What you need
- An Apple TV with tvOS 26.1 or later.
- A playlist from your provider: an M3U or M3U8 link, or an Xtream Codes login (a server address, a username and a password).
- Optionally, a guide address. Most providers send their own TV guide, and you can add an XMLTV address if yours doesn’t.
An M3U link brings live channels. An Xtream Codes login brings live channels too, plus your provider’s films and series and catch-up where the provider keeps it. If you have an HDHomeRun tuner or a Tvheadend server on your home network, Kanema can play its live channels as well.
Add your playlist without typing on the TV
The first time Kanema opens, it shows a button to add a playlist, then asks what you’re adding: an Xtream Codes login, an M3U link, a Plex, Jellyfin or Emby server, an HDHomeRun tuner or a Tvheadend server. Choose Xtream Codes or M3U link, and when you reach the details, the TV offers to let you type them on your phone instead, with a QR code beside the fields.
Point your phone’s camera at the QR code and a page opens with the same fields. Fill them in, send, and the details land on the Apple TV over your Wi-Fi. Any phone on the same Wi-Fi works, whether or not it has Kanema, and nothing passes through a server of ours. The page closes once something is sent. If you’d rather use the TV’s own fields, an iPhone nearby offers its keyboard whenever the Apple TV asks for text.
Kanema then shows each step as your playlist loads: the catalogue, Home’s rows, the guide. Home opens when it’s ready. A big playlist can take a while, and after a short wait you can choose Continue to Home and let the rest load there. If something goes wrong, the same screen offers Try again and Edit details.
If every stream on your subscription is already in use on another device, Kanema says so while it loads, so you know it isn’t stuck.
Every kind of playlist, on every device, is in adding a playlist, step by step.
Getting around with the Siri Remote
Live TV lists your provider’s categories on the left and the channels on the right, each with what’s on now, a bar showing how far in it is, and what’s next.
In the player:
- Up and Down change channel.
- Left and Right open the channel list. From there you can step into another category without leaving the picture.
- A click on the centre of the remote shows what’s on and the stream’s details without pausing. Click again for audio, subtitles, aspect ratio, the sleep timer and the rest.
- Play/Pause twice goes back to the channel you watched before, and twice again comes back.
- Back puts things away first, then leaves the channel.
Press and hold a channel in Live TV to favourite it, move it to the top, hide it or fix its guide. Press and hold a category to favourite it, lock it or hide it. Settings › Tips goes over all of this on the TV itself.
Everyone at home gets their own Kanema
Each person on the Apple TV has their own playlists, favourites, Continue watching and Top Shelf, synced with their own iCloud account. Switch people in Control Centre and Kanema opens as them.
When a channel won’t play
Settings has a connection test that tells you whether the problem is your network or your provider. If a channel’s picture freezes, Kanema reopens it once by itself, then says the channel has stopped and offers Reload; a click on a frozen picture does the same. Reload is also under Stream in the player’s options, and reloading the whole playlist from Settings fixes most of what a provider breaks.
Questions
Does Kanema come with channels?
No. Kanema plays the playlist you add from your own provider, and nothing else. Only add services you’re entitled to use.
Do I have to type my playlist with the Siri Remote?
No. When you add a playlist, scan the QR code on the TV with your phone’s camera and fill in the page that opens. The details go straight to the Apple TV over your Wi-Fi.
Do I need a Kanema account?
No. There is no Kanema account and no Kanema server. Your login is stored on the Apple TV and sent only to your provider.
Which Apple TV do I need?
Any Apple TV that runs tvOS 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