Support

Skywave is small and hand-built. Support is a real human reading email. Please skim the FAQ first — most questions live there.

Frequently asked questions

What is Skywave?

Skywave is a native iOS media player for Xtream Codes IPTV accounts. You bring your own account credentials (server URL, username, password) from a subscription service you’re authorized to use; Skywave plays what that service serves.

Does Skywave come with channels?

No. Skywave is a player only. It ships no channels, movies, or streams of its own, and there’s no in-app way to search for or share third-party stream URLs. If you don’t already have an Xtream Codes account, you can tap “Try Skywave with sample content” on the welcome screen to explore a small Skywave-hosted panel that serves only public-domain films and freely-published international news channels.

What is an Xtream Codes account?

Xtream Codes is an IPTV service protocol used by many providers. If you have an IPTV subscription, your provider gave you three things: a server URL (like http://example.com:8080), a username, and a password. Those three are what you enter in Skywave’s Add Account screen. If any of those are missing, or your provider only gave you an M3U file, they might not use Xtream Codes and Skywave may not work with them.

A channel won’t play. What’s wrong?

Try these in order:

1. Confirm the channel plays inside your provider’s own player. If it doesn’t, the problem is upstream.
2. On the same channel, try the other stream format: in the player, open the More menu → Playback → toggle HLS/TS.
3. Check your account isn’t past its concurrent-connection limit (many providers allow only 1 or 2 devices at a time).
4. Restart Skywave, then restart the device.

Still broken? Email us with the channel name and the diagnostics text from Player → More → Diagnostics.

Picture-in-Picture doesn’t work.

PiP works on any iPhone running iOS 16 or later. In the player, tap the PiP icon in the top-right chrome. If PiP starts and then immediately closes, it’s usually a video-source issue with that specific stream — try a different channel to confirm.

My app expires after 7 days.

You’re running a developer-signed build (free Apple ID installs expire after 7 days). App Store builds don’t expire. If you’re seeing this on an App Store build, please email us — that would be a bug.

How does Family Sync work?

Family Sync lets you share your account setup with the rest of your household. One phone becomes the admin: it uploads an end-to-end encrypted snapshot of the account credentials, favourites, custom groups, and watch history. Other family members join by scanning a QR code that carries the household’s decryption key — the key never touches Skywave’s server, so we only ever see ciphertext.

Turn it on from Accounts → Family. Every household can hold as many accounts as you want; every device in a household has its own set of what’s currently active.

How do I turn on parental controls?

Accounts → Parental Controls → Set up parental controls. You’ll pick a 4–8 digit PIN. Once set, the picker shows every category your provider carries; check the ones you want hidden. Hidden categories disappear from Live TV, Home rails, Search results, and the channel lists. The PIN gates every parental-control change, and Face ID / Touch ID can unlock the settings if you don’t want to type it every time.

Skywave asks me if I want to set up parental controls when I add an account. Do I have to?

No. Tap “Not now” and the offer never reappears. You can always turn it on later from Accounts → Parental Controls.

The Live Sports rail is empty.

If your provider’s panel doesn’t carry any sports channels, the rail will show today’s ESPN “UP NEXT” fixtures instead of live matches. That’s the honest state — nothing is broken. When your provider does carry sports, the rail shows the matches airing right now with real team crests and live scores.

How do I remove Skywave’s data from my device?

Uninstalling Skywave from your Home Screen removes everything. If you just want to delete one account’s data (credentials, favourites, watch history), long-press the account in Accounts → Remove account.

Reporting a bug

Include the following if you can:

• Device model (Settings → General → About → Model Name).
• iOS version (Settings → General → About → Software Version).
• Skywave version and build (Accounts → About Skywave, at the bottom).
• Whether it’s reproducible on the “Try sample content” panel (isolates provider issues from Skywave issues).
• The exact steps to reproduce.
• Any screenshots or screen recordings.

Feature requests

Also welcome at support@skywave.app. We can’t promise every request will land, but every one is read.