TiviMate setup in the UK: install, add your playlist and get the guide working

*Updated September 2026.*

TiviMate is a player app for Android TV and Fire TV that turns your IPTV login into a grid-style programme guide, much like Sky or Freeview. It holds no channels itself; your subscription supplies those. It is free to use, and a paid Premium upgrade adds recording, catch-up and multiview, but it does not exist for iPhone, Samsung or LG tellies.

Below is a slow, step-by-step TiviMate setup for UK households: installing it, adding your playlist, getting the guide to fill in, sorting your favourite channels and choosing settings that hold up on a busy Saturday of football.

What TiviMate is, and what it is not

TiviMate is made by a company called Armobsoft and published on Google Play as TiviMate IPTV Player. Its developer is clear that it is a media player only. You add your own playlist, and nothing plays until you do. Buying Premium pays for extra features in the app. It does not buy you any channels.

It was built for a telly and a remote. The developer says so plainly: it is designed for Android TV devices and is not optimised for phones or tablets. In practice that means it runs on:

• Amazon Fire TV sticks and Fire TV Cubes running Fire OS
• Google TV devices, such as Google TV Streamer and Chromecast with Google TV
• Tellies with Android TV or Google TV built in (many Sony, TCL and Philips models, for example)
• Android TV boxes, such as the Nvidia Shield

It does not run on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Samsung tellies (Tizen) or LG tellies (webOS). If that is your setup, see our round-up of the best IPTV player apps for what works on each.

TiviMate free versus TiviMate Premium

The free app gives you live channels and the programme guide, which is enough to see if you like it. Premium is where the extras live. In current versions it adds features such as:

• Recording programmes to the device or a USB drive
• Catch-up, for going back to programmes that have already aired (only where your provider supports it)
• Multiview, for watching more than one channel on screen at once
• More than one playlist, and more control over channel groups and favourites

The developer sells Premium as an auto-renewing subscription or as a one-off lifetime purchase, and the price is shown when you buy. At the time of writing the UK Google Play listing shows in-app purchases ranging from £0.89 to £29.99, so check the figure on screen before you pay.

How you buy it depends on the device. On a Google TV or Android TV device with Google Play, you can buy inside TiviMate itself. A Firestick has no Google Play, so there you have two options:

1. Install TiviMate Companion from Google Play on an Android phone. It is the developer's own app for buying Premium for devices without Google Play and for managing which devices are activated. Create an account, buy Premium, then sign in to that account inside TiviMate on the Firestick.
2. Create an account on the TiviMate website and buy there, then sign in the same way.

Be wary of anyone selling "TiviMate Premium codes" or "lifetime activations" through other websites or marketplaces. Buy only from the developer.

Before you start: check your Fire TV is not a Vega OS model

Amazon's newest sticks run a new system called Vega OS, which only allows apps from the Amazon Appstore. TiviMate is not in that store, so it cannot be installed on them. At the time of writing that means the Fire TV Stick 4K Select and the Fire TV Stick HD released in 2026.

To check: press the cog for Settings, go to My Fire TV, then About, and read the software version. Fire OS followed by a number is fine. Just OS with a number starting 1 means Vega OS. Our guide to Vega OS and IPTV on newer Fire TV sticks covers what to do instead.

How to install TiviMate on a Firestick

Step 1: Get the Downloader app

1. From the home screen choose Find, then Search, and type Downloader.
2. Pick the orange Downloader app by AFTVnews and select Get.

Step 2: Allow Downloader to install apps

1. Go to Settings, My Fire TV.
2. If Developer Options is not showing, open About, highlight your device name and press the middle button on the remote seven times. Go back and Developer Options will now be there.
3. Open Developer Options, then Install unknown apps (older sticks say Apps from Unknown Sources), and switch Downloader to On.

If Downloader does not appear in that list, check for updates first (Settings, My Fire TV, About, Check for updates). In September 2026 Amazon confirmed a settings bug that left the list empty on some sticks and said a fix would install automatically.

Step 3: Download TiviMate from the developer

1. Open Downloader.
2. In the address box type tivimate.com/apk and press Go. This is the official download link published on tivimate.com. The site also lists a Downloader short code, 272483, which leads to the same place.
3. When the download finishes, select Install, then Done. Choose Delete to remove the installer file, because Firesticks are short on space.
4. Hold the Home button, choose Apps, and move TiviMate to the front row so it is easy to find.

How to install TiviMate on Android TV and Google TV

This is the easy one, because TiviMate is in Google Play.

1. Open the Google Play store (on Google TV, choose Search or the Apps tab).
2. Search for TiviMate and choose TiviMate IPTV Player by Armobsoft FZE.
3. Select Install and then Open.

Check the developer name before installing. Only one listing is the real thing.

Adding your playlist: Xtream Codes or M3U

The first time TiviMate opens, it asks you to Add playlist. Your provider will have given you one of two kinds of login.

Xtream Codes (the better choice). Choose Xtream Codes login and enter:

• Server address: exactly as sent, including http:// and any port number such as :8080
• Username and Password: watch for capital letters and spaces

M3U link. Choose Enter URL and type or paste the long playlist link.

Press Next. TiviMate checks the login and shows how many channels, films and series it found. Give the playlist a name, such as "Living room", and press Done. The first load can take a minute or two.

Loading the programme guide (EPG)

With an Xtream Codes login, the guide normally fills itself in. Give it a few minutes after the first load, then press the left button on the remote to open the side menu and go to TV guide.

If the grid is empty:

1. Open Settings, then EPG.
2. Check an EPG source is listed. With an M3U link you may need to choose Add EPG source and enter the guide address your provider gives you.
3. Choose Update EPG and wait for it to finish.
4. Make sure the device date, time and time zone are correct. A wrong time zone shifts every programme by an hour.

Setting up favourites for UK channels

A big playlist is a lot to scroll through every evening. Favourites fix that.

1. In the channel list or guide, highlight a channel you watch often.
2. Press and hold the middle (OK) button until a menu appears.
3. Choose Add to favourites.

Do that for the handful you actually use: BBC One, ITV, Channel 4, the news, and whichever sport channels you watch. A Favourites group appears at the top of the list. Inside it, press and hold on a channel and choose Move to put them in the order you want, so number one is the channel you turn on first. If an option is greyed out or asks you to upgrade, it is a Premium feature in your version.

Catch-up and recording (Premium)

Catch-up only works if your provider offers it on that channel. In the guide, channels with catch-up are marked with a small icon. Scroll back along the grid to a programme that has already been on and press OK to play it.

Recording works from the guide: highlight a programme, press and hold OK and choose Record. Pick where recordings go in Settings, then Recording. A Firestick has very little free storage, so if you want to record regularly, an Android TV box with a USB stick or drive plugged in is far more practical.

Recommended settings for UK sport evenings

Saturday afternoons and big midweek matches are when everyone streams at once, so a little more buffering headroom helps. Menu names shift slightly between versions, but these are the ones to look for.

Fixing common TiviMate problems

"Playlist can't be loaded" or no channels appear

• Recheck the server address, username and password character by character.
• Make sure the server address starts with http:// and includes the port if you were given one.
• Try the same login on a phone app. If it fails there too, contact your provider.

Buffering during matches

• Test the speed on the Firestick itself. Our guide to internet speed for IPTV shows what to aim for.
• Move the router nearer, or use an Ethernet adapter.
• Restart the router and the stick, then clear TiviMate's cache: Settings, Applications, Manage Installed Applications, TiviMate, Clear cache.
• Set the buffer size to Large, as in the table.

Premium is not showing as active

• Check you are signed in to the same account on the Firestick that you used in TiviMate Companion or on the website.
• Open TiviMate Companion and check the device is listed as activated.
• Restart TiviMate after signing in.

The guide is an hour out

Almost always the device time zone. Set it to London time in the device settings, then update the EPG.

For anything else, our IPTV not working checklist walks through the remaining causes.

TiviMate or IPTV Smarters Pro?

TiviMate is the one to pick for a Firestick or Android TV used mostly for live telly, because the guide looks and behaves like the grid most people grew up with. IPTV Smarters Pro suits a household that also watches on phones and likes browsing films by poster. Our IPTV Smarters Pro setup guide covers that one.

Try it on your own telly first

The best test of any player is an evening of your own viewing on your own broadband. BingeBear offers a free 24-hour trial with no card and no contract: send your name and WhatsApp number, get a login back, and put it into TiviMate using the steps above. If you get stuck at any point, a real person talks you through the setup on WhatsApp.