GiVo Stream User Guide

Every screen, every button, every color — explained. This guide covers GiVo Stream on iPhone & iPad and on Apple TV, plus the free GiVo Server DVR companion for Mac and Windows.

1 · Welcome to GiVo Stream

GiVo Stream is a modern media player for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Point it at your own playlists and it turns them into something that feels effortless: a beautiful program guide, instant playback, pause and rewind on live streams, catchup replays, and — with the free GiVo Server app on your Mac or PC — a real DVR whose recordings live on your hardware.

What you need:

• An iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV running iOS, iPadOS, or tvOS 18.6 or later.
• A playlist from your own content source — a standard M3U URL or an Xtream Codes login. GiVo Stream does not provide any channels or content itself.
• Optional: the free GiVo Server app on a Mac or Windows computer, if you want to record and schedule recordings.

The first two chapters get you set up. Chapters 3 and 4 walk through each app, screen by screen. Chapter 5 explains the color-coded progress bar — worth two minutes, because once you can read it, the whole player makes sense. The rest covers recording, catchup, sync, and the deeper settings.

2 · First steps: your playlist & guide

Add a playlist

Open Settings → Playlist Manager → Add Playlist and choose one of two types:

• M3U & EPG — paste your M3U URL, and optionally a guide (XMLTV/EPG) URL. The guide URL can be left empty if your source doesn't provide one.
• Xtream Codes — enter the server address, username, and password. Guide data is filled in automatically, or you can supply a custom EPG URL instead.

You can add as many playlists as you like. One playlist is active at a time — switch between them from the sidebar's playlist picker (chapters 3 and 4) without re-entering anything.

Guide data & refresh

GiVo Stream keeps the program guide and your playlists fresh on your schedule. In Settings → Playlist / EPG Refresh, pick — separately for playlists and guide data — between refreshing when the app loads, every 1–24 hours, or manual-only. A Refresh Now button is always there when you want it immediately, and guide data can be kept for up to 7 days ahead.

3 · On iPhone & iPad

3.1 The tab bar — and making it yours

Across the bottom of the screen sits a floating tab bar. Out of the box it shows Channels, Guide, and Search, with Settings always pinned at the end. But it's yours to arrange: in Settings → Customization → Home Tabs you can enable, disable, and reorder tabs for Channels, Guide, Search, Reminders, Catchup, and DVR. Enable more than four and the extras tuck neatly into a … overflow menu.

3.2 Channels

The Channels tab is your lineup. Each row tells you a lot at a glance:

• Logo and name — the playing channel's name is highlighted.
• What's on now — the current program's title with a progress bar and its start and end times (when guide data is available).
• Heart — tap it to favorite a channel. A filled red heart means it's in your Favorites.
• Green clock badge — this channel offers catchup, and the number tells you how many days back you can go (chapter 7).
• Red record badge — your GiVo Server is recording this channel right now.

Tap any row to start playing. Long-press a row for more options.

3.3 The sidebar: playlists & categories

Swipe in from the left edge of the screen — or tap the sidebar button in the top corner — to open the sidebar. It holds:

• The playlist picker — switch the active playlist with one tap.
• Search — jump straight into search.
• Categories — All Channels, your Favorites (for the current playlist or across all playlists), Recently Watched, and every category from your playlist. Categories you've hidden or reordered in Playlist Customization are respected here.

Pick a category and both the Channels list and the Guide filter to it — the selection follows you between tabs.

3.4 The Guide

The Guide is a scrolling grid: channels down the left, time across the top in 30-minute slots, and a red now-line marking the current moment. The row of the channel you're watching is tinted blue. Scroll ahead to see what's coming; a Today button snaps you back when you've wandered. The day picker in the corner steps between days or jumps straight to a date — as far ahead as your guide depth allows (up to 7 days).

Tapping behaves the way you'd hope:

• A program airing now — starts playing immediately.
• A future program — opens its detail sheet: full description, times, and buttons to Set Reminder or — with a paired GiVo Server — Schedule Recording.
• A past program — opens the detail sheet with Play Catchup when the channel's replay archive has it (chapter 7).

3.5 The player

Playback lives in a 16:9 tile at the top of the screen, so you can keep browsing underneath. Tap the tile to go fullscreen; swipe down to shrink it back. In fullscreen, tap anywhere to show the controls — they fade out on their own after a few seconds.

Top edge: a close button, and the live indicator — a red dot with LIVE when you're at the live edge, or a gray dot with a countdown like −2:45 showing how far behind live you are.

Center: rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward. The jump size is yours — 10, 15, 30, or 60 seconds, set in Settings → Playback.

Bottom: the channel logo, the current program with its time range, and the full-width progress bar — drag anywhere on it to scrub. (What the bar's colors mean is chapter 5.)

The side controls:

• Mute — one tap to silence, one to restore.
• Restart Stream — re-opens the stream cleanly if a source is misbehaving.
• Record — start recording the current program to your GiVo Server, with options for how much to capture.
• Picture in Picture — pop the video into a floating window over other apps.
• Channel variants — see the same channel from your other playlists and switch sources without leaving playback.
• The … menu — audio tracks, subtitles and captions, aspect ratio, AirPlay and Chromecast, and quick access to Settings.

3.6 Picture in Picture, AirPlay & background audio

Tap the PiP button and the video floats above whatever else you're doing — resize it, move it, keep watching. Leave the app entirely and the audio keeps playing in the background, with full Lock Screen and Control Center controls: play/pause and skip buttons that honor the same jump intervals you chose in Playback settings. AirPlay and Chromecast live in the player's side controls — send the stream to a bigger screen with two taps.

3.7 Search

Search looks across your channels — and program titles in the guide — in every playlist at once, with results grouped by playlist. It's available as its own tab, from the sidebar, and from the nav bar in Channels.

4 · On Apple TV

4.1 The home screen

GiVo Stream on Apple TV opens straight into the action: a live preview tile in the top-left playing your last channel (the app remembers where you left off), a program panel beside it showing what's on now with a progress bar — plus optional extras like what's up next, video stats, and a clock — and the full Guide grid below. A sticky time header keeps ON NOW and the 30-minute slots in view as you browse. Click the preview tile to go fullscreen.

4.2 The sidebar & navigation rail

From the channel column, press ← once and the categories sidebar slides in: the playlist picker on top, then All, Favorites, Recently Watched, and every category from your playlist. Press ← again for the navigation rail — the app's main menu: Guide, Search, Reminders, DVR, Catchup, and Settings. Two presses from anywhere in the guide to everywhere in the app.

4.3 The Guide on the big screen

Glide through the grid with the remote — up and down through channels, right into the future, with day controls above the grid for bigger jumps. Press Select on a program and GiVo Stream does the smart thing:

• Airing now — plays it, fullscreen.
• In the future — opens a panel with Set Reminder and Schedule Recording.
• In the past — opens a panel with Watch Catchup and Record Catchup when the channel's archive has it.

Long-press any channel or program for more: add or remove a favorite, or View Programs — a clean, scrollable list of everything airing on that channel.

4.4 The fullscreen player & your remote

In fullscreen playback, the remote is the interface. With the controls hidden, every direction does something useful:

4.5 The info overlay

Click the touchpad during playback and the overlay appears: the channel's logo, name, and its playlist & category; the program title; the air window with time remaining ("8:00 – 9:00 PM · 45 minutes left"); and the color-coded progress bar. It dismisses itself after a few seconds — 3, 7, 10, or 15, your choice in Customization.

The control row: rewind, play/pause, and fast-forward (with your configured jump sizes), program details, Resume Live (appears whenever you're behind the live edge), mute, captions, and Restart Stream.

Captions & audio: the captions button lists every subtitle track in the stream, plus an Appearance editor for font, size, and background. Audio tracks — languages, stereo or surround — are picked the same way.

Shortcut buttons line the bottom of the overlay — Quick Search, Full Guide, Mini Guide, Recent Catchup, DVR, and Recently Watched — and every one of them can be shown or hidden in Settings → Customization. On the right, the … menu holds aspect ratio and playback settings (speed, scaling, and more), and Channel Variants lists the same channel from your other playlists.

4.6 Mini Guide, Quick Search & zapping

Mini Guide (← during playback) is the fastest way to answer "what else is on?" — a translucent channel list with now & next, progress, and badges for favorites, catchup, and recordings, while your stream keeps playing. Each row has a View Programs arrow for that channel's full schedule.

Quick Search overlays a keyboard for channel names, program titles, and categories, and remembers your recent searches.

Channel zapping (↑/↓) is built for the couch: flick through the lineup with a banner naming each stop, and the player tunes the moment you linger.

4.7 The recordings & catchup panel

Press → during playback and a panel slides in from the right edge with two views under a toggle at the top:

• DVR Server Recordings — your library, without leaving the stream: finished recordings and in-progress ones (with their recording window), each labeled with where it came from (playlist · category). Select one to start watching — even while it's still recording.
• Recent Catchup — the replays you've been watching, with resume positions, ready to pick up mid-program.

The same two views are one press away in the info overlay's shortcut buttons. And if you'd rather have ←/→ do rewind and fast-forward instead, remap them in Settings → Customization → Left/Right Buttons — Mini Guide on the left and this panel on the right is the default.

4.8 Recent channels

Swipe up on the bare surface (controls hidden) and a strip of your recently watched channels appears over the stream — click one to jump straight back to it. It's the fastest way to bounce between two channels. The strip is also one of the overlay's shortcut buttons (Recently Watched), and you can choose whether it draws from all playlists or just the active one — and how many channels it keeps — in Settings → Customization → Recently Watched.

4.9 The player's nav bar

You can reach every section of the app without ever leaving fullscreen. Swipe down to open the program pane (chapter 4.4), then press ↓ again — the pane's corner shows a "Down to Nav Bar" hint — and a horizontal nav bar rises along the bottom edge: the same destinations as the navigation rail (Guide, Search, Reminders, DVR, Catchup), laid out left to right. Step across with ←/→ and select one to jump there — the player tucks itself back into the preview tile. Press ↑ to climb back up to the program info instead.

5 · The progress bar, decoded

The progress bar at the bottom of the player isn't just a position indicator — it's a map of what you can do. Each color is a different kind of content, and the bar redraws live as buffers grow and recordings run. Here's the whole language:

Around the bar: the program's start and end times sit at the corners, a floating clock rides above the knob (it turns red while you scrub), and the top-right corner shows LIVE in red when you're at the edge — or how far behind it you've paused, like −5m 22s.

Three everyday moments, drawn out:

The same color language shows up in miniature all over the app: a filled red record badge means recording now, an outlined one means scheduled; a red bell is a reminder; a red heart is a favorite; a green clock means catchup is available; and a blue-tinted row is the channel you're watching.

6 · Recording with GiVo Server

GiVo Server is the free companion app for macOS and Windows that turns GiVo Stream into a full DVR. It records on your own Mac or PC, and every Apple device you've paired can schedule and watch the recordings. Download it here.

Pairing

1. Install GiVo Server on a computer that stays on your home network and launch it — it lives in the Mac menu bar or the Windows system tray.
2. In GiVo Stream, go to Settings → DVR and turn on Enable DVR. Your server appears under Available Servers.
3. Select it and enter the pairing code shown in the server's menu — click the code there to copy it. (You can set your own 6-digit code in the server's settings.)

If discovery can't see the server, Add Server Manually with its IP address and port works on any network. Each server keeps a Local Address for your home Wi-Fi and an optional Remote Address for connecting from outside your home with Tailscale — GiVo Stream switches between them automatically, so one paired server works both at home and away.

Recording

• Record what you're watching — the record button in the player starts capturing the current program, with options for how much to record.
• Schedule from the Guide — open any future program and choose Schedule Recording. The server wakes up and records it whether your Apple devices are on or not.
• Record a replay — on catchup-enabled channels, Record Catchup saves a program that already aired (chapter 7).

In DVR Server Settings you can add pre-roll and post-roll padding — start a little early, end a little late — and set how many recordings may run at once.

Your library

DVR Server Recordings lists everything: in-progress recordings (which you can watch live as they record — that's the red bar with the white tick from chapter 5 — or Stop to keep what's been captured), and completed ones, with resume positions, durations, and swipe-to-delete. Scheduled Server Recordings shows what's queued; delete an entry to cancel it. The DVR screen always shows your server's status — and a red OFFLINE badge with usage meters when something needs attention.

Commercial skip

With a paired GiVo Server, finished recordings can skip their ad breaks. Detection runs on the server a few minutes after a recording completes — when a recording's breaks are ready, its row wears a blue Ad Skip badge.

• Turn it on (server) — in the GiVo Server app on your Mac or PC, open Settings and enable Commercial Skip. Every new recording and saved catchup program is then analyzed automatically.
• Turn it on (app) — go to DVR → DVR Server Settings and enable Commercial Skip Button. While you watch, a Skip Commercial button appears as each break starts — press it to jump straight back to the show.
• Fully automatic — enable Auto Skip Commercials as well and playback jumps past each break by itself, no button needed.
• See the breaks — detected breaks are drawn in orange on the progress bar, so you always know where the ads are; each segment turns solid as you watch past or skip it.

Commercial skip applies to server recordings and saved catchup programs. Detection accuracy varies with how a channel formats its breaks — and you can always scrub any recording normally.

Captions on recordings

Recordings keep their captions. When a channel broadcasts closed captions, the server extracts them automatically after the recording finishes — they show up in the player's captions menu like any other subtitle track, styled by your caption-appearance settings. The same goes for movies and series you save to the server: any subtitle tracks in the source are pulled out and offered alongside the video. No setup needed — if the source carried captions, your recording has them.

7 · Catchup: replay what you missed

Many content sources keep a replay archive — a few days of past programs you can play on demand. GiVo Stream calls this catchup, and channels that support it wear a green clock badge with the number of days the archive reaches back.

• From the Guide — open any past program on a catchup channel and choose Play Catchup (or Watch Catchup on Apple TV). The green progress bar from chapter 5 takes over.
• Recent Catchup — a running list of the replays you've watched, each with a resume position so you can pick up mid-program. Find it as its own tab on iPhone and iPad, or in the navigation rail on Apple TV.
• Record Catchup — with a paired GiVo Server, save a replay as a permanent recording.

Instant scrubbing with Pre-Buffer

When you open a replay, GiVo Stream quietly buffers the program in the background while you watch — the buffered stretch fills in along the progress bar. Anywhere inside it, skipping and rewinding are instant. Jump ahead of the buffer and playback simply restarts at that point, with the buffer rebuilding from there; on a program that's still airing, the buffer reaches up to the newest moment available.

Pre-Buffer is on by default. If you'd rather catchup play as a plain stream, turn it off in Settings → Playback → Pre-Buffer Catchup.

If a channel's replay timing looks shifted relative to the guide, Settings → Catchup lets you set a per-channel time offset to line things up.

8 · VOD: Movies & series

If your provider offers movies and series on demand, GiVo Stream gives them a home of their own — a poster-rich library you browse, search, and play exactly like a streaming app. Look for the Movies & Series area: a tab on iPhone and iPad (promote it in Settings → Customization → Home Tabs to keep it front and center), or in the navigation rail on Apple TV.

Browse

The home screen is built from poster rows — one per category, from New Movies and Series to individual genres and whatever else your provider supplies. Focus or tap a poster and a full-bleed backdrop fades in behind it with the title, year, and rating. Use Browse to switch playlists and Select Categories to choose which rows appear (a lifesaver with providers that ship thousands). A Movies / Series filter and a per-row "back to top" arrow keep big catalogs manageable.

Details

Open any title for its detail page: poster, plot, cast, director, genre, runtime, and — where available — a trailer and a More in this genre row. Series expand into seasons and episodes. Add an optional TMDB key in Settings and GiVo Stream fills in the artwork, descriptions, and trailers your playlist leaves blank.

Watching

Play picks up where you left off, and the player carries the same controls as the rest of the app — scrub, skip, and a Tracks button for audio and subtitle selection. Series roll on with autoplay next episode and a countdown card, plus a Skip Intro chip when one is detected.

Your library

The Library tab keeps what matters: a Watchlist of titles you've saved, In Progress for anything half-watched, and Completed for what you've finished — each with an All / Movies / Series filter. Your library follows you across devices (chapter 11).

Search & save

The Search tab finds titles across your catalog, remembers recent searches, and plays a result without losing your place. And with a paired GiVo Server, Save to DVR Server on any detail page keeps a permanent copy — it appears under DVR Server Saves in your Library, ready to stream back anytime. While the server is pulling the title down, its Library row shows live progress — Saving… 42% — so you always know how far along the save is; when the percentage disappears, the copy is complete and ready to watch.

9 · Multiview

Multiview puts several live channels on one screen — perfect for a slate of games, or keeping an eye on the news while something else plays. Open it from the navigation rail on Apple TV, or the Multiview control on iPhone and iPad, and it drops you straight into a live split-screen.

• Pick a layout. Anything from a single large window up to a four-up grid, or a spotlight layout with one larger tile and smaller ones alongside.
• Tap a tile for its menu. Change that tile's channel from the app's mini-guide, move it, add or remove a window, or send it fullscreen. Tap a tile's audio to make it the one you hear — only one plays sound at a time.
• Go big, then back. Send a tile fullscreen to watch it on its own; exit and you're back in the mosaic, or out to that channel full-screen.
• Save your setup. Keep a favorite arrangement and reload it next time instead of rebuilding it.

Multiview decodes every window at once, so it asks for a healthy connection — if your network looks tight when you open it, GiVo Stream tells you up front. Live and catchup streams both work, and if a window ever stalls, its little menu has a Restart.

10 · Reminders

Found something you don't want to miss? Open the program in the Guide and choose Set Reminder. You'll get a notification just before it starts. Reminders pair beautifully with scheduled recordings — set both, and the program is waiting for you either way.

Every reminder lives in the Reminders list (a tab on iPhone and iPad, in the navigation rail on Apple TV), showing the program, channel, and time. Swipe to remove one, or Clear All to start fresh. Programs with a reminder wear a small red bell in the Guide.

11 · Sync & Data

Turn on sync in Settings → Sync & Data and your setup follows you — playlists, favorites, settings, and more, kept in step across iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Everything travels through your own private iCloud; nothing passes through our servers, and we couldn't read it if it did.

Sync is granular: you choose exactly what syncs and what stays local to each device. Set up a new device and your channels, hearts, and preferences are simply there.

12 · Parental controls

Settings → Parental Control gives you two layers of protection behind a 4-digit PIN:

• Lock — categories (and individual channels) that require the PIN to open. They're visible, but gated.
• Hide — channels that disappear from the lineup entirely, as if they were never there.

You can also lock the Playlist Manager itself, so the lineup can't be changed without the PIN. Entering the PIN unlocks gated content for the current session — but the Parental Control settings screen always asks again, every time. Perfect for shared devices like the living-room Apple TV.

13 · Settings, room by room

A quick map of everything behind the Settings tab, on both platforms:

14 · Tips & quick reference

• Pause is always free. The moment a stream starts, the blue buffer starts too — pause and rewind work on every stream, no server needed.
• Two left-presses. On Apple TV, ← ← from the guide reaches everything in the app.
• Make the tab bar yours. If you use Catchup or DVR daily, promote them to the tab bar on iPhone and iPad (chapter 3.1).
• Reminder + recording. Set both on a program you care about: you get the nudge, and the server gets the copy.
• Behind live? Look for Resume Live in the player — or just check the top corner for the red LIVE.
• Wrong-looking replay times? Per-channel catchup offsets in Settings → Catchup straighten them out.
• Same channel, better source. Channel Variants in the player lists the same channel from your other playlists — switch sources in two taps.
• Record away from home. Add your server's Tailscale IP as its Remote Address and the schedule button works from anywhere — setup walkthrough on the Support page.

Stuck on something this guide doesn't cover? The Support page has answers to common questions — or email support@givostreamapp.com and a human will get back to you.