TiviMate Setup and Settings — A Canadian Guide
How to set up the TiviMate IPTV player in Canada: install, add your playlist, load the EPG, and fix the login and guide errors that catch people out.
The short answer
TiviMate is a player, not a subscription — it ships with no channels, and TiviMate Premium buys features inside the app rather than television. It is Android-only: Android TV, Google TV, Fire TV and Android phones. There is no version for iPhone, Samsung Tizen or LG webOS.
On this page
TiviMate is the player most Canadians end up on once they have tried a few, and the reason is narrow and specific: its guide is the only one that feels like a television rather than an app. Everything below assumes you already have a subscription from somewhere — TiviMate does not sell one, and that confusion is where a surprising number of setup problems begin.
Android only
no iOS, no Samsung Tizen, no LG webOS — this is not a bug you can work around
2 links
playlist and EPG go in different fields, on different settings screens
~5 min
realistic setup once you have your credentials in front of you
What TiviMate is, and what it is not
TiviMate is an IPTV player for Android. It is software that displays channels supplied by someone else. It carries no channels of its own, cannot be bought as a television service, and has no relationship with any provider.
This matters because "TiviMate subscription" is a common search, and what people mean by it is usually one of two completely different things:
- TiviMate Premium — a paid upgrade inside the app that unlocks features. Buys no channels.
- An IPTV subscription — the service that supplies the channels, the playlist link and the guide. This is the one that makes the app do anything.
You need the second. The first is optional.
That separation is also the best argument for keeping it. GTAIPTV supplies the subscription and you use whichever player you like — we most often point people at IBO Player or Hot Player for smart TVs, and TiviMate for anyone on a stick or box. Because your login is a standard credential rather than something proprietary, you can change your mind about the player at any point without touching your service.
Which devices TiviMate actually runs on
Worth settling before you go any further, because a lot of time gets wasted here.
| Device | TiviMate | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Android TV / Google TV box | Yes — Play Store | — |
| Fire TV Stick / Fire TV Cube | Yes — Appstore or sideload | See the Firestick IPTV setup guide |
| Android phone or tablet | Yes — Play Store | — |
| Samsung smart TV (Tizen) | No | IBO Player or Hot Player |
| LG smart TV (webOS) | No | IBO Player or Hot Player |
| iPhone / iPad / Apple TV | No | IPTV Smarters Pro or Smarters Player Lite |
| Windows / macOS | No | Kodi or VLC |
There is no TiviMate for iOS and no TiviMate for Tizen or webOS. Any download page claiming otherwise is distributing something that is not TiviMate, and installing it is a bad idea.
Setting it up, step by step
Six steps, in order
- Install TiviMate. Google Play on Android TV or Google TV; the Amazon Appstore or a sideload with Downloader on Fire TV, using the developer's own link rather than an APK mirror.
- Choose your playlist type. Open the app and select Add playlist. Pick Xtream Codes if you were given a server URL, username and password. Pick M3U playlist if you were given one long link.
- Enter the credentials exactly. Include http or https and any port number. They are case-sensitive, and the on-screen keyboard capitalises the first character silently.
- Name it and let it load. Give the playlist a recognisable name and wait while the channel list downloads. A minute or two on first run is normal.
- Add the EPG separately. Settings → EPG → add source, then paste your provider's EPG link. This is a different address from your playlist. Reusing the playlist URL here is the classic mistake.
- Set playback options. Settings → Playback: hardware decoding on, buffer at a moderate value. Restart the app once afterwards.
Image needed: screenshot of TiviMate's Add playlist screen showing the playlist type selector with the Xtream Codes and M3U playlist options listed, before either is chosen
Suggested filename: tivimate-playlist-type-selector.jpg — alt text: "TiviMate add playlist screen with the Xtream Codes and M3U playlist options"
Xtream Codes and M3U are two ways into the same account, not two different products. Xtream gives the player structured access to live channels, films and series as separate sections, plus your account's expiry date; an M3U link is a flat list. Where a provider offers both, Xtream is the better choice in TiviMate. The mechanics are in the Xtream Codes login guide.
The settings that change something
TiviMate has a deep settings menu and most of it does not matter. These do.
- Hardware decoding (Playback). Leave it on. Software decoding on a Firestick or a budget Android box is the usual cause of audio drifting out of sync on high-bitrate channels.
- Buffer size (Playback). Moderate. Increase it only if you get brief freezes on an otherwise fine connection; a large buffer makes channel changes feel slow.
- EPG time offset (EPG). If every programme is shifted by a whole number of hours, this is the fix — not a fault with the guide data.
- Number of EPG days (EPG). Reducing this makes navigation dramatically faster on older hardware. Most people never look more than two days ahead.
- Channel groups and ordering (Playlist). A premium feature, and the one that most changes daily use. A long channel list is unpleasant with a remote until you have cut it down to what you watch.
Image needed: screenshot of TiviMate's Settings → EPG page with the EPG source list, the time offset row and the number of EPG days row all visible together
Suggested filename: tivimate-epg-settings-days.jpg — alt text: "TiviMate EPG settings showing the source list, time offset and number of days"
Free versus Premium, honestly
The free tier is not crippled. It plays one playlist, shows a full guide, and does the job for a household that watches live channels and nothing more.
Premium adds multiple playlists, recording and scheduled recordings, favourites groups, custom channel ordering and multiple EPG sources. TiviMate's exact feature split moves between releases, so the in-app upgrade screen is the authority rather than any article, including this one.
Two things people get wrong about Premium:
- It is licensed to your Google account and covers a limited number of devices. That is a limit set by the app's developer. It has nothing to do with your subscription's connection count, though the two get confused constantly when a second television will not activate.
- It does not improve picture quality or stop buffering. The stream arrives at your device before TiviMate is involved. If channels stutter on the free tier they will stutter on premium — see the IPTV buffering guide for the causes that actually apply.
Fixing the four things that go wrong
"Invalid credentials" when the account works elsewhere. In order of likelihood: a capital letter added by the on-screen keyboard, a missing port number after the server address, http where https was specified, and a plan whose simultaneous connections are all in use on other devices. That last one presents as a login failure and is not one.
An empty guide. The EPG source is missing, wrong, or is your playlist link pasted into the EPG field. Add the correct link under Settings → EPG and let it download; the first population can take several minutes. If it loads but is patchy or misaligned, why an EPG fails to load goes through the rest.
Channels in a nonsensical order. TiviMate follows the order in the playlist it is given. If your provider's playlist is customisable, fixing it at the source is better than reordering hundreds of channels with a remote — ours is a personal link you can reorder, and add or remove countries and languages from.
Everything slows down after a few months. Guide data and cache accumulate, particularly on Fire TV sticks with limited storage. Clear the app cache, reduce the number of EPG days, and restart the device. This is routinely mistaken for a subscription getting worse.
Getting more out of it
Worth setting up once
- ✓Build a favourites group of the twenty or so channels you actually watch. It is the single biggest quality-of-life change in the app.
- ✓Use catch-up from the guide. With a working EPG, scrolling back into a programme that has already aired is how you recover a missed game — four days of catch-up on every channel with us.
- ✓Keep a second player installed. VLC or Smarters as a sanity check tells you in seconds whether a failing channel is the stream or the app.
- ✓Ask about the included VPN if streaming degrades at peak hours in a way that looks like ISP throttling. It comes free with every connection on request.
Image needed: screenshot of TiviMate's channel list filtered to a favourites group, showing the short list a household actually watches next to the group selector at the top
Suggested filename: tivimate-favourites-group.jpg — alt text: "TiviMate channel list filtered to a favourites group with the group selector"
Frequently asked questions
Is TiviMate an IPTV subscription?
No. TiviMate is a player and nothing else. It ships with no channels, and TiviMate Premium buys features inside the app rather than any television. To watch anything you need credentials from an IPTV provider — either an Xtream Codes login or an M3U playlist link — which you enter into the app. Searching for a TiviMate subscription will not get you channels.
Does TiviMate work on Samsung, LG or iPhone?
No. TiviMate is Android-only: Android TV, Google TV, Android phones and tablets, and Fire TV devices. There is no version for Samsung Tizen or LG webOS smart TVs, and no version for iPhone or iPad. Any site offering a TiviMate download for those platforms is offering something else. On a Samsung or LG television, use a smart-TV player such as IBO Player or Hot Player instead.
Is TiviMate Premium worth paying for?
It depends on whether you want more than one playlist. The free tier plays a single playlist with a full guide and is genuinely usable for most households. Premium adds multiple playlists, recording and scheduled recordings, and the customisation people want after a few weeks — reordering channels, favourites groups and multiple EPG sources. It does not improve stream quality, because the player has no influence over the stream.
Why does TiviMate say invalid credentials when my subscription works elsewhere?
Nearly always a typing problem rather than an account problem. The three usual causes are a capital letter introduced by the on-screen keyboard, a missing port number after the server address, and http entered where the provider specified https. Retype the details rather than copying them, and check whether your plan's simultaneous connections are already in use on other devices — a full connection count can also present as a login failure.
Why is my TiviMate guide empty?
Because the EPG source is missing or wrong, and the most common reason is that the playlist link was pasted into the EPG field. Those are two different addresses: one carries the channels, the other carries the schedule. Add the correct EPG link under Settings, EPG, then allow it to download — a full guide can take several minutes to populate the first time.
Can I use TiviMate on more than one TV?
Yes. You can install TiviMate on as many devices as you like and enter the same subscription details on each. What limits you is your plan's number of simultaneous connections — one connection means one device streaming at a time. Note separately that TiviMate Premium is licensed to your Google account and covers a limited number of devices, which is a restriction from the app, not from your provider.
What happens to my setup if TiviMate stops being updated?
You install another player and enter the same credentials. Your subscription is a standard Xtream Codes login or M3U link, not something specific to TiviMate, so moving to IPTV Smarters Pro, IBO Player or Kodi takes a couple of minutes. This is worth knowing before you build a habit around any single app.
If you are still choosing
TiviMate is the right answer for a lot of Canadian households and the wrong one for anyone without an Android device in the chain. If you are weighing it against the alternatives, the best IPTV apps and players roundup covers all six worth considering, and the IPTV Smarters Pro guide covers the main cross-platform alternative.
If you have the app and need something to put in it, a 24-hour free trial gives you real credentials to test with — which is the only way to find out whether the channels you personally watch are stable on your connection and your device. Trials are capped at ten a day.
Written by Adam Hursensund. TiviMate is developed independently and is not affiliated with GTAIPTV; feature details change between releases.
Key takeaways
6 points- The free tier is not crippled. One playlist with a full guide covers a household that watches live channels and nothing else.
- Premium does not improve picture quality or stop buffering. If channels stutter on the free tier they stutter on premium too.
- TiviMate Premium is licensed to your Google account and covers a limited number of devices. That is the app's limit, not your plan's connection count.
- Invalid credentials is usually a typing fault: a silent capital from the on-screen keyboard, a missing port number, or http where https was specified.
- Reducing the number of EPG days transforms navigation speed on older hardware, and most people never look more than two days ahead.
- Fix channel order in the provider's playlist rather than in the app. Reordering hundreds of channels with a remote is a wasted evening.