Xtream Codes player for iPhone: log in with host, username and password

Many IPTV providers give you three values instead of a playlist link: a server address, a username and a password. That is an Xtream Codes login. Smart IPTV Pro Player is an Xtream Codes player built for iPhone: you enter the three values once, and your live channels, movies and series appear in separate tabs, with a native player and search across everything.

What is the Xtream Codes API?

Xtream Codes started as IPTV server software. The software itself is no longer developed, but its interface — the Xtream Codes API — is still used by many IPTV servers, so "Xtream Codes" today simply means this login method.

With an M3U playlist, the player downloads one long text file and has to guess what is a channel, a movie or a series. With the Xtream Codes API, the player asks the server for each part separately:

• live TV categories and channels,
• movie (VOD) categories and titles, with plot and poster,
• series categories and shows, and for every show its seasons and episodes.

That is why Xtream Codes is usually the better choice when you watch movies and series. The full comparison is in M3U vs Xtream Codes API.

What you need

If you only received a long M3U link that contains username= and password=, the host is usually the part before /get.php, and the username and password are the values in the link. You can also simply add the link itself with the M3U player for iPhone.

How to add an Xtream Codes login on iPhone

1. Install Smart IPTV Pro Player from the App Store. It requires iOS 18.0 or later.
2. On the Add Your Playlist screen (or Add Playlist in Settings), set the Connection Type to Xtream Codes.
3. Enter the Host, including http:// or https:// and the port. If you leave out the prefix, the app uses https://, so type http:// yourself if your provider's address starts with it.
4. Enter your Username and Password exactly as provided.
5. Tap Add Playlist. When the login works, you see Playlist Added and a preview of the Top 5 Channels.

Screenshots of every step and fixes for common errors are in the full IPTV setup guide for iPhone.

What you get with an Xtream Codes login

• Live TV with your provider's categories and channel logos. The app requests the HLS (.m3u8) version of a live stream first and falls back to MPEG-TS (.ts).
• Movies with category filters, plot and poster.
• Series with every season and episode in order — something an M3U playlist cannot express.
• Search across live TV, movies and series with at least three characters.
• Library with Favorites, History and downloads of movies and episodes for offline viewing.
• A second playback engine: when Apple's native player can't open a file such as MKV or AVI, the app switches to its VLC-based fallback automatically.

What Smart IPTV Pro Player doesn't do

To keep expectations clear: Smart IPTV Pro Player doesn't show an EPG (TV guide), doesn't play catch-up or archive programmes, and doesn't include any channels, logins or subscriptions. It plays what your provider's Xtream Codes server delivers.

If your Xtream Codes login doesn't work

• Wrong prefix or port: check whether your host starts with http:// or https:// and whether it needs a port such as :8080.
• Typo in the login: username and password are case-sensitive; watch for spaces at the end when you paste.
• Expired subscription or connection limit: check your account with your provider and stop playback on other devices.
• Channels buffer: follow the steps in fixing IPTV buffering on iPhone.

Keep your login private

Your host, username and password give access to your IPTV account, so don't share them publicly. Use logins only from services that hold the rights to their content in your country — read Is IPTV legal? for the details.