How to Add EPG to TiviMate and Get the TV Guide Working

To add EPG to TiviMate, go to Settings > EPG, add your service's EPG link as a new source, and run an update. TiviMate then matches the guide to your channels and fills in the grid. If you added your playlist with an Xtream Codes login, you usually don't need to do anything, because the guide comes with it. If you used an M3U link, you may need to add the guide separately.

Below is the full process, plus fixes for the three problems people hit most: a blank guide, a guide on the wrong channels, and a guide that's an hour out.

What EPG actually is

EPG stands for Electronic Program Guide: the grid that shows what's on now and next. In IPTV it comes as a separate data file, usually in a format called XMLTV, listing every programme with a channel ID, start time and end time. Your playlist carries the video. The EPG file carries the schedule. TiviMate stitches them together by matching channel IDs.

That matching step is where most problems come from, which is why a guide can load perfectly and still show nothing next to some channels. More background in What is EPG in IPTV?

Step 1: Find your EPG link

Check the details your service sent. The guide link is usually labelled "EPG", "XMLTV" or "TV guide", and often ends in xmltv.php, .xml or .xml.gz. For services that use Xtream Codes, it commonly looks like the server address followed by /xmltv.php?username=...&password=....

If you can't find one, ask the service. We don't recommend grabbing a random free EPG link from a forum. Its channel IDs almost never match your playlist, so you do all the work of adding it and still get a mostly empty guide.

Step 2: Add the source in TiviMate

1. Open TiviMate and go to Settings > EPG.
2. Open the list of EPG sources. If your playlist already brought a guide with it, you'll see it listed here.
3. Choose to add a source, then type or paste the link exactly. The phone keyboard in the Fire TV or Google TV app saves a lot of pain here.
4. Confirm, then run Update EPG from the same menu.

TiviMate's own Google Play listing describes the guide as the full programme schedule "in a fast, clear grid". It gets there only once it has a source to read from.

Big guide files take a while to download and process, sometimes a couple of minutes on a Fire TV Stick. Let it finish before judging the result.

Step 3: Set it to update itself

In the EPG settings, set the update interval to once a day. Guides usually cover the next few days, so a daily refresh keeps the grid full without hammering the service. If the option to update when the app starts is there, turning it on catches days when the device was switched off at the usual update time.

Fix: the guide says "No information"

Check these in order. The first one that's true is usually the answer.

1. There's no EPG source. Look at Settings > EPG. If the list is empty, go back to step 2.
2. The update hasn't finished or failed. Run Update EPG again and watch for an error message.
3. The link is wrong or expired. EPG links from Xtream services contain your username and password, so if you changed your password or renewed your account, the old link stops working.
4. Only some channels are blank. That's a matching problem, below.

If none of that helps, our wider guide to IPTV EPG not loading covers device-level causes like storage and time settings.

Fix: some channels are blank or show the wrong programmes

Every channel in an M3U playlist can carry a hidden ID (the tvg-id tag). The EPG file uses the same IDs. When they match, the guide appears. When the playlist says BBCOne.uk and the guide file says bbc1.uk, TiviMate can't connect them.

You have two ways to fix it:

• Manually match the channel. Long-press the channel in TiviMate and look for the option to change its EPG or TV guide entry, then pick the right one from the list. Tedious for 200 channels, quick for the ten you actually watch.
• Ask the service to fix its IDs. If dozens of channels are blank, the mismatch is on their side, and a decent service will correct it.

Channels showing another channel's programmes usually means two channels share an ID in the playlist. Manual matching fixes that too.

Fix: the guide is an hour (or more) out

The programmes are right but the times are off. Two causes:

1. Your device's time zone or clock is wrong. Check the date, time and time zone in your Fire TV or Android TV system settings first. Automatic time from the network is the safest option.
2. The guide was built for a different time zone. TiviMate has an EPG time shift setting that moves the whole guide forward or back. Set it to the difference, often exactly one hour around daylight saving changes.

Keep the guide fast on a Fire TV Stick

A guide covering thousands of channels for two weeks is a big file for a small device. If scrolling is sluggish:

• Hide channel groups you never watch. TiviMate doesn't need guide data for hidden channels.
• Keep only a few days of past guide data if your service offers catch-up you don't use.
• Make sure the device has free storage. Delete old installer files from Downloader.

Still setting up? The playlist step comes first: see how to add an M3U playlist or Xtream login to TiviMate. And if you're weighing TiviMate against other players, our comparison of TiviMate vs IPTV Smarters covers how their guides differ.