TiviMate setup guide: the best TV guide in any IPTV app

What TiviMate is for

TiviMate is an Android-only player, and it is the nicest television interface in this category: the best TV guide of any IPTV app, fast channel switching, and a layout designed for a remote rather than a phone screen.

It runs on Android TV boxes, NVIDIA Shield, Chromecast with Google TV and — via sideloading — a Firestick. It does not exist on iPhone, Apple TV, Samsung or LG televisions, so on those devices use IPTV Smarters instead.

Setting it up

1. Install TiviMate from the Play Store (or via Downloader on a Firestick).
2. Open it and choose Add playlist.
3. Choose Xtream Codes and enter the username, password and server address from your activation email. If you only have an m3u link, choose M3U playlist and paste it whole.
4. Let it process the list — a minute or two on the first run.
5. When it offers to set up the EPG, accept. That guide is the reason to use this app.

The free version versus the premium licence

The free version plays everything and shows the guide. TiviMate's own premium licence — bought from the developer, nothing to do with your subscription — adds multiple playlists, recording, custom channel groups and favourites synced between devices.

Worth paying for if this is the TV the household watches every day; unnecessary if you are still deciding whether IPTV suits you at all.

Two settings that fix most complaints

• Buffer size (Settings → Playback). Raising it trades a slightly slower channel change for a steadier picture on a busy connection.
• Decoder. Switch between hardware and software if a particular channel stutters while the others are fine.

If everything stutters rather than one channel, the cause is usually the network: how to stop IPTV buffering.