come from the list’s own group-title or #EXTGRP tags — a list with neither simply shows everything under All channels, and you can build your own with Custom Groups. If what you point TiviGlass at is not a channel list at all — a saved web page, a provider error page, an XMLTV guide file or an .m3u8 stream link — it says so and stops, whether it came from a URL, a file or pasted text. Nothing is imported and an existing line-up is left exactly as it was. A file or pasted list has no address to re-check, so it stays on this TV and you update it by picking the file again under Edit — that keeps your favourites and history. Give it a URL instead and you can re-pull it any time with Update on the playlist’s row (how-to 2c). |
| Stalker / Ministra portal | Portal URL and MAC address | Device ID, serial number and set-top-box profile are optional — fill them in only if your portal is strict. The account portal keeps the same three under Portal handshake. |
| Stremio addons Premium | Addon URL(s), optional debrid API key | Aggregated movie, show and compatible TV/channel catalogues. Set-up in full: how-to 27b–27d. |
TV service blocking your connection? Open Optional details in the add or edit screen and use the User-Agent auto-detect option — TiviGlass tries a series of user agents and tells you which one works. It checks up to three channels spread across the service rather than just the first one, because a service that passes your streams on from more than one source can accept a user agent on one channel and refuse it on the next.
This is also worth trying when one saved service keeps saying your provider refused the connection, or shows a Refused badge on its row, while your other services are fine. That message usually means too many players are on your account at once, so close the others first; but some providers accept one particular user agent only, and refuse everything else in exactly the same way. Auto-detect is what tells the two apart, and it is added on the service that is failing rather than in Settings.
A live channel refused with HTTP 403 or 458? When nobody has set a User-Agent for it, the Playback failed card in the full-screen player can also offer Try player User-Agent. It waits a moment for your provider to free the previous connection, then tries that one channel again, once, with a media player’s User-Agent. If the channel then plays, TiviGlass asks whether to keep it. Save for all services stores it as User-Agent for all services (Settings › TV services › Connection fixes), which every TV service on this TV then uses; if cloud sync is on, it applies to every device on your account. Not now keeps it for that channel only, until you leave it. The button is not shown when you or your service chose a User-Agent, and the guide preview never shows it.
When you save a User-Agent for all services, characters that cannot be sent in a web request, such as curly quotes, accented letters or emoji, are removed, and a non-breaking space becomes an ordinary space. What Settings shows afterwards is exactly what is sent.
This is also worth trying when one saved service keeps saying your provider refused the connection, or shows a Refused badge on its row, while your other services are fine. That message usually means too many players are on your account at once, so close the others first; but some providers accept one particular user agent only, and refuse everything else in exactly the same way. Auto-detect is what tells the two apart, and it is added on the service that is failing rather than in Settings.
A live channel refused with HTTP 403 or 458? When nobody has set a User-Agent for it, the Playback failed card in the full-screen player can also offer Try player User-Agent. It waits a moment for your provider to free the previous connection, then tries that one channel again, once, with a media player’s User-Agent. If the channel then plays, TiviGlass asks whether to keep it. Save for all services stores it as User-Agent for all services (Settings › TV services › Connection fixes), which every TV service on this TV then uses; if cloud sync is on, it applies to every device on your account. Not now keeps it for that channel only, until you leave it. The button is not shown when you or your service chose a User-Agent, and the guide preview never shows it.
When you save a User-Agent for all services, characters that cannot be sent in a web request, such as curly quotes, accented letters or emoji, are removed, and a non-breaking space becomes an ordinary space. What Settings shows afterwards is exactly what is sent.
Live output format: For Xtream services, Auto prefers MPEG-TS and uses HLS when MPEG-TS is unavailable. This applies to new services and existing services left on Auto. You can still select HLS explicitly in the service’s optional details; a supported explicit choice is kept.
2a
Given several server URLs? Enter them all Free
Path: Settings › TV services › Your TV services › Add a TV service → Xtream Codes → Optional details
How
- Put the address you were given first in Server.
- Select Add backup URL and type the next address into the line that appears.
- Repeat for each spare address you were given — up to five. Use Remove to delete a line you no longer want.
- Fill in your username and password as normal and continue through Test and Review. If the address you typed first is down, the test uses a backup and tells you which one answered.
Good to know
Many providers issue two or more addresses for the same account. They are usually the same service reached by a different name — a spare in case the first address stops working, not a faster one to choose between. So there is nothing to test or compare: enter them all and let TiviGlass handle it.
You can also manage these from your account portal on a phone or computer, under the playlist's Backup server URLs, and they sync to every TV signed in to your account.
Once they are saved, TiviGlass tries each address in turn whenever the one in use stops working, and keeps the one that works as its first choice from then on. It does this when you load or refresh channels (it retries straight away and tells you), during overnight background updates (silently — look under Settings › Help & about › Fix a problem › Recent activity if you want to see it), and while you are first adding the playlist, so an address that is already unreachable will not stop you getting set up.
One thing to expect: if the address dies while you are watching, that channel still stops and you will see the usual playback error — but the app has already moved to your backup behind the scenes, so simply picking the channel again, or any other channel, plays normally.
Your username and password stay the same either way. TiviGlass only switches when the address itself is the problem — a wrong password, an expired subscription, or "too many connections" all stay put, because a second address cannot fix any of those.
Add no backup lines at all if you were only given one address — nothing changes.
You can also manage these from your account portal on a phone or computer, under the playlist's Backup server URLs, and they sync to every TV signed in to your account.
Once they are saved, TiviGlass tries each address in turn whenever the one in use stops working, and keeps the one that works as its first choice from then on. It does this when you load or refresh channels (it retries straight away and tells you), during overnight background updates (silently — look under Settings › Help & about › Fix a problem › Recent activity if you want to see it), and while you are first adding the playlist, so an address that is already unreachable will not stop you getting set up.
One thing to expect: if the address dies while you are watching, that channel still stops and you will see the usual playback error — but the app has already moved to your backup behind the scenes, so simply picking the channel again, or any other channel, plays normally.
Your username and password stay the same either way. TiviGlass only switches when the address itself is the problem — a wrong password, an expired subscription, or "too many connections" all stay put, because a second address cannot fix any of those.
Add no backup lines at all if you were only given one address — nothing changes.
2a2
Fusion: one channel, every copy you own Premium
Path: While watching, press Menu → Switch source · Settings › While watching › When a channel fails · Fusion › Switch service when a channel fails (previously Switch to another playlist if playback fails)
How
- Add two or more TV sources that carry some of the same channels.
- Watch anything. Press Menu and choose Switch source — the list now includes matching feeds from your other playlists, not just the copies on the one you are browsing.
- Pick one. The picture changes source; the channel, the TV guide, your favourites and the playlist you are browsing all stay exactly where they were.
- Choose Suggest alternatives for a brief notice when another feed may help, or Automatic to let Fusion try verified backups when a channel fails.
Good to know
The heading on the Switch source list tells you what you actually have. “3 sources” means three copies. “Protected by 1 independent backup” means something stronger: at least one of those copies comes from a genuinely different provider account, so it is still there when the first one is not. Two playlists that turn out to be the same subscription under two addresses, or two resellers passing on one supplier, count as one — TiviGlass will not tell you that you are covered when you are not.
Suggest alternatives is the starting setting (previously called Ask before switching). When a channel stops, Fusion shows at most one brief notice per channel tune. It never opens a dialog or takes focus, and normal retries continue. Open Menu / More → Switch source when you want to choose a feed. Automatic tries closely matched alternatives without pop-ups or success messages. A name and quality label alone are insufficient: there must also be matching guide, declared region/language or logo information, or your confirmation. This is a metadata check, not a live audio/video comparison. Matching starts from the background index; after a failure, Fusion checks a small set of alternatives using local data. It only opens the chosen backup, so recovery still depends on how quickly that provider responds and the picture buffers. Uncertain matches remain in the source list for you to review. Fusion requires Premium in either mode. Existing mode choices are kept.
Some channels are deliberately left out of automatic switching however many copies you own: PPV and one-off events, and 24/7 loop channels. Two feeds labelled “PPV 1” are very often two different events, and a channel playing a box set on a loop is at a different point in it. Those still appear in the Switch source list so you can choose for yourself — TiviGlass just will not choose for you.
A +1 feed is never treated as the same channel as the live one, and neither are two versions of a channel from different countries.
If the list shows something that is not the same channel, open Switch source and choose Keep … separate. If it has missed one, it appears under Possible matches — select it to confirm. Either way the decision sticks, on this TV, for this profile. You can also turn automatic switching off for one channel without changing the setting for everything else.
Nothing is uploaded and nothing is shared. Fusion only ever plays sources you have already added, using your own logins, and it works with no internet connection to us at all. Turn the whole thing off with Switch service when a channel fails → Off, or hide other playlists’ feeds from the list with Show copies from other services. Both are on Settings › While watching › When a channel fails · Fusion.
It can take a little while after adding a playlist before matches appear — TiviGlass builds the list in the background, when the box is not busy, and the Switch source screen says so while it is working.
Suggest alternatives is the starting setting (previously called Ask before switching). When a channel stops, Fusion shows at most one brief notice per channel tune. It never opens a dialog or takes focus, and normal retries continue. Open Menu / More → Switch source when you want to choose a feed. Automatic tries closely matched alternatives without pop-ups or success messages. A name and quality label alone are insufficient: there must also be matching guide, declared region/language or logo information, or your confirmation. This is a metadata check, not a live audio/video comparison. Matching starts from the background index; after a failure, Fusion checks a small set of alternatives using local data. It only opens the chosen backup, so recovery still depends on how quickly that provider responds and the picture buffers. Uncertain matches remain in the source list for you to review. Fusion requires Premium in either mode. Existing mode choices are kept.
Some channels are deliberately left out of automatic switching however many copies you own: PPV and one-off events, and 24/7 loop channels. Two feeds labelled “PPV 1” are very often two different events, and a channel playing a box set on a loop is at a different point in it. Those still appear in the Switch source list so you can choose for yourself — TiviGlass just will not choose for you.
A +1 feed is never treated as the same channel as the live one, and neither are two versions of a channel from different countries.
If the list shows something that is not the same channel, open Switch source and choose Keep … separate. If it has missed one, it appears under Possible matches — select it to confirm. Either way the decision sticks, on this TV, for this profile. You can also turn automatic switching off for one channel without changing the setting for everything else.
Nothing is uploaded and nothing is shared. Fusion only ever plays sources you have already added, using your own logins, and it works with no internet connection to us at all. Turn the whole thing off with Switch service when a channel fails → Off, or hide other playlists’ feeds from the list with Show copies from other services. Both are on Settings › While watching › When a channel fails · Fusion.
It can take a little while after adding a playlist before matches appear — TiviGlass builds the list in the background, when the box is not busy, and the Switch source screen says so while it is working.
2a3
Fill in a channel that shows “No programme information” Premium
Path: Settings › TV guide › Fill gaps · Fusion › Fill gaps from other services · Fusion: also use near matches
How
- Leave Fill gaps from other services on. When a channel has no listing of its own, TiviGlass shows the schedule from a matching channel on one of your other playlists.
- Fusion: also use near matches covers the rest. Some channels have no guide because their name matched two entries in your EPG equally well, or matched none of them closely enough for TiviGlass to be sure — so it matched neither and left the row blank. This setting shows the closest entry it found anyway.
- Choose how close the name has to be. Likely matches (70%) is the default, and 70% means the same thing here as it does in Match listings. Drop it towards Fill as much as possible (50%) to fill more channels, or raise it to Only near-certain (90%) to fill fewer and be surer of them.
- This setting saves nothing, and it is not the same control as Match listings. It borrows a listing only while a channel has none, and the borrowed rows disappear the moment that channel’s real guide arrives. To make a match stick, use Match listings (how-to 14b), which saves your choice and keeps it. The two have their own percentages and changing one never moves the other.
Good to know
A channel’s own guide always wins. Filling only ever happens where a row is blank, and a borrowed listing says underneath where it came from — another playlist by name, or the EPG source it was read from. Nothing is written to your channel: turn the setting off and the row goes straight back to how it was, and a real guide arriving replaces the borrowed one on its own.
Lower settings fill more and get more of them wrong. That is the trade, and it is why the wording says likely and loose rather than just a number. If one channel matters to you, Match listings from its hold-OK menu is still the exact answer: a match you pick yourself is never overridden by any of this, and No listings for this channel keeps a row blank that you want blank.
Live events and 24/7 channels are deliberately never filled from a name match. “Sky Sports Box Office” and the event it happens to be showing tonight look identical to a name, and a wrong schedule there is worse than none.
The matches are worked out when your guide updates, so a channel that is still blank right after you add an EPG source will fill in after the next update of that playlist.
Lower settings fill more and get more of them wrong. That is the trade, and it is why the wording says likely and loose rather than just a number. If one channel matters to you, Match listings from its hold-OK menu is still the exact answer: a match you pick yourself is never overridden by any of this, and No listings for this channel keeps a row blank that you want blank.
Live events and 24/7 channels are deliberately never filled from a name match. “Sky Sports Box Office” and the event it happens to be showing tonight look identical to a name, and a wrong schedule there is worse than none.
The matches are worked out when your guide updates, so a channel that is still blank right after you add an EPG source will fill in after the next update of that playlist.
2b
Type it on your phone instead Free
Path: Settings › TV services › Your TV services › Add a TV service → Type it on my phone instead
How
- Select Type it on my phone instead, the first choice on the screen. It is also offered on the details screen itself, so you can switch to your phone after starting on the remote.
- Scan the QR code with your phone, or type the web address shown into your phone's browser.
- Choose your TV-source type on the phone, fill in the details and select Send to TV.
- The form on the TV fills itself in and stops there. Check it, then continue through Test and Review as usual.
Good to know
Your phone must be on the same local network as the TV — a guest network usually cannot reach it. The TV and the phone do not have to use the same kind of connection: a TV on Ethernet and a phone on the house Wi-Fi are fine. If your phone is on a VPN, allow it local-network access or turn it off for a moment. Nothing is sent over the internet: the page is served by your TV itself. The page closes as soon as you send it, and always within 10 minutes. If the phone page stops responding before you send it, the TV says the connection ended — close it and choose Use my phone again for a fresh QR code. Sending only fills in the boxes — the phone cannot skip the test or the confirmation, so nothing is saved until you press Add and import on the TV. The review screen also says the values came from your phone, so you know to check them.
2c
Refresh one playlist Free
Path: Settings › TV services › This service › Update now · for another service, Manage under its card → Update now
Channels & groups is one full screen, opened from Settings, beside a named TV service, from Movies and Shows, or from Edit in Channels & groups at the top of a group’s options in the guide, which opens straight onto that group. Every group is listed on the left: Favourites, then Your groups and New group, then the TV service’s own groups under All channels. The channels of whichever group you stop on fill the right as a grid of logos. Right goes into them and Left comes back. The line along the bottom always says what each key does where you are.
Four tabs down the left edge say what OK does, so it never surprises you. Press Left from any group to reach them, however far down the list you are: Up and Down choose one, and Right or OK takes you back to the group you were on. On a touch screen, tap a tab. In Show & hide OK switches a group or channel in or out of your guide; hidden ones stay listed, dimmed, so another OK brings them back. In Arrange OK picks a group or channel up: Up and Down move it, Left sends a group to the top and Right to the bottom, OK puts it down, and Back puts it back where it was. The order is saved for this TV service and this profile, and it is what the guide shows. While groups are sorted A to Z there is no order to arrange, and OK offers to switch to your own. In Rename OK offers a tidied name and the provider’s own name first, so you rarely need to type; Or type a name is under them. Tidy up (Live TV only) holds the duplicate, HEVC, regional and name tidy-ups and the ways to bring hidden groups, hidden channels and the provider’s names back. It covers the group you are on, one of your groups, or the whole line-up when you are on Favourites or All channels, and shows how many channels it will touch when it can count them. Nothing is ever deleted. Its New groups card decides what happens when your TV service adds a group: set it to Hidden and new groups arrive switched off for your profile, so a provider adding forty countries overnight does not undo a tidy guide. Groups already there are not touched, a group you have switched on or off yourself keeps your choice, and the card is free on every plan. The choice is kept with your profile for that TV service on this TV, and in its backups; the groups it switches off are switched off wherever your profile syncs, and a choice you make about a group on any TV always wins. A provider that renumbers every group at once is treated as a fresh line-up, so nothing is hidden then.
Menu, or holding OK, opens everything else for that group or channel: Lock with a PIN, Add all its channels to one of your groups, Select several, Undo my changes to this group, Show every group or Hide every group, Sort groups A to Z, Change TV service and More settings. Find a group or channel narrows the groups on the left and lists matching channels from every group on the right, saying how many hidden channels also match. A protected group shows no logos until you unlock it with your PIN: press Right on it, or choose Unlock on its card. Protected channels in Favourites and your own groups are listed with a padlock instead of a logo. Movies and Shows work the same way, with titles in place of logos and no Tidy up tab; a title can’t be hidden on its own, so OK ticks it for one of your groups.
How
- Open TV services. The service in use has its own This service section; every other service has a card with its latest source check and the subscription expiry date reported by that provider. The service in use is marked separately from the check result.
- For the service in use, choose Update now under This service. For another, choose Manage under its card, then Update now. TiviGlass re-pulls that provider’s channels, movies, shows and TV guide, telling you which stage it’s on.
- When it finishes you get a single message with the new channel count — or a plain-English reason if something didn’t come back.
Good to know
Xtream providers normally report a dated expiry or explicitly say that the line has no expiry. Stalker portals also show an expiry date when their account or device profile supplies one. Expiry not provided means the provider supplied no readable date; Expiry unavailable means TiviGlass could not obtain the Xtream or Stalker account details. A missing date does not mean the subscription has ended. Check unavailable describes a failed source check, not a playback failure: channels and playlist updates may still work. The source screen refreshes these checks while open and when reopened, and checks again after a manual update. Network results are cached for up to 15 minutes to avoid repeatedly contacting the provider; a renewal can appear without re-adding the playlist.
Use this when one provider has changed its line-up and you don’t want to wait for every other playlist to be re-checked too — a large provider can take several minutes on its own. Update all TV services, under Keeping up to date, still does the lot.
Update automatically uses the interval you set in Update every for the same data, but refreshes the time-sensitive TV guide first. The guide can update while you are watching; only the heavier channel, movie and show catalogue work waits for playback to finish or for more memory. If a provider cuts a guide download short, TiviGlass retries that guide separately without repeating the large catalogue update. A very large movie and show library is fetched in several shorter passes a few minutes apart, each carrying on where the last one stopped, so no single background run has to hold your provider connection for long and nothing already fetched is downloaded twice. If any of your services is a Stremio source, Guide sources & addons on the same page has a Stremio addons & debrid row that opens its addon list directly. Keeping up to date also says when each TV service last updated, and whether its automatic updates have been failing. A source that has failed several times in a row says so, with the reason; one that has been paused says when it will try again and reminds you that Update works straight away regardless. Android schedules background work approximately, so the start time can be a little later than the selected interval. The timer also waits while the device is offline. If Android stops an automatic update before it finishes, for example because the connection dropped, the next attempt still refreshes any TV guide that was not finished. A background retry that keeps being stopped gives up after a few attempts and leaves the work to the next scheduled update, and Recent activity says when that happens.
If a playlist’s channel and guide downloads both fail several times in a row — a provider that has gone dark, a box that runs out of memory part-way through, or an update Android keeps stopping before it can finish — TiviGlass pauses the automatic channel, movie and show update for that playlist only, and says so under Recent activity. It keeps updating that playlist’s TV guide throughout, leaves every other playlist alone, and tries the catalogue again by itself a few hours later. Nothing is deleted, and pressing Update on the playlist starts it again immediately.
Updating a playlist does not switch to it. Whatever you were watching keeps playing and your active playlist stays active, so you can refresh a spare line-up in the background.
Your own changes are kept: favourites, watch history, renamed channels, hidden channels, custom groups and your channel order all survive an update — it only replaces what the provider sends.
If you switch to or remove a playlist while an update is running, that update is cancelled first and any data it already saved is kept. Your selection then continues automatically.
One exception: an M3U list you imported from a file or pasted text has no address to re-check, so Update will say so and point you at Edit login & address to pick the file again.
Use this when one provider has changed its line-up and you don’t want to wait for every other playlist to be re-checked too — a large provider can take several minutes on its own. Update all TV services, under Keeping up to date, still does the lot.
Update automatically uses the interval you set in Update every for the same data, but refreshes the time-sensitive TV guide first. The guide can update while you are watching; only the heavier channel, movie and show catalogue work waits for playback to finish or for more memory. If a provider cuts a guide download short, TiviGlass retries that guide separately without repeating the large catalogue update. A very large movie and show library is fetched in several shorter passes a few minutes apart, each carrying on where the last one stopped, so no single background run has to hold your provider connection for long and nothing already fetched is downloaded twice. If any of your services is a Stremio source, Guide sources & addons on the same page has a Stremio addons & debrid row that opens its addon list directly. Keeping up to date also says when each TV service last updated, and whether its automatic updates have been failing. A source that has failed several times in a row says so, with the reason; one that has been paused says when it will try again and reminds you that Update works straight away regardless. Android schedules background work approximately, so the start time can be a little later than the selected interval. The timer also waits while the device is offline. If Android stops an automatic update before it finishes, for example because the connection dropped, the next attempt still refreshes any TV guide that was not finished. A background retry that keeps being stopped gives up after a few attempts and leaves the work to the next scheduled update, and Recent activity says when that happens.
If a playlist’s channel and guide downloads both fail several times in a row — a provider that has gone dark, a box that runs out of memory part-way through, or an update Android keeps stopping before it can finish — TiviGlass pauses the automatic channel, movie and show update for that playlist only, and says so under Recent activity. It keeps updating that playlist’s TV guide throughout, leaves every other playlist alone, and tries the catalogue again by itself a few hours later. Nothing is deleted, and pressing Update on the playlist starts it again immediately.
Updating a playlist does not switch to it. Whatever you were watching keeps playing and your active playlist stays active, so you can refresh a spare line-up in the background.
Your own changes are kept: favourites, watch history, renamed channels, hidden channels, custom groups and your channel order all survive an update — it only replaces what the provider sends.
If you switch to or remove a playlist while an update is running, that update is cancelled first and any data it already saved is kept. Your selection then continues automatically.
One exception: an M3U list you imported from a file or pasted text has no address to re-check, so Update will say so and point you at Edit login & address to pick the file again.
2d
Bring in less, so updates finish sooner Free
Path: Settings › TV services › This service › What this service downloads · for a service you are not using, Manage beside it → What this service downloads · when adding one, the Content step
How
- Download movies & shows — turn this off to use a source for live TV only. It is usually the biggest saving there is: a film and show catalogue is often larger than the whole channel list.
- Live TV groups, Movie groups and Show groups — pick the kind from the strip, then untick any group you do not want. Each row shows how many items you currently hold in that group.
- Finding a group in a long list — type into Search groups, or press one of the section chips above it. The chips are built from your own provider’s naming, so a provider that calls its groups UK | Sports gives you a UK chip covering all of them. Search ignores punctuation, so uk sports finds UK | SPORTS HD.
- Changing a lot at once — the buttons act on whatever the search or chip has left on screen, never on the whole list. Only these keeps what you can see and drops everything else; Bring in shown, Leave out shown and Invert shown do what they say. Showing switches between all groups, just the ones you are bringing in and just the ones you are leaving out, and Sort can put the biggest groups first.
- Select Save, then Update now on that service to apply it.
Good to know
This is not the same as hiding a group. Hiding takes a group out of your lists and keeps everything downloaded; unticking it here means it is never downloaded at all, so it is the one that shortens the wait, uses less storage and puts less load on a slow box.
What you already have stays. Turning something off stops future downloads; it does not delete anything. Use Clear downloaded movies & shows when you want the space back. Your favourites, watchlist and viewing history are kept either way and reattach if you download it again.
Anything left out is not searchable, because it is not on the TV to search. Turn a group back on and update if you want it back.
Groups your provider adds later are brought in unless you untick them, so a new sports section does not silently go missing.
You can keep at least one group per kind. To bring in none at all, use the Download movies & shows switch instead — that is the control that says what it means.
What you already have stays. Turning something off stops future downloads; it does not delete anything. Use Clear downloaded movies & shows when you want the space back. Your favourites, watchlist and viewing history are kept either way and reattach if you download it again.
Anything left out is not searchable, because it is not on the TV to search. Turn a group back on and update if you want it back.
Groups your provider adds later are brought in unless you untick them, so a new sports section does not silently go missing.
You can keep at least one group per kind. To bring in none at all, use the Download movies & shows switch instead — that is the control that says what it means.
3
Set up the household Free
Path: Settings › Parental & profiles › Who’s watching › Switch profile
How
- Move right to Add profile.
- Give each viewer a name, avatar and colour, and mark children as Child profiles.
- Set a household PIN (4–8 digits) when prompted — it protects profile changes.
- Hold OK on a profile to edit it, set access rules or remove it.
Good to know
Up to 8 profiles per household. Each one keeps its own favourites, watch history, watchlist, reminders and personal display settings. A deleted profile stays recoverable for 30 days under Recently deleted.
4
Find your way around Free
Path: Press Left from any screen to open the side menu
How
- The side menu lists every section on one screen, with Settings and Exit at the bottom so you never scroll to reach them.
- Move up and down, press OK to open a section. On Live TV, Movies and Shows, OK (or Right) opens that section with its groups beside the menu, so you can pick a group straight away; the arrow beside them says so.
- The card at the top shows who is watching and which TV service is playing. Press it to switch profile or TV service without going into Settings. A profile with a PIN still asks for it.
- Hold OK (or press Menu) on an entry to move it, rename it or open the menu settings. Moving and renaming come with Premium, as in how-to 50.
- Press Back at the top level to reopen the side menu; press it twice quickly to leave the app.
Good to know
Sections you don’t have — or that a profile isn’t allowed to use — simply don’t appear. You can reorder, rename and hide menu entries later (see how-to 50), or straight from the menu. The highlighted entry is a bright bar that slides as you move; the screen you are on has a glowing edge and stays lit in the strip of icons, so the two never look alike.
Groups open beside the menu, not in place of it. The groups and the strip of icons on the left make one panel: the icons keep showing which screen you are on, with that screen’s icon lit as a tab that opens into its groups, and Left or Back steps back out to the menu. The groups panel has the same layout on Live TV, Movies and Shows: quick buttons along the top (Find playing channel and Jump to now; Surprise me and Filters), then Views, Your groups and the groups from your TV service, with Edit groups (and on Live TV, Customise guide) at the bottom. The line under the panel says what the highlighted button does. With Loop lists round on, Up from the quick buttons jumps to the bottom buttons and Down from the bottom buttons comes back to the first group. Holding Down stops on the last group; a fresh press moves on to the buttons below it. On Movies and Shows a view and a group combine, for example Favourites in Action, and the top of the panel says which.
The groups panel stays open while you work on it. Holding OK on a group for its options, or choosing Edit groups, Customise guide or Filters, opens on the right with the groups still beside it, and closing what opened puts you back on the same group or button. Choosing a group, a view or a quick button such as Find playing channel closes the panel so you can see the result.
Back always undoes exactly one step, in the order you took them: an open film or series page first, then the groups panel, then the sidebar itself. On Live TV, Movies and Shows, Back from the channels or posters opens that section’s groups first, so one press takes you to “change group”, not all the way out to the main menu. Back again moves to the main menu and tells you (“Press Back again to exit”); a third press within 3 seconds leaves the app. On any other section, Back with nothing open goes straight to the main menu with the same message. If you opened the main menu yourself, Back just closes it; that is a cancel and never counts toward leaving the app. Remotes that repeat a held button, and some HDMI-CEC setups that send a burst of presses, cannot skip a step: presses that arrive within a fifth of a second of the last one are ignored, so one press means one step even on a remote that stutters.
When you open a film or series from Home, Search or the Sports Hub, Back returns you to that screen — with your search text and position intact — rather than dropping you into the Movies or Shows list. Jumping to the TV guide from a Search result works the same way: it is a visit, so one Back puts you back in your results rather than opening the sidebar. If a section disappears while you are using it (a profile change, a hidden section, or a plan change), TiviGlass moves you to the closest section still on your sidebar and says so, instead of silently jumping to the top. Switching TV service closes an open film or series page, because that item belongs to the service you switched away from; TiviGlass tells you that too.
If a live channel is already playing in the TV guide preview when you switch service, it keeps playing until you select a channel from the new service — so you can browse the new line-up without the picture stopping first.
When a section is opening, a short loading message identifies what it is preparing. Longer waits show placeholders; if a read stalls, use Try again where offered. A failed read shows a retry message instead of leaving the placeholders running. Recordings shows your library, scheduled timers and series links as each becomes ready. Movie and show placeholders follow your poster-size setting, and reduced motion keeps the loading shapes still. Reduced motion (Android’s own Remove animations setting, and lower-powered boxes automatically) also holds the LIVE badge’s dot and the padlock on locked features still, and a long channel or programme name in the TV guide scrolls once when you focus it instead of scrolling for as long as you stay there. Indicators that show work in progress, such as spinners and the dot in an update banner, keep moving.
Groups open beside the menu, not in place of it. The groups and the strip of icons on the left make one panel: the icons keep showing which screen you are on, with that screen’s icon lit as a tab that opens into its groups, and Left or Back steps back out to the menu. The groups panel has the same layout on Live TV, Movies and Shows: quick buttons along the top (Find playing channel and Jump to now; Surprise me and Filters), then Views, Your groups and the groups from your TV service, with Edit groups (and on Live TV, Customise guide) at the bottom. The line under the panel says what the highlighted button does. With Loop lists round on, Up from the quick buttons jumps to the bottom buttons and Down from the bottom buttons comes back to the first group. Holding Down stops on the last group; a fresh press moves on to the buttons below it. On Movies and Shows a view and a group combine, for example Favourites in Action, and the top of the panel says which.
The groups panel stays open while you work on it. Holding OK on a group for its options, or choosing Edit groups, Customise guide or Filters, opens on the right with the groups still beside it, and closing what opened puts you back on the same group or button. Choosing a group, a view or a quick button such as Find playing channel closes the panel so you can see the result.
Back always undoes exactly one step, in the order you took them: an open film or series page first, then the groups panel, then the sidebar itself. On Live TV, Movies and Shows, Back from the channels or posters opens that section’s groups first, so one press takes you to “change group”, not all the way out to the main menu. Back again moves to the main menu and tells you (“Press Back again to exit”); a third press within 3 seconds leaves the app. On any other section, Back with nothing open goes straight to the main menu with the same message. If you opened the main menu yourself, Back just closes it; that is a cancel and never counts toward leaving the app. Remotes that repeat a held button, and some HDMI-CEC setups that send a burst of presses, cannot skip a step: presses that arrive within a fifth of a second of the last one are ignored, so one press means one step even on a remote that stutters.
When you open a film or series from Home, Search or the Sports Hub, Back returns you to that screen — with your search text and position intact — rather than dropping you into the Movies or Shows list. Jumping to the TV guide from a Search result works the same way: it is a visit, so one Back puts you back in your results rather than opening the sidebar. If a section disappears while you are using it (a profile change, a hidden section, or a plan change), TiviGlass moves you to the closest section still on your sidebar and says so, instead of silently jumping to the top. Switching TV service closes an open film or series page, because that item belongs to the service you switched away from; TiviGlass tells you that too.
If a live channel is already playing in the TV guide preview when you switch service, it keeps playing until you select a channel from the new service — so you can browse the new line-up without the picture stopping first.
When a section is opening, a short loading message identifies what it is preparing. Longer waits show placeholders; if a read stalls, use Try again where offered. A failed read shows a retry message instead of leaving the placeholders running. Recordings shows your library, scheduled timers and series links as each becomes ready. Movie and show placeholders follow your poster-size setting, and reduced motion keeps the loading shapes still. Reduced motion (Android’s own Remove animations setting, and lower-powered boxes automatically) also holds the LIVE badge’s dot and the padlock on locked features still, and a long channel or programme name in the TV guide scrolls once when you focus it instead of scrolling for as long as you stay there. Indicators that show work in progress, such as spinners and the dot in an update banner, keep moving.
Learn the remote
TiviGlass is built for a physical remote. This table is also available on the TV itself — open the player menu and choose Remote controls.
The default side menu lists Home, Live TV, Movies, Shows and Search first, followed by Catch Up, Recordings, Reminders, Sports Hub, Kids, Multi-view and Apps, with Settings and Exit pinned at the bottom. Each destination has its own name; the former My TV hub has been removed. Your saved menu order, names and hidden choices are kept. Profile restrictions and section switches still apply. In TV mode, the closed menu shows your profile picture and the clock above the navigation icons, using your chosen 12- or 24-hour format.
5
The buttons that matter Free
Path: While watching → Menu → Remote controls
How
- Press OK while watching to reveal the on-screen controls, and again to hide them.
- Hold OK on a channel, poster or tile for its action menu.
- Use Back to step out one layer at a time.
Good to know
Every one of these can be reassigned — see how-to 51. Number and colour keys are especially worth mapping if your remote has them.
How menus work. Every menu, option list and question in TiviGlass now works the same way. Every one of them slides in from the right edge of the screen as a full-height panel, the same way More opens in the player: menus, option lists, forms, larger pages such as long lists, and questions that need an answer (the screen behind a question dims until you answer it). Each choice is one line with an icon, its current setting shown at the end (for example Subtitles — English), and an arrow where it leads to a next step. The highlighted line turns red on a choice that removes something. A line at the foot of the panel says what the highlighted choice does, the usual key guide along the bottom of the screen shows which keys work in the menu while it is open, and Back always goes back exactly one step. Switches flip where they are, and a setting with a list of values opens its list in that panel with the current value highlighted, so pressing OK straight away changes nothing. Only things that cannot be undone ask “Are you sure?”, and both answers say what they do. Over live video, options open on the right so the picture stays visible. On boxes with Android 12 or later and plenty of memory, the page behind a menu is softly blurred; the video itself never is.
The player separates programme information from the playback buttons. The highlighted control's name appears below the buttons, for example Pause, Subtitles or More options. Channel and programme names have separate lines, with larger timing text. Stream information such as resolution, HDR, codec, bitrate and frame rate stays visible in a quieter row that wraps when needed. The full-screen player and the live-TV guide player share this layout.
A compact navigation legend sits below the content, beside the full-height navigation panel. While browsing content it shows D-pad — Move and Back — Go back, including when an item has no hold action. In the navigation panel, movement reads ↑ ↓ — Browse and Back describes its current action: Close menu, Main menu, or the temporary Exit app confirmation (Switch profile for a child). Select describes the highlighted control: ordinary buttons say Choose, Movies and Shows tiles say Open details, and Continue watching tiles say Play. When holding Select does something, its action appears alongside, such as Hold Select — Options or Hold Select — Rename. Disabled actions are omitted. A glowing edge marks your current section in both the open menu and the collapsed icon rail; the bright bar that slides between entries follows the remote. The card at the top keeps your TV service and viewer together above the menu. On a TV every menu entry fits on the screen; where a list is longer than the screen (a phone, larger text, or a long list of groups) its top or bottom edge fades to show there is more. The legend follows focus into the navigation panel and moves clear of the expanded panel without shifting the grid. It uses two steady rows on narrower screens or with larger text. During full-screen playback, hold guidance stays inside the existing control-label area; no separate legend appears beneath the OSD. On touch screens, use a long press; the legend appears when navigating with a remote or keyboard.
| Button | What it does while watching |
|---|---|
| OK | Show or hide the on-screen controls |
| Play / Pause | Pause and resume |
| Channel + / − | Next / previous channel (live TV); in the TV guide, a whole screen of channels at a time |
| Page Up / Page Down | Next / previous channel (live TV only), for remotes whose channel buttons send these keys. Movies, shows and the TV guide are unchanged: in the guide they still move a whole screen of channels at a time. A job you gave these buttons yourself under Settings › Remote & buttons still wins. |
| Up / Down | Next / previous channel (live TV) |
| Left / Right | Skip back / forward by your seek step (10 seconds by default) |
| Guide group preview | Rest the highlight on a provider group in the guide sidebar or horizontal group row and, after a moment, the guide shows that group’s channels and schedule together from the top while the current channel keeps playing. Holding the button down to sweep through the list loads nothing until you stop. Focus stays on the group while you look. To stay on it, press OK, press Right in the sidebar, or move down into its channels; it then becomes your Last used group. Press Back, or leave the list any other way, and the guide goes back to the group you were on. Find playing channel and the Tools actions do not choose a group either, and if you press OK on a protected group and then cancel its PIN or age question, you stay on the group you started from. A group you only previewed is never remembered. Protected groups need OK and access approval first. Turn off Preview group on focus in Settings › TV guide › Moving around the guide to require OK for every group. Channel Up/Down and Page Up/Down page through the group list; the guide wrap preference applies at its ends. |
| Show or hide several items | In a Show/Hide list, choose Select several, mark the rows, then choose Show selected or Hide selected. Select displayed selects the current filtered results. Bulk changes never affect selected rows outside the displayed results. |
| Stremio phone setup | Choose Stremio, then Enter on phone. The TV keeps checking the same code through temporary connection failures. If the code expires, choose Try again for a new one. Received details fill the TV form for you to review. Closing the handoff cancels it. |
| Skip length | In Settings › Remote & buttons › Skipping forward and back › Skip length, choose 10, 20, 30 or 60 seconds. Remote keys, on-screen seek buttons and touch double-taps share this choice. Holding a seek key accelerates the step. |
| Last Channel | A remote with a physical Last Channel button returns to the previous live channel. Your explicit shortcut binding takes priority. Shortcut editors list actions supported by the chosen screen; unsupported saved actions leave ordinary key handling available. |
| 0–9 | Type a channel number to jump straight to it |
| L | Jump back to the last channel you were on |
| Rewind / Forward | Rewind and fast-forward; on live TV, rewind where catch-up is available |
| Previous / Next | Previous / next episode (shows) |
| Menu | Open More — audio, subtitles, quality, display and help |
| A | Change the picture shape (aspect ratio) |
| Q | Choose video quality |
| S | Show playback details — codec, frame rate, buffer |
| P | Save a screenshot |
| Hold OK (guide or live video) | Open programme actions, including saving a matching movie or show |
| Back | Close an open panel or hide the controls, then leave the player. In guide fullscreen, Back returns to the guide even when no control is highlighted. |