Storage, backup and restore
Settings → Storage on a phone. On a television the folders live under Downloads and Recordings, Timeshift’s under Player, Refresh cached lists under EPG & Guide, and there is no backup to a file.
| Row | What it does |
|---|---|
| Downloads | Your offline films and episodes |
| Downloads saved to | The folder for new downloads: internal storage, an SD card or a USB stick on Android; the app folder or any folder you choose in Files on the iPhone and iPad |
| Recordings saved to | The same, for recordings |
| Network folders | A shared folder of a NAS or a computer on your network, to save downloads and recordings to, see A network folder. Android, iPhone and iPad |
| Lock the network folder | Kids profiles do not see it, other profiles open it with the parental PIN. Off by default |
| Timeshift saved to | The same, for Timeshift, pause and rewind of live TV. Android only |
| Back up data | Exports everything to one file |
| Restore data | Imports such a file, or a backup made by Televizo |
| Clear EPG cache | Throws away downloaded programme data |
| Refresh cached lists | Rebuilds categories, groups and counts |
Backing up
Section titled “Backing up”Back up data → Export writes a single file with your playlists, favourites, groups, history, profiles and settings.
If end-to-end encryption is on, the backup is encrypted with the same key. If it is off, the app tells you the file is not encrypted and offers to turn encryption on first, a plain backup contains your provider passwords in readable form, so where you put it matters.
Restore data → Import reads one back. Restart the app afterwards to see everything.
This is a real alternative to our backend, not a formality: on Android you can also point sync at your own Google Drive and never use ours at all.
Coming from Televizo
Section titled “Coming from Televizo”Restore data also reads a backup made by Televizo, the file its Backup and restore writes
(televizo_….backup). Pick it the same way as an IPTV Deck backup; the app tells the two apart by
itself. The same choice is Restore from backup on the first screen of a new install, and in
Add a playlist on Windows and the Mac.
A television has no file picker. Use a phone signed in to the same account, or Import from Televizo on the Playlists page of the account panel in your browser; the playlists then reach the television through your account.
What comes along:
- your playlists, Xtream logins and M3U links, with their passwords,
- favourites and recently watched channels,
- channels you blocked, as hidden channels, and groups you blocked, as locked categories,
- the names you gave to channels and groups,
- the guide sources you added by hand,
- films you were in the middle of, in Continue watching at the same place.
Favourites, recent channels, film positions and hidden channels go to the profile you are in. Playlists, guide sources, names and locks belong to the whole account. A playlist you already have is not added a second time.
What does not come along: playlists Televizo loaded from a file on the device, your place in series episodes and the episodes marked as watched, a manual channel order, and player settings. When the import finishes, the app shows what it brought in and what it skipped.
Choosing a folder
Section titled “Choosing a folder”On Android the folder pickers accept a removable volume, a USB stick or an SD card, as well as internal storage. If the drive you picked is not connected, the choice is kept and a download or recording says Connect the SD card or USB drive you picked, or choose another place in Settings.
On the iPhone and iPad Downloads saved to and Recordings saved to offer App folder and Choose folder…, which opens the system picker: iCloud Drive, a folder on the iPhone or iPad, or a USB drive. A folder you rename or move in Files is followed.
A new folder applies to new files only. What you already saved stays where it is.
Where each device keeps recordings and downloads, including Apple TV, the desktop and Samsung TVs, is on Recording and Downloads.
The two cache buttons
Section titled “The two cache buttons”Clear EPG cache deletes downloaded programme data. The guide comes back on the next refresh. Use it when the guide is visibly wrong rather than merely empty.
Refresh cached lists rebuilds categories, groups and counts from the catalogue. Use it when a count is obviously stale or a category you deleted is still listed. It does not re-download anything.
Neither touches your favourites, groups or history.
What is actually using the space
Section titled “What is actually using the space”The catalogue and the guide, not the app. A provider with 200 000 items and seven days of guide is hundreds of megabytes of database. The two levers that matter are which categories you download and how long the guide is kept, in that order.
When you switch downloaded categories off or remove a playlist, the app gives the space back to the device by itself. It does that in the background, in small steps, while the app is hidden or nobody has touched it for a moment, and on a nearly full device too, so the number in the system settings drops over a few minutes rather than at once.
