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How to watch IPTV on a Mac

To watch IPTV on a Mac, open Kanema, add the M3U link or Xtream Codes login from your provider, and your live channels, TV guide and library appear in a window with a sidebar. Kanema is a Mac app of its own, not the iPad app in a window, so it has keyboard shortcuts, a menu bar icon, a Dock menu and desktop widgets. It needs macOS 26.1 or later, and it comes with no channels: it plays your own subscription.

Kanema on a MacBook Air: the sidebar with Home, Favourites, Live, On demand and Yours, Continue watching with three films and a series, and what’s on now on six channels.

Demo playlist: the films are Blender open movies (credits) and the channels are made up. Kanema comes with nothing to watch.

Adding your playlist

Add a playlist from File › Add Playlist or from Settings, with the address or login your provider sent. A Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server of your own goes in the same way (Kanema with Plex, with Jellyfin or Emby). If you’ve already added it on your iPhone, iPad or Apple TV and you’re signed in to the same iCloud account, it arrives on the Mac by itself, with your favourites and where you got to.

Each playlist gets a mascot, and on the Mac they sit in a row under the Kanema name at the top of the sidebar. One click switches playlist. When there are more than fit, a count opens the full list.

The box at the top of the window searches channels, films and series at once. Channels come first in the results, then films and series.

Searching on a MacBook Air: co typed in the box at the top finds the Comet Comedy channel and the film Coffee Run, with the sidebar of lists down the left.

The keyboard

The keys you’ll use most, in the player:

  • Up and Down, or Page Up and Page Down, change channel.
  • Command-Up and Command-Down do the same from the Playback menu, as Channel Up and Channel Down.
  • The minus key goes back to the channel you watched before. Press it again to come back.
  • R reloads what you’re watching, from where it was.
  • In Multi-view, 1 to 4 choose whose sound you hear.
  • Escape leaves full screen.

Your keyboard’s play key, AirPods and Now Playing in Control Centre control Kanema too, and next and previous change channel on live TV.

Pause and rewind for up to two hours

While you watch a channel, Kanema keeps up to two hours of it on the Mac, so you can pause, go back over something you missed and return to live. That’s the longest of any device. Kanema lets go of it when you change channel.

The menu bar and the Dock

A Kanema icon in the menu bar shows what’s playing, with its controls, eight of your favourite channels (your recent ones if you have no favourites), what’s starting soon, your reminders and Open TV Guide. Starting anything from it opens the window and plays full screen. You can turn it off in Settings › General.

Right-click Kanema in the Dock to carry on with a film or series, or start a recent or favourite channel.

Settings › General can also open Kanema at login, open it in full screen, or start it in the menu bar only, with no window and no Dock icon until you want one.

Widgets and Control Centre

Add Continue watching, Your channels, TV Guide, Favourite categories and Coming up to your desktop or Notification Centre. Click one to go straight there. Control Centre and the menu bar can hold buttons for Continue watching, the TV guide or a channel you pick.

Anything behind the parental lock, or marked adult, shows only as Kanema in Control Centre and in reminders, and stays out of the menu bar, the Dock menu and the widgets.

Watching more than one thing

Multi-view plays two or four channels at once. A Mac with Apple silicon can play two of them in 4K; an Intel Mac, one. Picture in picture opens a floating window of its own while you work, and AirPlay sends what’s playing to a television or an Apple TV.

Questions

Is the Mac app just the iPad app?

No. Kanema is built as a Mac app, with its own sidebar, keyboard shortcuts, menus, a menu bar icon and a Dock menu.

Can Kanema stay in the menu bar?

Yes. Settings › General can start it in the menu bar only, with no window and no Dock icon until you open one. The menu bar icon has what’s playing, favourite channels, what’s starting soon and your reminders.

How far back can I rewind live TV on a Mac?

Up to two hours of the channel you’re watching, as long as you stay on it.

Which version of macOS do I need?

macOS 26.1 or later.

Kanema doesn’t come with channels

Kanema plays the playlist you add from your own provider, and nothing else. Only add services you’re entitled to use.

Coming soon to the App Store