Before you pick up the remote
- A television running Android TV or Google TV, or a separate box such as a Shield from Nvidia or a Chromecast with Google TV
- A Google account signed in on it; the store lets you browse without one, then stops you at Install
- The SWIVTV login in your WhatsApp chat: server URL with its port, username and password
- The home Wi-Fi password, or an Ethernet cable where the box has a port for one and the router is near
- Ten minutes at the end with the person who will watch, remote in hand
Waiting for a login? Begin with the free 24-hour trial, or look at the prices and order the real thing.
The install, in one sitting
Decide which remote stays on the coffee table
If the television runs Android TV or Google TV itself, install on the TV and your mother keeps the one remote she already knows. Bring in a box only when the set is older, slow or runs a different system; the box remote then becomes the main one, and the TV remote is left for power and volume unless the box remote can take those over. Then choose the player. TiViMate lays channels out in a grid with times across the top, much like a cable or satellite box. IPTV Smarters Pro opens on big labeled tiles. For a television, TiViMate usually fits better, and both are in the store.
Check the Google account first
Before searching for anything, open the Google Play Store (on Google TV it sits under Apps) and look for an account picture in the corner. No picture means no signed-in account, and the install button will fail later without saying why. If your mother has never used a Google account, create one for the TV with her, keep the password in your own records rather than on paper beside the set, and sign in.
Add the player you picked
Search the store for TiViMate IPTV Player (or for IPTV Smarters Pro, if you chose tiles) and press Install. Nothing has to be switched on beforehand and no permission needs hunting down. If the search finds nothing at all on a cheap box, you are looking at a phone version of Android wearing a TV costume; the fix is under the snags below.
Enter the login once
Open the player. TiViMate's first screen is Add playlist, and the option to pick inside it is Xtream Codes login; Smarters names its version Login with Xtream Codes API. The three values are identical in both, and all of them are in your WhatsApp chat: the server URL, with http:// at its start and the port after its colon, then the username and the password. Typing on a TV keyboard is slow, so go field by field and check each one before moving on; the server line is where mistakes hide. The playlist name only matters if you add a second one later.
Let the first download finish
Now the player fetches the channel list and the guide data. Expect a minute or two on this first run and less on every later one, and judge nothing until the progress indicator has gone. If the guide is still blank in TiViMate after that, go to Settings, TV guide, Update now, then close and reopen the app.
Trim the list to what she actually watches
A full line-up of 25,000+ channels is wonderful for browsing and hopeless for someone who wants the same four channels every evening. TiViMate keeps its group controls under Settings, then Playlists: hide every group she will never open, then set the language. Add her channels to favorites next, with the one she watches most at the top, so the list she lands on is hers and nobody else's.
Put the player first on the home screen
Both Android TV and Google TV let you rearrange the apps row. A long press on the player's icon brings up the option to move it; slide it to the front. If the player you chose offers to launch itself when the device starts, switch that on in its settings as well, so the evening can begin inside it. If there is no such option, the Home button followed by one click is still a route she can learn in a minute.
Decide on Premium with the viewer in mind
TiViMate works without paying. Premium adds recording, multi-view and multiple playlists, and it is bought on your phone in the TiViMate Companion app, not on the TV: about $9.99 a year, or a lifetime license in the mid-$30s, after a 7-day trial. The TV's copy of TiViMate is then signed in to that purchase. For someone who misses the late news because it clashes with bedtime, recording is the feature that earns the money; for anyone else, the free version is enough.
Show her the remote, button by button
Android TV remotes differ by maker, but every one has Home, Back and a ring or pad with OK in the middle. Point at those three and at the volume keys, and tell her the shortcut buttons for other services can be ignored. If the remote has a microphone button, try saying the player's name into it while you are there; if the app opens, that goes on the card, and if it does not, leave it out rather than half promise it.
Leave a card that matches this setup
Write it for this TV, not a generic one. With a box: take its power cord out, count ten, and put it back. With the TV's own system: unplug the TV from the outlet and plug it back in. Next line: check the router is lit and restart it if not. Last line: message SWIVTV support on WhatsApp, and they will answer her directly. The password never goes on that card; it stays in your WhatsApp chat.
Watch her do it once without help
Turn everything off and give her the remote. She switches on, opens the player, picks her first favorite, moves to a second one, then presses Home on purpose and finds her way back. Say nothing while she does it. Any pause tells you what to change: an icon that is not first, a group you forgot to hide. Fix it, then ask her to run it once more.
The snags, and how to clear them
The TV shows No signal, or a different input
It happens mostly with a box. The TV has been switched to another HDMI input or to the antenna, often by a stray press of the input button. That same button, pressed until the box's picture comes back, fixes it; write the HDMI number on the card. Many sets can also switch over by themselves when the box remote is used; if hers does, show her.
The player does not appear in the Play Store
Some cheaper boxes run the phone version of Android, which hides apps built for televisions. Rather than fighting the store, install the player with Downloader, exactly as in the Firestick guide, and move its icon to the front of the apps row afterwards. If even that fails, message support with the box model and they will suggest a player that runs on it.
The guide is empty, or stops after today
Guide data travels with the login, and the first download can take a while. Once it has finished, force a refresh from the player's settings; in TiViMate that is Settings, TV guide, Update now. If her channels still show no listings, message support on WhatsApp with their names. Support can also send a separate guide address for the rare player that insists on one.
After an app update, it wants a login again
Updates sometimes drop the playlist. Nothing has happened to the account. Put the three values back in on a video call, reading them from your WhatsApp chat while she types with the phone propped so you can see the TV, or do it at your next visit. If the values are refused, check the renewal date first, then message support.
One channel keeps freezing while the others play
When it is a single channel, try its other version if the list shows two, such as an HD and a 4K copy. When every channel freezes at the same hours, the connection is the suspect: a cable from the router, if the box has an Ethernet port, usually ends it. Either way, message support with the channel name and the time, which lets them check the feed itself.
Picking a player for the person watching
TiViMate
TiViMate for an Android screen someone else will watch: add the Xtream login, let the guide refresh itself, pin favorites, and decide on Premium later.
IPTV Smarters Pro
One visit, one free app: IPTV Smarters Pro on a parent or partner TV, with the Xtream login, the guide on and their own channels on the first screen.
Every other guide
Each TV, stick, box and player app we cover, listed on one page.
Have the login in your WhatsApp first
It arrives under 15 minutes after you pay, so the whole install fits in one sitting. A month costs $15 and a full year $69, with all 25,000+ channels either way.
Android TV: quick answers
Which Android box should I buy for a parent's television?
Choose by the remote and the ports rather than the processor. Chromecast with Google TV 4K keeps costs down and has a small, plain remote. The Nvidia Shield is the fastest of the lot and handles 4K HDR easily, but it costs more than twelve months of a plan. With an unbranded box, ask for an Ethernet port and at least 2 GB of RAM, and doubt every other claim on its listing.
Will SWIVTV run on a Chromecast with Google TV?
It will. Google TV is Android TV underneath, dressed in a different home screen, so both players come from its Play Store and accept the login exactly as in the steps above. The remote is small, with Home and Back where a hand expects them, which suits a viewer who would rather have fewer buttons than more.
Her television already runs Google TV. Does she need a box as well?
No. The TV's own Play Store installs the same players a box would, and she keeps a single remote. A box earns its place only if the set is slow with a long channel list, has no Ethernet port where one is needed, or runs an older system the players no longer support.
Can I look after it from my own home?
Mostly, yes. You renew from your phone on WhatsApp, support will talk to her directly if she messages them, and anything that needs typing can be done on a video call. What you should not do is sign your own television into her login: one account covers one household, so your home needs a plan of its own.
Which player is easier for someone who only wants their channels?
Once it is set up, TiViMate. It opens onto live television and behaves like a set-top box, with channel changes that feel quick. IPTV Smarters Pro asks for one more choice, Live TV, before the channels appear. Both take the same login, so you can try one for a week and swap without asking support for anything.