Look, I’m going to level with you right from the start. When I first heard about TiviMate Premium, I thought, “Why would I pay for an app when the free version works fine?” That lasted exactly three days before I hit the upgrade button. Let me walk you through this like we’re sitting on my couch, remote in hand.
What Exactly Is TiviMate Premium IPTV Player?
Think of TiviMate Premium like upgrading from a bicycle to a car. Sure, both get you where you need to go, but one makes the journey so much smoother that you wonder how you ever managed without it.
TiviMate itself is an IPTV player – basically a really smart, beautiful interface that organizes all your streaming channels. The free version gives you a taste. Premium? That’s the full meal.
Here’s the thing: TiviMate doesn’t provide channels. It’s like a picture frame – you need to bring your own photos (in this case, an IPTV subscription). But once you’ve got that playlist URL, Premium turns your viewing experience into something that rivals cable TV from the good old days, minus the outrageous bills.
If you’re brand new to this world, I’d recommend checking out this beginner’s guide to IPTV to understand the basics before diving into the app specifics.
TiviMate Premium Features That Actually Matter (Not Just Marketing Fluff)
Multiple Playlists Support in TiviMate Premium
This was my “aha” moment. I had three different IPTV subscriptions – one for sports, one for international channels, and one for movies. With the free version, I could only use one at a time.
It’s like having three different music libraries but only being able to access one per day. Annoying doesn’t even cover it.
Premium lets you load up to five playlists simultaneously. They all blend together in one beautiful, unified interface. I can jump from watching Premier League on my sports provider to a French cooking show on my international service without any mental gymnastics.
Lesson learned the hard way: When adding multiple playlists, name them clearly right away. I labeled mine “Sports-Main,” “Movies-HD,” and “International-Backup.” Future you will thank present you when you’re troubleshooting which playlist has the buffering issue at midnight.
TiviMate Premium Recording Feature (The Game-Changer)
Remember DVRs? TiviMate Premium brings that magic back, but better.
You can schedule recordings directly from the program guide. I record my favorite shows that air at 3 AM in different time zones, then watch them over breakfast. It’s like having a personal assistant who never sleeps.
Here’s the catch I discovered: recordings need somewhere to live. Your Android TV box probably has limited internal storage – mine had 8GB, which sounds like a lot until you record one football match and realized it ate 4GB.
Fix tip: Go to Settings → Recordings → Storage Location. Point it to an external USB drive or SD card before you start recording. Trust me on this. I learned after filling my device’s memory and having it refuse to even open TiviMate until I cleared space. Not fun during the Super Bowl.
The recording quality matches your stream quality, so if you’re watching HD, you’re recording HD. No degradation, no conversion weirdness.
Unlimited Screens and EPG Sources with Premium
The free version limits you to one screen. Premium? Install it on every device you own – your living room Android TV, bedroom Fire Stick, phone, tablet. One license covers them all.
It’s like buying a book and being able to read it in any room of your house. Sounds obvious, right? Yet most apps don’t work this way.
The unlimited EPG sources thing sounds technical, but here’s what it means in real life: Sometimes your IPTV provider’s program guide is incomplete or wonky. With Premium, you can add backup EPG sources so you always see what’s playing. I use my provider’s main EPG plus an external one I found online. When one goes down (and they do), the other keeps working.
Catch-Up TV and Time-Shift Features
If your IPTV provider supports it, TiviMate Premium lets you rewind live TV or access shows that aired in the past few days. It’s like organizing your playlist – keeping everything accessible even after the initial broadcast.
I missed a news segment last week while making dinner. Pressed back, scrolled to 20 minutes earlier, and watched what I missed. No recording, no planning ahead. Just… rewound live TV like it was a YouTube video.
TiviMate Premium Price: Let’s Talk Numbers
Here’s where TiviMate wins major points. We’re not talking about $10/month subscriptions that nickel-and-dime you forever.
Premium costs around $5 for one year or roughly $15-20 for a lifetime license. Read that again. A one-time payment of about what you’d spend on lunch, and you’re set for life.
I bought the lifetime license during a lazy Sunday while watching football. Best impulse purchase I’ve made in years. No recurring charges, no renewal emails, no “your trial is ending” anxiety.
Lesson learned the hard way: Buy it through the app itself, not third-party websites. I almost got scammed by a site claiming to sell “discounted licenses.” There’s no such thing. The official price is already so cheap there’s no reason to risk it elsewhere. Always purchase through Google Play Store for guaranteed authenticity.
How to Upgrade to TiviMate Premium (Step-by-Step Setup)
Alright, you’re convinced. Let me walk you through this like I’m sitting next to you.
Step 1: Open TiviMate. You’ll see a little “Premium” banner somewhere on the main screen or in the menu. Tap it.
Step 2: You’ll see the pricing options. Pick your plan – one year or lifetime. (Just get lifetime. You’ll use this app for years.)
Step 3: It’ll take you to Google Play’s payment screen. Use whatever payment method you have set up – credit card, Google Play balance, PayPal, whatever works.
Step 4: Complete the purchase. It takes literally 10 seconds.
Step 5: Go back to TiviMate. The app will recognize your purchase automatically. You might need to restart the app once, but that’s it.
No activation codes to type. No emails to verify. It just… works.
Fix tip if something goes wrong: If you paid but Premium features aren’t showing, go to Settings → General → Restore Purchases. This forces TiviMate to double-check with Google Play. Fixed it for me when I upgraded on spotty WiFi and the confirmation didn’t go through immediately.
Need more help with the upgrade process? Watch this visual setup tutorial that walks through every screen.
Advanced TiviMate Premium Settings You Didn’t Know You Needed
Player Settings for Buffer and Streaming Quality
This is buried in the settings but changed my life. Go to Settings → Player. Here you can adjust buffer size, hardware acceleration, and decoder settings.
It’s like tuning your car’s engine. Most people never touch it, but when you do it right, everything runs smoother.
I was getting constant buffering during peak hours. Increased the buffer size from default to “Large,” and suddenly streams played smoothly even when my internet was getting hammered by everyone else in my building streaming Netflix.
Lesson learned the hard way: Don’t randomly mess with every setting. Change one thing, test it for a day, then adjust again if needed. I once changed five settings at once, broke everything, and couldn’t remember which change caused the problem.
Custom Channel Sorting and Organization
You can drag and drop channels into whatever order makes sense to you. Put your most-watched channels at the top. Group related channels together.
I organized mine like this: News channels first (I watch morning news), then sports, then entertainment, then international. My wife has hers organized completely differently on her tablet. That’s the beauty – it adapts to you.
TV Archive and Replay Access
This feature is like having a time machine for television. If your provider supports TV archives, you can go back days or even weeks to watch shows you missed.
I discovered a documentary series three days after the marathon aired. With TV archive, I watched all six episodes back-to-back without waiting for reruns.
Common TiviMate Premium Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Mistake #1: Not Backing Up Your TiviMate Settings
You’ve spent hours customizing everything perfectly. Then your device dies, or you upgrade to a new box, and… it’s all gone.
Go to Settings → General → Backup. Create a backup file. Save it somewhere safe – Google Drive, email it to yourself, whatever. Restoring takes 30 seconds and saves you hours of reconfiguration.
I learned this after factory resetting my Android TV and losing my entire setup. Had to re-add all playlists, recreate favorite channels, redo all my customization. Took three hours. Never again.
Mistake #2: Ignoring EPG Updates in TiviMate
Your Electronic Program Guide needs to refresh regularly to show current and upcoming programs. TiviMate can do this automatically, but you need to enable it.
Settings → EPG → Update EPG → Set it to update daily at a time when you’re not watching (like 4 AM).
I had mine disabled for weeks and couldn’t figure out why program information was always wrong. The guide was showing last week’s schedule. One toggle fixed everything.
Mistake #3: Using Default Video Player Settings
TiviMate uses hardware acceleration by default, which works great… until it doesn’t. Some streams are encoded weirdly and the hardware decoder freaks out.
If you get weird visual glitches, audio sync issues, or crashes on specific channels, try this: Settings → Player → Decoder → Switch from “Hardware” to “Software” for those problem channels.
It’s like having a manual transmission option when automatic isn’t working. Slightly less efficient, but it gets the job done.
Is TiviMate Premium Worth It? (The Honest Review)
I’m not a shill. I paid for this with my own money, and I’m genuinely asking: is $15-20 for a lifetime of significantly better TV watching worth it?
If you use IPTV more than once a week, absolutely yes. The recording feature alone saves that much value in convenience. Multiple playlists? Essential if you’re serious about your content.
If you’re casually trying IPTV for the first time, maybe stick with free for a few days. Get comfortable with the interface. Make sure your IPTV provider is reliable. Then upgrade when you’re ready.
But here’s the thing – everyone I know who uses TiviMate eventually goes Premium. It’s not an “if,” it’s a “when.”
TiviMate Premium Technical Requirements and Compatibility
Compatibility: Works on Android TV, Fire TV Stick, NVIDIA Shield, Android phones/tablets. Pretty much any Android device made in the last few years. For specific device compatibility, check Android TV’s official requirements.
Requirements: Android 5.0 or higher. That’s it. If your device runs Android apps, it’ll run TiviMate.
Updates: Free forever, even after you pay. New features keep rolling out. I’ve been using it for over a year and the developers consistently improve things without charging extra.
Support: The developer is surprisingly responsive. There’s an active community, and bugs get fixed relatively quickly. If you need immediate assistance, you can reach out via WhatsApp support for quick troubleshooting help.
What TiviMate Premium Doesn’t Include (Managing Expectations)
Premium doesn’t give you channels or content. You still need an IPTV provider for that. It’s like buying a really nice TV – you still need something to watch on it.
It doesn’t magically fix poor-quality streams. If your IPTV provider serves low-quality video, TiviMate can’t upgrade it. Garbage in, garbage out.
It won’t make your internet faster. Buffering issues are usually about bandwidth or provider quality, not the app itself (though those buffer settings I mentioned earlier can help).
My Personal TiviMate Premium Setup (Real-World Example)
Here’s exactly how I use TiviMate Premium:
- Three playlists active: Sports, entertainment, and international news
- 78 channels in favorites: I’ve pruned 2,000+ channels down to what I actually watch
- Recording scheduled: Auto-records five shows weekly that air while I’m sleeping
- External 500GB USB drive: Holds all recordings, never worry about storage
- Custom interface: Dark theme, large fonts (easier to read from couch), minimal UI during playback
It took me maybe two hours total to set this up perfectly. Now it just works, day after day, with zero maintenance.
The One Thing I Wish I’d Known About TiviMate Premium Earlier
Multiple user profiles aren’t a thing. If you share a device, you share the same interface, favorites, and settings.
My wife and I have different taste in TV. I watch sports and documentaries; she’s into reality TV and cooking shows. We ended up getting separate devices (cheap Fire Sticks) so we could each have our own customized TiviMate experience.
If you’re in a similar situation, plan for that from the start. Don’t try to make one profile work for everyone with completely different viewing habits. You’ll just frustrate each other.
Quick TiviMate Premium Troubleshooting Guide
Premium features not showing after purchase? Settings → General → Restore Purchases. Wait 10 seconds. Restart app.
Recordings failing in TiviMate? Check storage location. Verify you have space. Test recording a short 5-minute program first.
Playlists won’t load? Double-check your URL is correct. Try loading it in a browser first to verify it works. Some providers require login authentication – make sure you’re using Xtream Codes login if your provider uses that instead of M3U URLs.
TiviMate app crashes constantly? Clear cache: Android Settings → Apps → TiviMate → Clear Cache (NOT Clear Data – that erases everything). If that doesn’t work, reinstall the app. Your Premium license stays active; just restore purchases after reinstalling.
Should You Wait for TiviMate Premium Sales?
Short answer: No. The price doesn’t really change, and we’re already talking about pocket change here.
I’ve been watching this app for years. The lifetime license has been consistently $15-20. No Black Friday sales, no promotional discounts. It’s already priced so reasonably that waiting for a deal is pointless.
Just pull the trigger when you’re ready. You’re not missing out on some future discount.
Getting Started with TiviMate Premium: Your Next Steps
Ready to make the jump? Here’s your action plan:
- Download TiviMate from the Google Play Store
- Set up your IPTV playlist (you’ll need a subscription first)
- Test the free version for a few days to get comfortable
- Upgrade to Premium directly through the app when you’re ready
- Customize your setup with the tips from this guide