Before you pick up the remote
- A Firestick, an Android box or a Google TV or Android TV set (no Samsung, LG or Apple version exists)
- Your SWIVTV activation message in WhatsApp: server address with port, username, password
- Your own phone, only if you choose Premium, for the TiViMate Companion app
- A list of the channels they open most, and the evening program they never miss
- The home Wi-Fi password, or a network cable where the device has a port and the router is near
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 two things first: this screen, and Premium or not
TiViMate only runs on Android. Firesticks, Android boxes and sets running Google TV or Android TV all take it; a Samsung, LG or Apple screen does not, and IPTV Smarters is the app for those. If the screen qualifies, think about Premium now rather than at the TV. The free app plays channels and shows the guide. Premium brings three extras: recording, multi-view (several channels on one screen) and room for more than one playlist. For one person watching, recording is the extra most likely to matter, typically for someone who dozes off before their program ends.
Install it the way the device allows
Android TV and Google TV sets install TiViMate from the Play Store like any other app, and most Android boxes can too. A Firestick has no listing for it, so it must be sideloaded: allow unknown sources, then fetch it with the Downloader app, the orange icon by AFTVnews. The Firestick guide walks through that part screen by screen.
Add the account through Xtream Codes login
In TiViMate, pick Add playlist; of the options that follow, Xtream Codes login is the one you want. The server address goes in exactly as your WhatsApp message gives it, with http:// in front and a colon and the port at the end. Then the username and the password, both case sensitive, and press Next. The M3U link is never needed here, since the Xtream login carries channels, listings and films together.
Name the playlist after the household and keep the groups they know
TiViMate asks for a playlist name. Call it after the home, such as Dad's TV, so it is obvious if a second playlist ever appears. Next it lists the channel groups and asks which to include. Keep the ones your dad would recognize, perhaps his country's national channels, the news and the sport he follows, and leave the rest unticked. You can change this later in the settings, so nothing here is final. Fewer groups also means less to scroll past on the way to his channel.
Let the guide refresh itself twice a day
Open Settings, then TV guide, and pick 12 hours as the refresh interval, so the listings stay current without anyone touching them. The listings arrive with the Xtream login itself, so you have no guide address to paste. On the first load across a big line-up the grid can take several minutes to fill. Let it finish before judging it.
If recording matters, start Premium from your phone
You will not find a way to pay for Premium on the TV. It is sold through TiViMate Companion, a separate app for your phone, which is easy to miss if you search the TV menus for it. It costs roughly $9.99 per year, or a single payment for a lifetime license in the mid-$30s, and a seven-day trial comes first. Because it lives on your phone, the payment stays with you, not with them. Follow the Companion app's own steps to attach Premium to the TV, then record one short program to see it working.
Build their Favorites and make them the first thing on screen
Work through the channels on your list. A long press of OK on a channel opens a small menu, and adding it to favorites is one of the choices there. Their channels then sit together in a Favorites group; if your version lets you reorder it, put the first channel of their evening at the top. Then back out to where your dad will begin each night and check that this group is what greets him, not the full line-up of 25,000+ channels.
Make TiViMate open with as few presses as possible
If your version of TiViMate offers an option to start itself when the device powers on, turn it on. If not, move its icon to the first position of the home screen row, so one press of OK after switching on opens it. On a Firestick the Home button always brings that row back, which makes it their escape from any unfamiliar screen. Show them that button twice.
Walk through the remote with them
While a channel plays, the up and down arrows change channel in TiViMate, which is exactly what anyone expects from a television. Show how to bring up the channel list and the guide from there, and how the back button closes whatever opened. That covers most evenings. If Premium recording is on, add one extra thing: where the recordings are kept and how to start one.
Write the card for next to the TV
Three lines are enough. If the picture freezes, press Back and choose the channel again. If that does not help, unplug the stick or box for thirty seconds and restart the router. If it is still wrong, send a WhatsApp message to SWIVTV at +212 663 813 479, or to you, with a photo of the screen. No username and no password on the card: those stay in your WhatsApp chat, where they arrived.
Switch it all off and let them start it
The last step is theirs. Turn the TV and the device off, hand over the remote, and watch without helping as they switch on, open TiViMate, find their Favorites, choose a channel and move to the next one with the arrows. Note every pause. A pause at the start means the icon is in the wrong place; a pause in the list means the Favorites need a better order. Fix it while you are still there, then let them do the round once more.
The snags, and how to clear them
An error saying the playlist could not be loaded
If this appears on the first day, check that the server address ends with its port and that the plan is active, then type the password again with the remote rather than pasting it from your phone, because a copied password can carry a trailing space nobody can see. If it appears months later on an ordinary evening, the plan has most likely reached its end date. Renewing on WhatsApp brings the same login back, and support can confirm the account status directly.
The guide says no information
On the first evening the listings may simply still be downloading. Otherwise, force a refresh: in Settings, TV guide, choose Update now, then close TiViMate and open it again. Your dad can manage the reopening part with you on the phone. If a few channels stay empty after the refresh while the rest fill in, tell support which ones on WhatsApp so they can look at those listings.
Recording or multi-view has disappeared
Those belong to Premium, so their absence usually means Premium has lapsed: the seven-day trial ended, or a yearly license was not renewed. The free app keeps playing channels and showing the guide in the meantime. Renew in the TiViMate Companion app on your phone, since nobody can do this part from the TV.
Every channel freezes in the evening
When all channels struggle at once, look at the connection before the app. A Firestick far from the router may get less than the 10 Mbps that HD needs, let alone the steady 25 a 4K stream wants. Your dad can safely restart the router on his own. A network cable (a Firestick needs an adapter for one) is a job for your next visit, and if freezing continues on a wired connection, message support on WhatsApp.
The add-playlist screen appears again
If TiViMate suddenly asks for a playlist, its stored data has probably been cleared, for example by a reinstall. Nothing has changed on the SWIVTV side. Add the Xtream Codes login again from your WhatsApp chat, in person or over a video call. The favorites may need rebuilding too, which is a good reason to keep the list of their channels in that same chat.
This login also works in these players
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.
Firestick
Put IPTV on a Fire TV Stick in one visit: Downloader, a player, the SWIVTV login and 25,000+ channels, then a first screen the person watching can use.
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.
TiViMate: quick answers
Is Premium worth it for someone who only watches live TV?
Often not. The free version plays every channel and shows the guide, which is all many viewers use. Premium earns its price if whoever watches would record programs, wants two channels on screen at once, or you need more than one playlist. The seven-day trial settles it: switch it on, see whether they record anything that week, and decide.
What does TiViMate Premium cost, and who pays for it?
Roughly $9.99 per year, or a single payment for a lifetime license in the mid-$30s, from $34 to $38 by region, and you get seven days to try it first. The purchase happens in TiViMate Companion, the phone app, so whoever owns that phone pays. Usually that is you, the helper, which keeps renewals off the plate of the person watching.
Does SWIVTV work with TiViMate?
Yes. Every SWIVTV account is a standard Xtream Codes login, the account type TiViMate is built around, so channels, listings, catch-up and the films and series all arrive together with no extra configuration. Pick Add playlist, choose the Xtream Codes login option and type the three details from your WhatsApp message.
Can TiViMate go on my parent's Samsung or LG TV?
No. TiViMate is made only for Android devices, such as a Firestick, an Android box or a Google TV set. On a Samsung or LG TV, use IPTV Smarters or Smart IPTV instead. If your parent would like TiViMate's guide anyway, plug a Firestick into the TV; it brings its own small remote, and TiViMate runs on it.
Do I need a separate EPG link for TiViMate?
No. With the Xtream Codes login, the program guide comes along from the same server automatically. If you ever set TiViMate up with the M3U link instead, the guide sits at the server's xmltv.php address with your username and password attached, and support can send you that address on WhatsApp.