An Android TV / Fire TV / Android player your customers will love — plus the full control plane you need to run your business. Web-based APK build farm, live device dashboard, bulk remote commands, error log ingestion, one-line web player deploy, in-app broadcasts, Cloud DVR, and cross-device favorites sync. Pairs with Shadow Panel for the complete stack.
The apps they're using were designed a decade ago. Time for something better.
Your customers schedule recordings right from the app — no local storage, no NAS setup, no DVR box. Recordings run on your Shadow Panel load balancers with shared recording: 50 users recording the same show, one FFmpeg process runs. Playback streams back through the app like any other channel.
// Customer taps "Record" on EPG entry POST /dvr/schedule { channel_id: 1076, epg_id: "ep_8321", start: "2026-04-23T20:00Z" } // 15s scheduler tick → FFmpeg on LB → recording begins at air time → title + episode auto-labeled → shared with 47 other viewers recording the same show (one FFmpeg, not 48) // Playback = just another stream GET /dvr/play/R12345.ts → streams through LB like a channel → scrubbing, pause, resume
Shadow Player works great with any Xtream-compatible panel — but it was designed to pair with Shadow Panel. When both run together, your customers get features no other player + panel combo can deliver.
// Shadow API — what the app calls GET /shadow/channels_bulk → live + 24/7 channels in one request → current EPG per channel → 50 upcoming programs per channel → poster / logo URLs (cached) → synced favorites list // DVR — panel handles the heavy lifting POST /dvr/schedule → record GET /dvr/recordings → list GET /dvr/play/"id" → playback // Favorites — sync from phone → TV in ~2s POST /shadow/favorites { type: "channel", id: 1076 }
This isn't just an app — it's a full SaaS control plane. Log in to your portal and build custom-branded APKs, monitor every device, send bulk commands, push settings, watch error reports roll in, and deploy a companion web player in one command. Everything operators used to need five separate tools for, in one place.
Pick your app name, colors (primary + accent), logo, splash image, and branch. Click Build. Signed APK ready in 10–15 minutes, versioned and downloadable from the portal.
Live dashboard of every installation: online status, model (Fire TV, NVIDIA Shield, etc.), app version, IP, last seen. Filter by online-only or version. Search by device or IP.
Send messages, clear cache, force updates, restart, kill the app, or wipe data — per-device or in bulk across hundreds of devices with one click. Changes land in seconds.
Your customers' devices report playback errors straight to the portal. Filter by type, drill into stream URL + device + recovery status. Know about problems before they call.
Change buffer size, EPG refresh, player options — per device or to every device at once. No app update needed. Settings land on next heartbeat.
Have a VPS? Paste one command and your branded web player is live. Portal tracks its health, stats, and lets you redeploy or push new branding without SSH'ing in again.
Announce maintenance, upsell a new tier, or push an urgent notice. Broadcasts land as in-app messages across every active device — or a targeted subset.
Point your branded app at your own domains. Manage multiple DNS entries per tier from the portal, plus configure the reporter server URL for device error ingestion.
Master version bump, per-client version pinning, main/beta branch selection at build time. Roll out updates gradually — test on beta, promote to main when proven.
Everything resellers need. Nothing your customers don't.
Web-based APK builder with color pickers for primary + accent, logo/splash upload, main/beta branch selector, version bumping. Signed APK lands in 10–15 minutes. Full build history with re-download and stuck-build recovery.
Pick any subset of devices (or select all), choose from 7 actions — message, clear cache, restart, force update, kill, wipe, push player settings — click Apply. Hundreds of devices updated in seconds.
Every installation at a glance: Total, Online Now, Recent (10min), Active (24h). Per-device rows show model (Fire TV, Shield, etc.), version, IP, last seen. Filter by version or online-only. Search by device or IP.
Devices phone home with playback errors. Filter by type (STUCK_PLAYER, PLAYBACK_FAILED, NUCLEAR_RECOVERY), see stream URL + device + recovery status. Spot provider issues before your customers call.
Buffer sizes, EPG refresh intervals, playback options — change them per device or across your whole fleet. Settings land on the next device heartbeat. No app update required.
Have a VPS? Paste one curl command and your branded web player is live. Portal monitors its heartbeat, shows 24h stats, and lets you redeploy or push new branding without touching the server again.
Announce maintenance, promote a new tier, or push an urgent notice. Broadcasts land as in-app messages across every active device (or a targeted subset). Compose, send, track delivery.
Build against beta to test cutting-edge features on a handful of devices. Build against main for the stable release every customer gets. Never ship a regression to your whole fleet again.
Bump the master version to push updates to every client. Pin specific clients to a prior version if they can't upgrade yet. Auto-update flag controls whether devices prompt or apply silently.
Point your branded app at your own domains — 1 entry on Starter, 5 on Professional, unlimited on Enterprise. Configure the reporter server URL for centralized error ingestion.
Favorites follow the viewer, not the device. Fire TV in the living room, phone in the kitchen, tablet in bed — same favorites, synced in seconds via Shadow Panel.
ExoPlayer dropping to IDLE? Position stalling? Shadow Player detects both, triggers a clean full reset, and reloads. Exponential backoff on errors (1s → 10s, 6 retries), based on Google's official ExoPlayer best practices.
EPG data streams on-demand. No downloading, no parsing, no waiting. Open a category and see current program info instantly.
Schedule recordings from the EPG. Watch anytime. Manage storage from the app. Your customers get true DVR without hardware.
Forget "Refresh Playlist" and "Update EPG" buttons. Shadow Player fetches fresh data automatically every time.
DirecTV-style grid EPG with channel numbers and lightning-fast D-pad navigation. Your customers already know how to use it.
Push updates to all your customers instantly from your portal. No sideloading, no support tickets. One click updates everyone.
Your logo, your colors, your app name. Custom package ID for Play Store. Your customers see your brand, not ours.
See all active installations. Send messages. Push updates. Remotely manage every device running your app.
Terminate sessions, clear cache, force updates - all from your reseller portal. Total control over deployed apps.
Browser-based viewing for customers who can't install apps. Same great experience, no installation required.
Full VOD library with poster art, descriptions, and episode browsing. Movies and TV shows alongside live channels.
Find anything instantly. Search across Live TV, Movies, and Series with real-time results as you type.
Multiple audio tracks and closed captions. Switch languages on the fly. Accessibility built in.
Save favorite channels, movies, and series. Quick access to what your customers watch most.
Automatic freeze detection and recovery. Streams that drop reconnect instantly. No manual intervention needed.
Movies and Series browse like the premium apps your customers already pay for: every category as a scrollable shelf, a Continue Watching row, a Favorites row, and cinematic backdrop art behind it all. Posters grow and light up as they take focus. No more one-category-at-a-time grids.
Progress is checkpointed continuously, so a title resumes exactly where it stopped — even if the app was force-closed or the device pulled the plug mid-movie. Wide artwork cards with a progress bar show at a glance what is half-watched.
A dual playback engine picks the right decoder for the job: a tolerant demuxer for the WEB-DL and MKV files that make other players throw errors, and a hardware-accelerated pipeline for live TV. Fewer “this file won’t play” tickets in your inbox.
Watch several channels at once in a grid — game day, multiple news feeds, or monitoring your own lineup. Pick the channels, drive it all from the remote.
Set a reminder on any upcoming programme straight from the guide. The app brings your customer back when it starts, so they never miss the match.
Optional break detection watches the picture and audio for ad breaks and offers a skip. Off by default — your customers turn it on if they want it.
Trailers stream inside the app on movie and series pages — no browser bounce, no YouTube app hand-off, nothing extra for your customers to install.
PIN-protected access with keyword-based category hiding. Adult categories disappear from the guide entirely until the PIN is entered.
Customers report a broken channel or request a title without opening a support ticket — it lands in your queue with the content already identified. Announcements you publish show up in the same place.
Buffer size, hardware or software decoding, preferred audio language, subtitles on by default, aggressive recovery — adjustable per device, and pushable from the portal to any device or all of them at once.
See why resellers are switching from apps that haven't innovated in years.
| Feature | Shadow Player | IPTV Smarters | XCIPTV | TiviMate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelf-style Movies & Series browsing | Every category at once | |||
| Crash-proof Continue Watching | ||||
| Multiview (several channels at once) | ||||
| Web-based APK Build Farm (custom branding) | ||||
| Live Device Dashboard (online/version/IP) | ||||
| Bulk Remote Commands (restart/wipe/update) | ||||
| Device Error Log Ingestion | ||||
| Push Player Settings (bulk / per-device) | ||||
| One-Line Web Player Deploy | ||||
| In-App Broadcasts | ||||
| Main / Beta Branch Management | ||||
| Cross-Device Cloud Favorites Sync | ||||
| App Size | ~10 MB | ~50 MB | ~35 MB | ~25 MB |
| Cloud DVR (scheduler + playback) | Shared recordings | |||
| Instant EPG Loading | ||||
| No Refresh Required | ||||
| OTA Updates | Premium only | |||
| Full White-Label | Partial | Partial | ||
| Custom Package ID | ||||
| Device Management | ||||
| Remote Commands | ||||
| Smart Freeze Recovery | ||||
| Movies & Series VOD | ||||
| Audio Track Selection | ||||
| D-Pad Optimized | Excellent | Mediocre | Good | Good |
| Pricing Model | Flat Monthly | Per-device fees | Per-device fees | End-user pays |
Real tests. Real numbers. No marketing fluff.
Time from opening category to seeing program info
Installed size on Android TV devices
D-pad responsiveness in channel lists
How current is the playlist/EPG data?
Other apps show data from when you last hit "Refresh." Shadow Player always shows live data.
No per-device fees. No build limits. No surprises. Scale profitably.
Perfect for new resellers getting started.
For growing resellers ready to scale.
For established resellers at scale.
Stop losing customers to slow, bloated apps. Give them the fastest IPTV experience on the market.