Universe Stream

UniverseStream is a TV-first IPTV player for Android TV built with Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Room, Hilt, and Media3.

It is designed for large playlists, remote-friendly browsing, fast provider switching, and a polished living-room playback experience. UniverseStream supports M3U playlists, Xtream Codes, Stalker Portal, and Jellyfin providers, with dedicated flows for Live TV, Movies, and Series.

Built for Android TV first, UniverseStream focuses on the things generic IPTV apps usually get wrong: D-pad navigation, quick channel movement, large-library organization, and a player that still feels good to use from the couch. Phone and tablet installs are also supported, but the primary UX target is TV.

Highlights

- Android TV-first interface with D-pad-friendly focus, navigation, and playback flows - Provider support for Xtream Codes, Stalker Portal, Jellyfin, and M3U sources, including local playlist files - Combined M3U live-source support with optional in-app source switching for merged Live TV setups - Jellyfin onboarding with password sign-in or Quick Connect QR/code flow for TV-friendly setup - Fast live-TV browsing with preview mode, favorites, recent channels, custom groups, and pinned categories - Transparent full-guide overlay that can open over live playback without leaving the player - Movie and series libraries with detailed info pages, resume support, episode switching, and auto-play for next episodes - Offline VOD downloads with grouped episode queues, pause or resume controls, and local playback for completed files - Full EPG support with guide search, XMLTV support, and provider archive or catch-up when available - Built-in DVR with scheduled recording, background capture, recording playback, and app-managed default storage - Multi-view split-screen playback for watching multiple channels at once - Plugin API for creating companion Android APKs that extend providers, playback, Cast URL handling, or configuration flows - Strong parental controls with PIN-protected categories and automatic adult-category detection - TV integrations including Watch Next, launcher recommendations, TV input sync, Cast support, external-player handoff, and in-app update delivery

Features

Provider Support

- Xtream Codes - Stalker Portal - Jellyfin media servers with direct library sync and TV-friendly Quick Connect support - M3U playlists from URLs plus local files - Separate onboarding and sync flows for live channels, movies, series, and guide data - Fast switching between providers with provider-scoped settings - Combined M3U profiles for merging multiple M3U providers into a single Live TV source - QR-based provider pairing from a phone on the same LAN for faster TV setup

Navigation And TV UX

- Designed for Android TV and D-pad navigation first - Fast channel browsing with large-playlist friendly layouts - Numeric remote input for direct channel entry - Configurable startup landing screen so the app can open Home, Live TV, Movies, Series, Guide, Downloads, Plugins, or Settings first - Colored remote button remapping with global defaults plus playback and live-browsing overrides - Preview mode while browsing channels - TV-friendly search and text-entry flows

Live TV And Channel Management

- Favorites and recently watched channels - Custom groups for personal channel collections - Pinned categories surfaced near the top of the live guide rail - Optional Live TV provider or source browser for M3U-based setups - Long-press live categories for actions like pin, hide, lock or unlock, and custom-group management - Channel reordering for favorites and custom groups - Channel numbering modes by group or across the full provider lineup - Predefined filter words to make category search cleaner on noisy provider data

Guide, Search, And Playback

- Full EPG grid view - Transparent full-guide overlay over live playback - Program search inside the guide - XMLTV guide support with built-in EPG source management - Manual EPG match overrides and source-priority controls from inside Settings and Guide flows - Provider archive or catch-up support when the source exposes replay streams - Live rewind or timeshift playback with up to 30 minutes of buffer, even when provider catch-up is unavailable - Global search across live TV, movies, and series - Multi-view for watching multiple live streams at once - Player controls for subtitles, audio tracks, aspect ratio, playback speed, video quality, Cast, and external-player handoff

Recording And Playback

- Scheduled and background DVR recording for live channels - Offline VOD downloads with grouped episode handling and completed-file local playback - Program reminders from guide entries when you want a notification without scheduling a recording - Conflict detection, persistence, and repair support for recording jobs - App-managed default recording folder with optional custom storage selection - In-app playback for completed recordings with a visible on-player recording indicator during active capture - Playback troubleshooting controls for decoder mode, media session behavior, and timeout tuning - Bundled Media3 FFmpeg audio fallback for unsupported audio codecs such as AC-3, E-AC-3, DTS, MP2, and TrueHD, with diagnostics and expert compatibility controls

Movies And Series

- Two VOD layouts: - Modern shelf-based browsing - Classic left-sidebar category browsing - Detailed info pages for movies and series - Continue watching, playback history, and detail-screen resume actions with saved position context - Long-press VOD categories and custom groups for actions like hide, rename, delete, or reorder when applicable - In-player episode switching for series - Automatic next-episode playback when another episode is available

Parental Controls

- Hide categories completely - Lock categories behind a PIN - Option to hide locked content from browsing views - Adult-category detection using provider flags and category naming heuristics

Languages And Device Support

- English plus 25 translated locale packs currently ship with the app - Locale coverage is broader and rendering is more reliable across supported languages - Built for TV first; phones and tablets are supported, but not the primary design target

Platform Integrations

- Android TV Watch Next integration - Launcher recommendations and TV entry points - Android TV Input Framework channel sync - Google Cast sender support

Plugins

- UniverseStream can be extended with companion Android APK plugins. - Plugin developers can expose provider, playback, Cast URL rewrite, and host-rendered or native configuration capabilities. - See the UniverseStream Plugin API docs to create compatible plugins.

Quick TV Tips

- Long-press a channel, movie, or series to add it to Favorites or a custom group. - Long-press a live category to open category actions such as pin, hide, lock or unlock, and custom-group actions like reorder. - In Movies and Series, long-press categories or custom groups for hide or group-management actions where available. - Long-press a live channel to queue it for Split Screen. - Use the number keys on a remote while in the player to jump directly to a channel. - While watching a series, open Episodes in the player to switch episodes without backing out to the details page.

Notes

- UniverseStream is an IPTV client, not a content provider. - Use only playlists, streams, and guide sources you are authorized to access. - Local configuration and signing files are intentionally excluded from git.

⚠️ Important

The APK is unsigned. It must be signed before it can be installed.

License

This project was originally released without an explicit license. As of April 2026, all usage, modification, and distribution are governed by the UniverseStream Source-Available License (Non-Commercial).