Feature guide

How to Organise IPTV Channels: Favourites, Groups and Hiding

A tidy channel list transforms everyday IPTV use. Adding favourites, hiding groups you never watch and reordering channels makes the guide faster to browse and much easier for everyone in the house.

IPTV services often include channels from many countries and categories. Scrolling through all of them every evening is tiring, and on slower devices a large list can make the guide sluggish. Ten minutes of organising pays back every day.

Step 1: Hide groups you never watch

Most players let you hide whole categories. Hidden groups disappear from the channel list and the guide, which makes everything faster.

• TiviMate: Settings, then Playlists, select your playlist, then Manage groups.
• IPTV Smarters: long-press or use the options on categories, depending on version, or use parental controls to hide them.
• Formuler MyTVOnline: use the group management options in the channel list settings.

Step 2: Create favourites

1. Highlight a channel in the list or guide.
2. Long-press OK or open the options menu.
3. Choose "Add to favourites".
4. Repeat for the channels you watch most.

Favourites usually appear as their own group at the top of the list. Many apps let you open straight into favourites on start-up.

Step 3: Create custom groups

Some apps let you build your own groups, such as "Sport", "News", "Kids" or "Films". This is handy in shared households: each person can have their own group, or you can split favourites by type.

Step 4: Reorder and renumber

Where supported, reorder channels within favourites so the most-watched come first. Some players allow custom channel numbers, so you can type a number on the remote to jump straight to a channel, just like traditional TV.

Step 5: Protect your organisation

• Some apps reset hidden groups when the playlist refreshes and the provider changes group names. Check after big updates.
• Use the app's backup option, if available, to save your favourites and settings.
• On multiple devices, you may need to repeat the setup on each, unless the app supports backup and restore.

Organising for the whole household

Set the app to open on a shared favourites group so anyone can find the main channels. Put children's channels in their own group, and use parental controls to lock the rest. Our guides to parental controls and setting up IPTV for older relatives build on this.

Performance benefit

On streaming sticks with limited memory, hiding large groups can make the guide noticeably faster to load and scroll. If your guide feels sluggish, organising your list is one of the most effective fixes.

Organising questions

Will my favourites disappear when I renew?

Normally no, because renewal keeps the same login and favourites are stored in the app.

Why did a hidden group come back?

The provider may have renamed or restructured it. Hide it again.

Can I export favourites to another device?

Some apps support backup and restore. Otherwise, set them up on each device.

Hide unused groups, build a favourites list, add custom groups and set the app to open on favourites. Your guide becomes faster, cleaner and easier for everyone.