CatchOn TV App or a Universal Player?
If you watch on an Android device or a Fire TV with Fire OS, begin with the CatchOn TV App: CatchOn TV recommends it, and two fields, username and password, get you in. TiviMate or IPTV Smarters Pro earns a place when you want a player’s layout and features, or a second way to watch. On iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Samsung or LG televisions the app isn’t available, so the choice is between the players CatchOn TV lists for those screens.
The app beside TiviMate and IPTV Smarters Pro
| The service’s app | TiviMate | IPTV Smarters Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Made by | CatchOn TV, for its own service | An independent developer, for many services | WHMCS Smarters, for many services |
| Sign-in | CatchOn TV username and password | An Xtream Codes login, or a playlist (M3U) link | Same choice: Xtream Codes or M3U |
| Comes from | Your setup instructions, as a link or a code | Google Play (absent from the Amazon Appstore) | An APK from the developer’s website |
| Screens | Android phones, tablets, Android TV, Fire OS | Android TV, Google TV, Fire OS; not designed for phones | Android TV, Fire OS, Android phones and tablets |
Why the app is the default
- It’s CatchOn TV’s recommendation, and its interface is the service’s own design instead of a general-purpose layout.
- Two sign-in fields instead of three. A player’s Xtream Codes login adds a server URL, sometimes ending in a port number, which is one more long string to key in with a remote.
- Download, reinstalls and the current version all come from the setup instructions that arrived with your login.
Why you might add a player
- A guide grid. TiviMate is designed around the remote and arranges channels against a TV guide, filled in where guide data is provided. Its basic features are free; the Premium ones are paid and sold by TiviMate’s developer, not by IPTV Shift.
- Favorites and parental controls. Each of the two players offers both, and TiviMate’s parental lock asks for a PIN.
- A second opinion. When a channel misbehaves in one app, play it in the other. A channel that runs in the second app but not the first points at the first app; one that fails in both points elsewhere.
Players carry no channels of their own. They open your CatchOn TV subscription using an Xtream Codes sign-in or an M3U link, when that is the login your email gives you.
Screens the app can’t reach
- iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. The app and TiviMate are both Android apps. For Apple hardware the service lists IPTVX, which takes Xtream Codes details, and GSE Smart IPTV, which you pay for; install either from the App Store and nowhere else. To get the picture onto a television, AirPlay it to an Apple TV or an AirPlay-compatible set, keeping in mind Apple’s own warning that not every video app supports AirPlay.
- Samsung and LG televisions. Samsung’s sets run Tizen and LG’s run webOS, so neither APK files nor Downloader nor TiviMate can go on them. The service lists two players for them: IBO Player, if your TV’s app store carries it, which puts a device ID or MAC address on screen and receives your M3U link through its website; and IPTV Smarters Pro, which on Samsung currently goes on by USB.
- Roku. Roku OS can’t install APK files, and CatchOn TV lists no Roku app. Give the television a Fire OS stick or a Google TV or Android TV box through a free HDMI port and run the app there; or, on Roku models that support it, mirror the screen of an Android phone or a Windows computer. Supported models take AirPlay as well, while casting with Google Cast is not an option on Roku.
- Windows, Mac and MAG boxes. CatchOn TV’s lists include nothing for them.
One subscription, three kinds of login
Your login decides your app. The CatchOn TV username and password belong to the service’s app. Xtream Codes details are the server-URL-username-password trio: TiviMate on Android TV wants them, as do IPTVX on Apple devices and, wherever you use them, IPTV Smarters Pro or GSE Smart IPTV. The M3U link, one address that carries the entire channel list, is what IBO Player’s website wants, and any player with a playlist field accepts it. Where your email gives you more than one, use them side by side, as long as the screens streaming simultaneously fit within the device count on your plan. Typing problems are covered in the sign-in guide, the complete device table is in the app explained, and IPTV Shift’s list of apps and players for CatchOn TV shows every option by device.