Setup guides
Adding an Xtream Codes playlist
Three required fields, and one trick worth knowing: if your provider only sent you an M3U link, the server, username and password you need are already inside it.
Last updated
Xtream Codes is an API rather than a file, which is why it is the connection to prefer when your provider offers it. Instead of downloading one enormous channel list, InoxTV asks the panel for a category when you open that category. The result is a faster start, a proper films and series library, and account details the app can actually show you. The comparison of the three types covers the trade‑offs in full.
The three values you need
Your provider issues a server address, a username and a password. All three are marked required in the app with an asterisk, and none of them can be guessed or recovered by us.
If your provider sent an M3U link and never mentioned Xtream Codes, look at the link's shape. Panels generate M3U links from the same credentials, so a link like this:
http://example.com:8080/get.php?username=jsmith&password=a1b2c3&type=m3u_plusgives you everything: the server URL is http://example.com:8080, the username is jsmith and the password is a1b2c3. Enter those three and you are connected through the API instead of the file.
Adding the playlist
-
Open the add-playlist screen
Settings › Playlists › Add playlist, then choose Xtream Codes on the Playlist Type screen.
-
Enter the server URL
Server url* takes the scheme, the host and the port:
http://example.com:8080. Three details cause most of the failures here:- Include
http://orhttps://. Without it you get Enter a valid server URL. - Include the port if it is not the default. Panels rarely run on 80 or 443.
- Stop at the port. Do not append
/get.php,/player_api.phpor a trailing path; the app adds what it needs.
- Include
-
Enter the credentials
Username* and Password*, exactly as issued. Both are case sensitive. Copying and pasting is worth the effort because a mistyped character produces the same generic login failure as an expired account, and you will spend twenty minutes on the wrong problem.
Empty fields produce Username is required. and Password is required. before any network request is made.
-
Name the playlist
Playlist name appears wherever you pick a source. If you run two accounts, name them for what they are rather than who supplies them.
-
Choose what to import
Include live tv and Include Vod are both ticked and neither is connected to the importer, so leave them and move on. On an Xtream connection it would make little difference anyway: categories are fetched as you open them, so nothing large is downloaded up front for you to trim.
-
Leave the EPG field alone
EPG URL (optional) is there for playlists that need it. Most panels serve programme guide data through the same API, so filling this in duplicates what you already have. Add one only if the TV guide is still empty afterwards.
-
Save
You will see Saving playlist... followed by counts for live TV, movies and shows. Xtream Codes settles faster than an M3U of the same size. When the counts stop moving, open the channel list.
When the login is refused
An Xtream login failure has a short list of causes, and they are worth checking in this order because the first two account for most of them.
| Cause | How to tell |
|---|---|
| Connection limit reached | It works after you fully close InoxTV or another player on a different device. This is the single most common cause. |
| Subscription expired | Your provider's account page says so. The app cannot distinguish this from wrong credentials. |
| Wrong port, or a path left on the end | The URL fails immediately rather than after a pause. |
| Credential typo | Paste rather than type, then retry. |
| Provider blocking the network | The same credentials work on mobile data but not on your home connection, or the reverse. |
One connection at a time
If your service allows a single connection, watching on the television while the app is open on a phone will fail on one of them, often mid‑programme rather than at login. Backgrounding an app is not always enough to release the connection. Close it fully.
What you gain over an M3U
Once it is connected, three things behave differently and it is worth knowing where to look for them.
Films and series are separated properly. The API distinguishes live channels, movies and series, so movies and shows becomes a real library: seasons, episode lists, posters and descriptions, rather than several thousand entries in the channel list.
The programme guide usually needs no setting up. Every Xtream panel exposes its listings at the same address as everything else, so the app builds that URL from the credentials you already entered and fetches the guide without being told to. Because the listings and the channels come out of one database, the channel identifiers match by construction, which removes the single most common reason a guide arrives full of data and still looks empty. On an M3U you supply a guide address separately and hope the two agree.
Account state is visible. Expiry date, active connections and the allowed maximum come straight from the API. That turns a vague failure into a specific one, and it is the fastest way to settle whether a problem is yours or your provider's.
Where to read your account details
Open Settings › Playlists, select the playlist, and choose Account Information. It splits into User Information and Server Information. The first is your expiry and connection allowance, the second is what the panel reports about itself. If the panel does not return any of it you get No account info available, which is a limitation of that server rather than a fault.
This screen is worth checking before you spend an evening on a playback problem. An expired subscription and a wrong password look identical from the channel list, and this is the one place the app can tell you which you are dealing with.
Keeping it current
Category contents come from the server each time, so an Xtream playlist needs less maintenance than a file. Update all playlists under Settings › Playlists refreshes everything on demand, and Update playlist on app start on the playlist itself does it automatically. With Xtream Codes that automatic refresh is cheap enough to leave on.
If your provider changes your password, edit the existing playlist rather than adding a new one, that keeps your favourites, groups and guide association intact.