FAQ & Settings

How much video the app loads ahead before and during playback. It's a trade-off between speed and stability:

• Low latency — starts fastest, switches channels quickest, but is more likely to briefly stall on a shaky connection.
• Balanced (default) — a good middle ground for most connections.
• Large buffer — loads much more ahead, smoothest on a slow or unstable line, at the cost of slower channel-zapping and a longer initial load.

If you get frequent stutters or rebuffering on live TV, try Large buffer first.

How far behind the true live edge the player deliberately stays: Low = 10s, Normal = 20s (default), Safe = 40s. A bigger cushion means the player has more buffered video in reserve, so it's less likely to stall — at the cost of being further "behind" real-time. If live channels stutter a lot, try Safe. This applies to HLS streams — see "Live stream format" below.

Which kind of live stream the app asks your provider for. TS (default) is the direct, continuous MPEG-TS stream — what most set-top boxes and players use, and in our testing noticeably steadier, with fewer stutters and freezes after a while. HLS is the segmented alternative. If a channel won't play on your provider's panel, switch to HLS under Settings → Player & display → Live stream format. It applies from the next channel you open.

• Fit (default) — shows the full picture, with black bars if the aspect ratio doesn't match your screen.
• Fill — stretches the picture to fill the whole screen (may look slightly distorted).
• Zoom — crops the picture to fill the screen without stretching it.

They control whether the app uses your box's dedicated hardware chip or a software (CPU-based) decoder for video and audio. Auto is hardware-first with an automatic fallback if something fails — the right choice for almost everyone.

Audio decoder defaults to Software, not Auto — some TV boxes' hardware AAC decoder mangles 5.1-channel audio into crackling sound. Software decoding sidesteps that. This never affects AC3/E-AC3/DTS audio, which always plays through hardware passthrough regardless of this setting.

Set Audio output to "Stereo downmix". Some Android TV boxes (notably Amlogic-based ones) have a hardware AAC decoder that handles 5.1-channel audio badly. This option properly mixes the 5.1 audio down to stereo instead of letting the broken hardware path touch it — you'll still get full surround-encoded audio (AC3/E-AC3) untouched, only plain AAC 5.1 is downmixed.

When on, the app matches your TV's screen refresh rate to the video's actual frame rate (e.g. switches to 24Hz for 24fps film content, 50/60Hz for TV broadcasts) instead of always using your screen's default rate. This avoids the small stutter ("judder") you get when a 24fps video plays on a 60Hz-locked screen. Works best on Amlogic-based boxes. Off by default since not every TV/box handles the switch cleanly.

A technical option that hands video frame timing directly to the hardware decoder+display path for smoother audio/video sync — mainly relevant on Amlogic boxes. "Auto" currently behaves the same as "Off" (we intentionally don't auto-enable it, since it can affect playback stability differently per device). Only turn it to On if you specifically want to try it and know what to look for if playback misbehaves.

How long the app waits for your Xtream Codes panel to respond before giving up: Normal = 30s, Patient = 60s. If your provider's panel is slow to respond (common with some resellers during peak hours), Patient gives it more time before showing an error instead of failing fast.

Some Xtream Codes panels redirect a stream URL from http:// to https:// (or back) before serving the actual video. This setting (on by default) lets the player follow that kind of redirect. Leave it on unless you have a specific reason to turn it off — most panels need it.

If the player's first-choice decoder fails to even start for a given stream, this lets it automatically retry with a different decoder instead of just failing. This is separate from the app's built-in black-screen recovery — the app always watches for a frozen/black picture during playback and force-restarts using software decoding when that happens, regardless of this setting.

Every request the app sends to your provider carries a short identifier called a User-Agent. By default the app identifies itself like the widely used VLC player, which most panels accept. A few panels only allow certain apps and refuse everything else — if login or playback fails with an error that looks like a block, set a different one under Settings → Playlists → Custom User-Agent. It has quick presets (Default (VLC), Chrome, Old: AbyssIPTV) or you can type your own. It's saved per playlist; leave it blank to use the default.

When the app needs the address of a server (your provider, for example) it asks your device's normal DNS first — that is your router, or a DNS filter such as a Pi-hole if you run one. Only if that lookup fails does the app use the DNS fallback you choose under Settings → Network: Cloudflare (default), Google, Own server (your own DNS-over-HTTPS address, which must start with https://) or Off.

The fallback exists because some internet providers block IPTV domains at DNS level; with it the app can still reach your provider. Choose Off if you want every lookup to stay on your own DNS. This matters for a Pi-hole that blocks a name by answering “does not exist” (NXDOMAIN): with a fallback on, the app would ask Cloudflare or Google instead and bypass that block. A change applies to new connections.

You need a standard WireGuard .conf file from your VPN provider (Mullvad, Surfshark, NordVPN/NordLynx, and most others that support WireGuard all generate one). Logging in with just a username/password isn't supported — only a pre-generated .conf file.

1. Open the VPN tab and tap "+ Add tunnel".
2. Give it a name (anything you like).
3. Either tap "Import .conf file" to pick the file from your device/box, or paste the config text directly into the "…or paste config" box.
4. Tap Save tunnel. If the config is malformed, you'll get an "Invalid WireGuard config" error immediately — otherwise it's saved and ready to connect.

That's the standard Android "This app wants to set up a VPN connection" system dialog — every VPN app on Android has to ask this, it's not specific to Abyss Player. You only need to approve it once per device; after that, connecting doesn't ask again.

No — only one tunnel is active at a time. Turning another tunnel on automatically disconnects whichever one was previously active.

Off by default. When turned on, the VPN reconnects automatically to whichever tunnel you last used, every time you open the app — and disconnects about 20 seconds after you leave the app (it stays connected if you're just in Picture-in-Picture). Note: the very first connection still needs to be started manually once, since Android's VPN permission prompt can't be shown automatically in the background.

Yes — the config (including the private key) is encrypted at rest using Android's hardware Keystore (AES-256-GCM) before being saved on the device.

Some ISPs throttle streaming traffic specifically, even without a VPN. Hysteria2 is a protocol designed to disguise and resist that kind of throttling, routing just this app's streams (and its own API calls) through a local proxy connection to a Hysteria2 server — unlike the VPN feature above, it doesn't affect any other app on your device or box.

• Server host and Port (default 443) — from your Hysteria2 server/provider.
• Password — required, your Hysteria2 auth password.
• SNI (optional) — only needed if your server's TLS certificate uses a different hostname than the server address itself.
• Obfuscation password (optional) — an extra layer of traffic disguising ("Salamander" obfuscation) on top of TLS, if your server supports it.
• Pinned cert SHA-256 (optional) — only needed if your server uses a self-signed certificate rather than one from a trusted certificate authority. Leave blank otherwise.

Go to Settings → General & parental → Parental controls → Set PIN, enter a 4–6 digit PIN twice to confirm. This automatically turns on "Lock adult categories." Categories your provider flags as adult (or whose name contains an obvious adult keyword) will then require your PIN before you can browse into them, on the Live channel list and the programme Guide.

No — once you enter the correct PIN, adult categories stay unlocked for the rest of that app session. The lock re-engages the next time you fully close and reopen the app.

Category selection on the Live channel browser and the programme Guide. It currently does not filter app-wide Search results, Favorites, or Continue Watching rows — an adult item can still surface there. Keep that in mind if you're relying on this as your only safeguard.

Yes — only a SHA-256 hash of your PIN is stored, never the PIN itself.

When on (default), movies and episodes pick up where you left off if you stopped more than 5 seconds in, and your position is saved every few seconds while watching. It doesn't apply to live channels. Separately, a "Continue watching" row on the home/browse screens always shows your in-progress movies and episodes, independent of this toggle.

• Playlist refresh — how long your channel/movie/series lists stay cached before the app re-fetches them from your provider's panel in the background (1–24h). A "Refresh playlist now" button in Settings forces an immediate full refresh at any time, regardless of that interval.
• EPG refresh — separately controls how often the "now/next" programme-guide information is updated in the background (1–12h). The app also auto-refreshes the guide for your favorite channels and the last channel you watched every time it starts — not the whole channel list, to avoid hammering your provider's panel. A "Refresh EPG now" button in Settings forces an immediate refresh of that same set on demand.

Use "Guide time offset" in Settings → Guide (EPG) (± up to 12 hours) if your provider's guide data is off by a fixed number of hours from your local time — a common issue with some panels. This shifts the displayed programme times (and which programme is shown as "on now") to match reality.

Android TV only. When on, the app jumps straight into the last live channel you watched as soon as it starts, instead of showing the home/browse screen first.

A group is a list of your own, with a name you choose — for example “Football” or “Kids” — next to your Favorites:

1. Long-press OK on a channel in the Live tab.
2. Choose Add to group…, then New group… and type a name (the remote keyboard, or the keyboard of your phone's TV remote app).
3. The group now appears in the category list on the left, just below Favorites. A channel can be in several groups: open the same menu on another channel and tick the groups it belongs to.

Channels inside a group are shown in your playlist's own order, and zapping with Up/Down while you watch stays inside the group.

Long-press OK on the group in the list on the left and pick Rename or Delete. Deleting a group never deletes any channel, only the group. To take a single channel out, open the group, long-press the channel and choose Remove from this group.

Yes: groups are part of Backup & restore and of moving your setup to another device. Channel groups are available on Android TV for now; the phone app does not show them yet. A group is tied to your playlist: if the provider removes a channel, it simply disappears from the group. Hidden channels and the parental lock apply inside groups as well.

While a live channel plays, press OK to show the player controls and choose the red record button. A red REC badge with the running time and file size appears; press the button again (it now shows Stop) to finish. The file written so far is always kept and can be played.

This copies the stream the player is already downloading, so it needs no second connection to your provider and nothing is re-encoded. Good to know:

• It only works on live channels that play as TS (Settings → Network, the default). On HLS the button is not shown.
• It follows the channel you started it on: zapping to another channel, or closing the player or the app, ends the recording.
• If the storage is full or cannot be written to, the recording stops and a message tells you why.

Under Settings → Abyss Player Pro → Recording location you choose Automatic, Internal or USB / SD card. Automatic uses internal storage and switches to a USB stick or SD card when internal storage has less than 2 GB free. With USB / SD card chosen, recording refuses to start when no stick is plugged in. The same screen shows the storage that was found and how much space is free.

All recordings, from the Rec button and from planned recordings, are listed in the Recordings tab, where you can play and delete them. The one that is still running is marked “Recording now”. A one-hour recording of a regular HD channel is typically a few GB, so use a USB stick for longer recordings.

There are two ways:

1. From the TV guide: long-press OK on a programme and choose Record this programme. A programme that is already running starts recording right away; programmes that have ended are ignored.
2. By hand: on the Recordings screen choose Plan a recording, search for the channel and set the date, start time and duration with the D-pad.

Your plans are listed under Planned on the Recordings screen with their status (Scheduled, Recording, Finished, Missed or Failed, with the reason). There you can also cancel, stop or remove them. Recordings are one-off and can be up to 12 hours long.

The app has to be open when a recording is due. Planned recordings do not run in the background: if the box was in standby or the app was closed at the start time, the recording is marked as missed. While a recording runs or is about to start, the screen is kept awake so the box does not go to sleep on its own. Also, the recording only works on the playlist that is active at the start time; if you have switched to another playlist it fails with “wrong playlist”.

About 30 seconds before the start, the app asks whether to switch. If you do nothing, the countdown ends, the player closes and the recording starts. Choose Skip to keep watching instead. Many providers allow only one connection per account, so recording one channel while watching another needs a second connection that your provider may refuse. If that is a problem for you, record the channel you are watching with the Rec button in the player.

Yes: for recordings planned from the guide, the margins before and after the programme are set in Settings → Abyss Player Pro (default 2 minutes before, 3 minutes after). If a connection drops briefly, the recording reconnects and keeps adding to the same file. Planned recordings are not part of Backup & restore or of moving your setup to another device. Planned recordings are available on Android TV only for now.

Go to Settings → Metadata & subtitles → Subtitles and add a free API key from opensubtitles.com (Consumers section of your account). Without a key, subtitle search is off. With just the key, you can search and download subtitles anonymously.

No, not for basic use — the API key alone is enough. Adding your OpenSubtitles username and password as well raises your daily download quota (per OpenSubtitles' own account tiers), but isn't required.

The Radio tab (Android TV) lists web radio stations from countries all over the world. On the left pick Search, your Favorites, Top worldwide or a country; above the list you can narrow by genre. Press OK on a station to play it, and long-press to add or remove it from your favorites. While something plays, a bar at the bottom shows the station, the current song when the station sends it, play/pause/stop, and a live spectrum visual.

Radio keeps playing when you switch to another tab (use ♪ Stop radio at the top to stop it from anywhere). It stops when you start a video or live channel, and when you leave the app. While a station plays the app keeps the screen awake, so your box's own screensaver doesn't start and cut the music; the app's own ABYSS screensaver still appears after a while to protect the screen. The station directory is the free community database at radio-browser.info; a few stations may be offline or move, which is out of our hands.

Copy your playlists, favorites, channel groups, hidden items and settings to another box on the same Wi-Fi, so you don't have to set everything up again:

1. On the new device choose Receive setup — in Settings → Backup & transfer, or on the first login screen. It shows a code such as ABCD-EFGH-JKMN-P.
2. On your already set-up device open Settings → Backup & transfer → Send setup and type that code.
3. The new device shows what's about to arrive. Press Import to confirm.

Both devices need Abyss Player 3.0 or newer. Your Pro key is sent along only to a device on your own network, and the new device activates with it — it counts as one of your devices (up to 4). VPN settings and device-specific playback options (decoders, tunnelling, audio output, frame rate, external player) are not copied, since they depend on the hardware.

First check both are on the same Wi-Fi/network and that the code was typed exactly (the last character is a check character). Some routers block devices from seeing each other; in that case tap Can't find it? Enter an address on the sending device and type the IP:port shown on the receiving device.

If the devices aren't on the same network at all, use Send via internet. Your Pro key isn't sent that way — enter it on the new device yourself.

Yes. Everything is encrypted with a key derived from the one-time code, which only the two devices know and which is never sent over the network. On the same Wi-Fi the data goes straight from one device to the other. Over the internet it passes through our server as encrypted data we can't read; it's kept in memory for at most 15 minutes, deleted as soon as the other device collects it, and never written to disk. After five wrong codes the receiving device closes the session.

Free gives you the full streaming player, including web radio. Pro additionally unlocks the VPN, the anti-throttle proxy, Jellyfin & Plex media server support, and moving your setup to another device over Wi-Fi — with a 7-day free trial first, no key needed. After that, a Pro key is either an annual subscription (€9.99/year, renews automatically) or a one-time lifetime payment (€22.99), both working on up to 4 devices — see Buy a key.

Yes: Abyss Player is available in English and German (Deutsch). Open Settings → General & parental → Language (on the phone it is the first row of Settings) and pick System default (follows your device), English or Deutsch. The screen reloads and the choice is remembered. The video player and its info panel, the sports guide and a few technical messages stay in English.

On Android TV, Settings has a menu on the left. Pick a section and its options appear on the right:

• Playlists — manage playlists, refresh, Custom User-Agent, hide categories.
• Guide (EPG) — guide time offset, EPG refresh, custom EPG source.
• Player & display — buffering, live latency, live stream format, decoders, auto frame rate, external player, device info.
• Network — timeouts, redirects, DNS fallback, and (Pro) VPN settings.
• Metadata & subtitles — TMDb and OpenSubtitles.
• General & parental — language, general options and parental controls.
• Backup & transfer — backup / restore, and (Pro) moving your setup to another device.
• Abyss Player Pro — your licence and update check (Pro only).

Pick the armeabi-v7a build on the Downloads page — older boxes like the Formuler Z10 can't install the arm64 build. Not sure which your box is? The universal build works everywhere, just a larger download.

The Pro app checks for updates automatically and can install them itself (Settings → Abyss Player Pro → Check for updates). Sideloaded Free builds don't auto-update — reinstall from the Downloads page for a newer version, or install from Google Play instead for automatic updates.

Get in touch via the Support form — describe what you're seeing, which device/box you're using, and we'll help you sort it out.