Before you start
- An LG webOS television from 2016 or newer
- An LG account signed in
- Your IPTVNinja M3U link or Xtream credentials
Nothing to sign in with yet? Ask for a 24-hour test line, or read what the plans cost first.
Doing it, one step at a time
Get into the LG Content Store
From Home, open the LG Content Store, cross to Apps, and use the search box there. Older releases of webOS are slower about this than they have any right to be, so give the store a few seconds to respond before deciding the search has failed on you.
Install a player, and ignore the copies
The names to look for are IPTV Smarters Player, iPlayTV and GSE Smart IPTV. The first costs nothing; the other two ask a single payment and are noticeably better laid out in return. Listings named TiviMato or Tivimax are unrelated to TiViMate, are not made by the same people, and are not worth paying for. TiViMate has no webOS version in existence and no listing claiming otherwise is what it says it is.
Have your credentials to hand before you start
Entering a password with an LG Magic Remote is slow, and the pointer makes mistyping easy. Open the WhatsApp message on a phone beside you and read the values across carefully, or do the first setup on the phone to confirm they are right before attempting it on the television. Two minutes of preparation removes the most common cause of a failed login on this platform, which is simply a mistyped character nobody can see.
Hand over your account details
In Smarters the route is Login with Xtream Codes API, after which it asks for username, password and server address. Smart IPTV takes an entirely different path: it displays a MAC address, and your M3U link goes to that address through siptv.app/mylist on some other device. Two quite distinct procedures, and remembering which application you installed will spare you a puzzling five minutes.
Let it restart and load
Once it restarts, the set pulls the full line-up along with its own built-in guide. The coloured buttons on the LG remote handle favourites and the EPG, which is genuinely the thing that makes these televisions pleasant to live with rather than merely functional.
Build a favourites list
Do this on day one rather than promising yourself you will get to it. On a remote with no keyboard, scrolling a very long list is the difference between using the television and avoiding it. Pick your thirty or forty regulars, put them in a group, and hide the categories you will never open.
Check the decoder if anything looks wrong
A black screen with working sound is a decoder mismatch, not a dead channel, and it is the single most common report on webOS. Switch the player to native or hardware decoding in the app settings before assuming anything about the feed.
Test with your own channels on a busy night
As with every device here, the only meaningful test is your own list at your own viewing hour. Ask for a test line, open the ten channels you would miss, and watch during a genuine fixture rather than a quiet afternoon. It costs nothing and it answers the question that this entire page exists to raise.
When it does not work
Black screen, sound still playing
This is the decoder disagreeing with the stream rather than a channel being off air, and on webOS it is easily the most frequent report we receive. In the application's settings, move the player over to native or hardware decoding. Alternatively pick the lower-bitrate version of that channel, which exists alongside most sports feeds. Where a single channel misbehaves and everything else is fine, change that one channel instead of the global setting.
The Content Store has none of these apps
LG rotates its catalogue by region and by webOS version. IPTV Smarters is the most widely stocked, so try that first. On a set older than 2016 you are out of options within the television itself, and an external stick is the honest answer.
The app opens and immediately closes
Almost always a webOS version too old for the current build of the app. Check for a television firmware update first. If the set is already current and the app still will not stay open, install one of the alternatives rather than fighting it — they are not interchangeable in quality but they are in function.
The remote pointer makes the app unusable
Press the wheel on the Magic Remote to switch between pointer and directional modes. Most IPTV players are built for a directional pad and behave badly under a free-floating cursor, which reads as the app being broken when it is merely being driven the wrong way.
Apps worth trying on this hardware
Smart IPTV (SIPTV)
Set up Smart IPTV on Samsung and LG televisions: find the MAC address, upload your M3U at siptv.app, activate after the trial. 25,000+ channels, no box.
IPTV Smarters Pro
IPTV Smarters Pro setup for Firestick, Android, Samsung, LG, Apple TV and desktop. Sign in with Xtream Codes, load the guide and fix the usual errors.
Every guide
The full list of hardware and apps, on one page.
Try it on your LG Smart TV before you pay
A test line costs nothing and settles whether the channels you want are really there. Plans open at $15 a month for the same 25,000+ line-up.
What people ask about the LG Smart TV
Which app is best on an LG?
Start with IPTV Smarters: it costs nothing, takes the Xtream login and carries a complete guide, which makes it the sensible first attempt. Smart IPTV is the leaner of the two and once set up it is extremely dependable, in exchange for a single payment to whoever wrote it. Both run on webOS 3.0 and above, and there is little reason to pay before trying the free option.
Does TiViMate run on LG?
No, and it never has. TiViMate is an Android application and webOS is not Android. Every listing you find on an LG store using a similar name is a different product by a different developer trading on the confusion. If TiViMate matters to you, that television needs an Android box or a Firestick attached.
Can I use one subscription on the LG and a bedroom TV?
Install it on as many as you like — the limit is on simultaneous streams, not installations. On a single-stream plan both sets can be signed in while only one plays. If two rooms need to watch different things at the same time, that is precisely what the higher tiers are for.
How old can an LG be and still work?
webOS 3.0, which means 2016 models, is the practical floor. Earlier sets either lack the Content Store entirely or no longer receive the apps. There is no workaround within the television, and the sensible answer for an older panel is a stick in a spare HDMI socket rather than an afternoon of trying.
Can I record on an LG?
Not through these apps. Neither Smarters nor Smart IPTV on webOS offers recording, and the television's own recording function works on broadcast tuners rather than on app playback. If recording matters to you, that television needs an Android box running TiViMate Premium instead.
Will a firmware update break my setup?
It can clear app data, which means re-entering three values in Smarters or re-uploading the playlist for Smart IPTV. Neither touches your subscription and neither costs anything. Keep your credentials somewhere retrievable and an LG update becomes two minutes of mild irritation rather than an evening lost to it.
Does the LG magic remote work with these apps?
It does, though most IPTV players are designed around a directional pad rather than a pointer. Press the scroll wheel to switch modes and the apps become considerably easier to drive. It is a small thing that changes the experience of the television entirely.