Does my playlist work? Check it, or ask Joker

When channels, films or the guide stop working, the quickest way to know why is to let the app test the playlist. The test runs on your device, over its own network, VPN and settings, exactly as the channels play there, and tells in plain words what works and what does not. Nothing goes through our servers on the way: the device talks to your provider directly.

Check a playlist yourself

Device	Where
Phone and tablet	Settings → Playlists, the pencil next to the playlist, then Check playlist near the bottom of its details
Android TV, Fire TV, Apple TV, LG and Samsung TVs	Settings → Playlists, OK on the playlist, then Check playlist in the Update group
Windows and the Mac	Settings → Playlists, as on a television

It takes up to a minute. Check again runs it once more, for example after a fix. A playlist loaded from a file without a link has nothing to test, and kids profiles have no playlist settings.

Ask Joker to check it

You can also simply ask in Settings → Help → Ask Joker, in your own words and language, for example my playlist doesn’t work, channels won’t load or why is the TV guide empty?

1. Joker says which playlist it checks. With several playlists it asks which one first: answer with its name.
2. The check runs right away on the device, without a button to press. Checking … shows while it runs, on every device.
3. Joker then explains the result in your language, the worst problem first, and offers the fix the device can make, with Apply under the answer (and Undo where the fix can be undone).
4. Open the full check under the answer opens the same result as Check playlist, with every line and every fix.

Joker only reads what the check found. It never guesses a problem the check did not find, and it cannot fix what only your provider can fix, such as an expired subscription.

What the result means

The result starts with one line: Your playlist works, Some things need attention or Your playlist does not work. Below it, in groups:

• Connection: whether this device is online and whether the server answers. The server address could not be found usually means a typo in the address or a network that blocks it; refused or did not answer in time points at the address or the port; a certificate or protection service line means the server’s security setup turns this device away, and trying another User-Agent or http instead of https sometimes helps.
• Account (Xtream) or Server (Jellyfin, Emby, Plex): whether the login is accepted, whether the account is active, banned, disabled or expired, how many days are left, and how many connections are in use. All connections of the account are in use means another device is watching on the same account: stop it there, then try again.
• Content: whether Live TV, Movies and Series give categories and lists, or for an M3U link whether it still gives a playlist and not a web or sign-in page, and how many channels the last update brought.
• Test channel: one channel opened for a moment as MPEG-TS and as HLS. The group title names it, for example Test channel: Polsat HD; the app leaves the name out when the channel is hidden or in a hidden or locked category of the open profile. When only the other format plays, the fix is to switch the playlist’s Live stream format. When every connection is in use, no channel is opened, so nobody watching elsewhere is cut off.

Joker does not get the names of your channels from the check. Ask it which channel was tested and it points you to Open the full check, where the group title shows it.

• Guide: every guide source of the playlist on its own (can it be downloaded, is it a guide file, how far ahead it reaches), and how many live channels have programmes today.

Fixes the app makes for you

Fix	What it does
Switch to HLS or Switch to MPEG-TS	Changes the playlist’s Live stream format (Android phones and TVs, Fire TV, computers, LG and Samsung TVs; iPhone, iPad and Apple TV choose by themselves)
Enter the login again, Change the User-Agent, Check the address	Open the playlist’s details
Refresh now	Downloads the playlist again
Update the guide	Downloads the guide again
Match channels to the guide	Opens the guide settings with Match channels to the guide
Remove this guide source	Removes a guide source you added that does not work, with Undo

Advice only your provider can act on, such as renewing the subscription, is shown as a sentence.

Questions about your own channels and guide

Joker can also look things up in the channels and guide on your device and answer from them:

You ask	Joker answers with
Do I have Canal+ Sport?	How many live channels match, and the first few with their playlist and category
Does TVP 1 have a guide?, Why is there no EPG on Polsat?	Whether the channel has programmes, from which guide source, whether its guide was picked by you, matched by the app or given by the provider, and, when it has none, another of your guide sources that has it
What’s on Polsat tonight?	Up to eight programmes of that channel now, tonight, today or tomorrow, with times
When is the Arsenal match on?	Up to eight upcoming programmes whose title matches, with the channel and the time
How many channels do I have?, When was my playlist last refreshed?	Live channels, films and series of each playlist open on this device, and when each was last refreshed

It looks only at what the profile open now can see: hidden categories and channels, categories locked with a PIN and what a kids profile cannot open are left out, also from the counts.

What reaches Joker

The device sends Joker only what answers your question: for a check, the result in codes and numbers with the playlist’s name, never its address, login, password or MAC address; for a lookup, the names of the matching channels, playlists, categories and programmes. More in the privacy policy.