What's new in Electron IPTV
Every release, what it changed, and why. Newest first.
The channel number stays visible
- The channel number remains readable on the focused row of the channel panel
A focused row in the channel panel hid its own number behind the focus treatment, which is the one moment the number is being read. It stays visible now.
More stream URLs, and clearer playback failures
- Streams can be opened over UDP and from local files, not only over HTTP
- When playback fails, the player reports what it was trying to decode
- RTMP was withdrawn — its native library blocks publishing on Google Play
Sources
The player opens UDP and local file URLs as well as HTTP. RTMP was added and then withdrawn in the same cycle: the native library it needs blocks publication on Google Play, and shipping the app matters more than one protocol.
Playback errors
A failure now reports what the player was trying to decode, instead of a generic error — which is the difference between “your provider sends a codec this device has no decoder for” and “something went wrong”.
The player panel
The programme gets its own full-width line under the channel, the channel logo and its badges sit on the channel’s own line, and a programme’s hours stay beside its title rather than against the edge.
A guide that tells you its age
- The programme guide states when it was last refreshed, above the grid
- Trailers on series pages, as the film pages already had
- Categories can be pinned to the top of their list
- The download queue picks itself back up after the app is killed
The guide
The guide says when it was last refreshed, above the grid rather than only when it is empty — so a schedule that looks wrong can be recognised as stale instead of broken. A manual refresh keeps running after you leave the screen.
Catalogue
Series pages show the trailer, which until now only film pages did. Categories can be pinned to the top of their list, on any of the category screens.
Downloads
What is still running is listed first, under section headers that fade into the page instead of banding it, and the page is titled with the count. The queue picks itself back up after the app is killed, and progress figures stay on one line.
The player
The channel number leads, and the player names what comes next with its start time. The programme on air states its hours.
Fixes
Eight separate error screens became one. Empty-state text is centred. A purchase made from the pre-trial offer continues to setup instead of stopping there. The gap between a channel number and its name was tightened.
A retractable category panel, and per-episode resume
- The category panel on Android TV retracts once you have chosen
- Series show where you stopped, episode by episode
- The remote keypad reaches channels past 9999
Android TV
The category panel retracts, giving the grid the screen back once the choice is made. Setup shows a flat animation instead of the old line-art television.
Series
Each episode shows where you stopped, rather than the series carrying a single position for all of them.
Fixes
The remote keypad reaches channel numbers past 9999. Zapping scope is derived from the channel itself rather than from the screen the channel was tapped on. The detail backdrop sits against the top edge again, settings selectors no longer repaint the screen for as long as they hold focus, and the paywall shows the reduced price for existing users without losing the lifetime plan.
A new onboarding carousel
- Three rebuilt intro slides, each with its own illustration and its own point to make
- A looping carousel with the countdown drawn on the dots, and a Start button of its own
- The legal disclaimer is reachable with a D-pad
Onboarding
The two generic illustrations are gone, replaced by animated scenes built for the three things the app actually does: live television, a catalogue, and content taken offline. The copy was rewritten around those three capabilities rather than describing the interface.
The carousel loops on its own, with the countdown to the next slide drawn on the dots instead of a separate bar, and it stops while the app is in the background. Start is a button of its own rather than the last slide’s only exit.
Fixes
The legal disclaimer’s text and links can be reached with a D-pad, so the screen is usable on a television. The pre-trial window is measured from the first launch rather than from the install date, so an install that sat unopened for a week does not arrive with its window already spent. The replay availability label now says what expires, and a long programme description no longer pushes the Watch button off screen.
Electron IPTV becomes a subscription
- One subscription that includes every feature — the free tier and the Premium tier are gone
- A three-day free trial that starts once your channels have loaded, not when you install
- Existing users get two weeks of notice and a reduced price held open for three weeks
- Guide search on Android TV, and a guide that reads correctly under TalkBack
- The player now says what is on air, not only which channel you are on
One subscription, everything included
Until this release the app was split in two: a free player, and a Premium upgrade holding offline downloads, parental controls, encrypted backups and category display styles. That split is gone. So are the quotas on the library and the blurred rows on favourites and history.
There is now a single question — is this install entitled — asked once when the app opens, instead of a check inside every screen. Everything the app can do is available from the first launch: live TV, the programme guide, movies, series, downloads, parental controls, encrypted backup and restore, and the Android TV interface.
You choose between a monthly plan, an annual plan and a one-off lifetime purchase, all priced per country by Google Play.
The free trial
Three calendar days, and the countdown starts when the app has proved it works for you — the moment your channels have finished loading — rather than at install. An app that never managed to read your playlist does not spend your trial: that case gets its own window instead.
The trial needs no card, no account and no email. The time remaining is shown in Settings, where people look for it, and a notification arrives the day before it ends. Winding the device clock back changes nothing.
If you were already using Electron IPTV
Existing installs are not treated as new ones. Instead of a three-day trial they get a two-week notice period, announced on the launch that carries the update, and a price reserved for early users that stays open for three weeks — a week longer than the notice, so there is room to reconsider after the wall arrives.
Nothing is deleted in the meantime. Playlists, favourites, history and settings stay on the device and become available again the moment you subscribe.
The programme guide
The guide can now be searched by programme title, on the phone and on the television. It attaches itself to channels the provider gave no identifier for, instead of demanding an exact match, and it can be corrected when a provider publishes the wrong times. The grid is virtualised horizontally, reads correctly under TalkBack and follows the device clock. A schedule is only offered where the guide actually has one.
The player
The player states what is on air rather than only which channel is playing, and shows how far into the programme the channel is. The guide sheet opened from the player follows the channel being watched, and the display-mode sheet names the source ratio.
Downloads, subtitles and backups
The downloads screen shows what your downloads occupy on the volume, and the centre key on a remote now acts on the download it is pointing at. Both subtitle background colours share the same opacities, and the subtitle style is carried through export and import.
Restoring and sideloaded copies
“Restore purchases” brings a subscription back on any device signed in to the same Google account. A copy installed outside Google Play cannot subscribe or restore — Play billing is unavailable there — and now says so, with a way to reinstall from the Store. Android TV has its own paywall layout, reachable entirely with a D-pad.