October 2019 - ReviewVPN

How to Change Skins on Kodi

Posted on October 31, 2019October 31, 2019 by Bob Simon

How to Change Skins on Kodi

In this short guide we cover what a Kodi skin is, the only 2 ways to change skins on Kodi and our top picks for awesome skins on Kodi, or you can ready our in-depth Kodi skins guide here <LINK>

What is a Kodi Skin

When you first install Kodi, you’ll notice that the skin, or appearance is utilitarian, very simple and blue. On Kodi 17 the fault skin is Confluence, and on Kodi 18 its Estuary. Simple menu and icons and blue background.

Nothing to write home about. Luckily there are hundreds of skins out there, and you can easily install a skin to change the appearance of literally anything on Kodi.

From the background image and color, to the menu location and size, icons and how you navigate Kodi and addons. A new skin can make a huge difference to customizing Kodi just for you.

Don’t worry about getting stuck with one skin, in our simple install guide, you will see that changing skins couldn’t be easier.

2 Ways to Change Skins on Kodi

To change skins on Kodi there are 2 simple methods.

Change Skins on Kodi Through Settings

This is by far the easiest way to change skins on Kodi. Here are the step by step instructions:

Start Kodi and go from the Home screen
Click on Settings which is a gear icon on the top left-hand corner of your screen
Click on Interface
On the left-hand side menu, you will see “Skins” at the top
On the right-hand side, a menu will come up, with the top category saying “Skin” and the current name of your Skin (If default it will say Estuary or Confluence depending on your Kodi version)
Click on Skin, a new pop up will appear, the list will only have a few items as this only shows your installed skins
Click “Get More” you should see a list of 20+ skins, starting with Aeon Nox
Choose the skin you want, double click, and it will be downloaded to your list of installed skins. You just click Cancel to return to the previous screen, click on the downloaded skin and it will change your Kodi skin
Once a Skin is downloaded you can further tweak the setting in the Skin section you got to on Step 5

Change Skin on Kodi through a ZIP file

Some skins may not be available in the “Get More” section, so you will need to find and download the ZIP file

Using your Android device, download your chosen ZIP file and remember where you have stored it on your device
Make sure you have turned on “Unknown Source”, if you haven’t simply gone to: Settings > Addons > Turn on Unknown Sources
From the Home menu go to Settings and then Addons
Click the Open Box Icon on the top left-hand corner of the screen above Video Addons
Choose “Install from Zip File”
From the pop navigate to the file location where you saved your earlier ZIP file
Click on the ZIP and wait for it to install
Go back to the Home Screen and click Addons
Then Click Addons from the left-hand vertical menu
Next click on Look and Feel
When you click on Skin your new skin should be there

Awesome Skins on Kodi

This is just a quick list of a few of the best skins on Kodi, to check out our review of 20+ awesome Kodi skins read our guide here <LINK>

Some skins we recommend you try:

Aeon Nox
Eminence
Revolve
Black Glass Nova
Amber
Chroma
Grid
Aeon Tajo

How to Clear Cache on Kodi?

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Bob Simon

How to Clear Cache on Kodi?

In this quick guide, we cover a fundamental item of maintenance with Kodi. We talk briefly about what a cache is and why it’s important to clear it, and 3 great tools to clear cache on Kodi whatever device you use.

What is a Cache?

When you think of a cache, you think of a web browser. Just like the web, Kodi caches or saves snippets of media so that the second time you load a page, piece of content of cover art you don’t have to wait.

Caching is crucial to allow you have a smooth and seamless experience on all your addons.

Why is Clearing Cache Important?

These media snippets will build up over time, and each piece takes up memory. Some caches are bigger than others, as they take up storage space on your device. Your cache is going to be much bigger on a Nvidia Shield than an Amazon Firestick.

Clearing cache is important as less images stored means faster content, loading and speed for your device. Also left too long your Kodi device will start throwing off error messages, and in the worst case your addons may be slow, freeze or even stop working once your cache is full.

Often the most space in your cache will be taken up by images, old thumbnails and addons you no longer use.

Good maintenance every month will ensure Kodi works the best it can, all the time.

3 Tools to Clear Cache on Kodi

Unlike your web browser Kodi, doesn’t have an inbuilt function to clear cache, so here are three great addons you can install to get your Kodi back up to speed.

Indigo Addon

Indigo is the most popular maintenance addon on Kodi, so should be your first port of call.

1. Install Indigo from this URL: http://fusion.tvaddons.co , if you don’t know how to install addons you can read our in-depth guide here <LINK>
2. Once installed run Indigo
3. Click on Maintenance Tools

You are looking for “Clear Cache” which will list the size of the file within your cache and easily allow you to clear and permanently delete the files

If you need to free up space you can also delete thumbnails which tends to take up a huge amount of space, and even run “Auto Maintenance” to get the best out of your Kodi

Supreme Builds Wizard

Supreme is a great wizard which has several good builds as well as an in-depth maintenance section we love, because you also get the option to “Fresh Start” reinstall Kodi if nothing else is working.

Install Supreme Builds Wizard from: http://repo.supremebuilds.com/
When running through the Install ignore the Builds Menu
Click on Supreme Builds through the addons menu and navigate to the Maintenance section
There’s a tonne of great section here, we want cleaning tools, but you also have lots of miscellaneous fixes, and the ability to show all areas that need maintenance and turn on Auto Clean which will run whenever you start Kodi
In the Cleaning Tools section click “Clear Cache”, as well as “Clear Thumbnails”

Merlin Wizard

Merlin Auto Cleaner has been around a few years, and like Supreme Builds also offers an automatic cleaning function whenever you launch Kodi.

1. Install Merlin Auto Cleaner from: http://srp.nu

Run the addon and select from all the great sections, you also get a free data back up tool with Merlin, we find it to be the best highly specialised Kodi cleaning addon around. For people who like to tinker.

Best Kodi Skins

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Bob Simon

Best Kodi Skins

Since 2002, Kodi has been downloaded over 50 million times. This awesome piece of free and legal software helps to convert almost any device into a home entertainment centre.

Hook up your Kodi device to a Smart TV, and you can access thousands of legal and third party addons to watch as much content as you could ever need.

In this guide, we will tell you what a Kodi Skin is and why changing them can freshen up your Kodi experience. Step by step guide to change your Kodi Skin, factors to help you choose the best skin and our round up of the best Kodi Skins.

What is a Kodi Skin?

If you are already familiar with Kodi you will recognise the standard business blue Kodi skin uses as a default called Estuary. It’s easy to navigate but not very exciting.

A Kodi skin simply changes the way that Kodi looks and how you interact with. This could be the background image, cover art for media, information displayed for titles, menu and a host of other settings in each of your addons.

How to Change Your Kodi Skin

There are 3 ways to change your Kodi Skin

Install a Kodi addon with a custom skin
Install a Kodi Build with a choice of custom skins
Keep your addons and Builds and install your own skin

Option 1 and 2 are self-explanatory, and if you want guides on our favourite addons and builds you can find them here. <LINK>

But Option 3 is for the user who already has all the addons that they need and just fancies a fresh new look for Kodi.

Here are step by step instructions to change your Kodi Skin only:

Open up Kodi and from the Home Screen go to Settings
Click on Interface
From the left-hand menu bar click Skin, then click Skin again on the right. If you are still using the default Kodi Skin, it will be set to Estuary
A pop-up window will appear, if you have no other skins you will just see Estuary for touchscreen and Estuary skin by phil65 (The default Kodi skin)
Click “Get More”
You’ll see a list of 45+ skins to choose from, our favourite we’ll cover in the Best Kodi Skins list

How to Pick the Best Kodi Skin For you?

If you’ve never chosen a Kodi skin and feel overwhelmed by the choice, then our guide is here to help. We cover all kinds of skins, and before you worry about picking the wrong skin, it couldn’t be easier to replace skins.

Just a few things to bear in mind:

Visuals or no Visuals: Most skins separate between strong visuals and big icon menus. Go for a skin which suits your visual style and functions for a user’s
TV our touchscreen: You need very different skins if you are using Kodi on a touch screen, we cover 3 on our list but most are for use on a TV
4K/HD or SD: Some skins like Chroma are specially designed for 4K, while most are HD, think about the quality you are looking for
Low CPU or High CPU Kodi device: If you are running Kodi on a Low CPU device like a Firestick, you may want to go for a minimal skin, which isn’t so heavy on images. Otherwise high def skins can make your Firestick laggy
Mouse or Point and Click: Many skins do not work well with a mouse. So, go for a skin which can be navigated using a point and click remote like on a Firestick

The Best Kodi Skins

Just like addons with so many skins to choose from, here are our favourites, allowing you to shorten the list of top choices. Be aware some skins may only work with Kodi 18 (Leia) while others will work with both Kodi 17 and 18.

We start off with skins that work on both Kodi 17 and 18, some skins may have slight style changes in their versions between the two versions of Kodi.

Aeon Nox

By far the most popular skin on Kodi. Perhaps because it sits at the top of the list, who knows. This skin follows the minimalist design of Estuary, but just not quite as boring.

Featuring a bold black menu strip which is popular in many Kodi addons, there are no other icons to clutter up the screen, and you get a lovely striking visual background. You also get time and date along the menu bar.

The background can be altered from several set images loaded with the theme, or you can upload your own images.

Importantly Aeon Nox has stayed popular because it has multiple levels of customisation as well as being lightweight. Meaning it will work great on a Firestick.

Bello

Bello is about as minimalist as you can get, with simple white outlined menu on a black background. Don’t expect a lot of customisation, but for users who like the minimum of fuss then this is the skin for you.

One important note is Bellow does not interact well with a mouse. It’s a great choice though for point and click remotes like the Firestick. Choose Bello if you want minimum design and fuss.

Box

Box like Bellow is another design without a background image, just solid colour. Its got some lovely iconography, so each menu item is represented as a clean looking block. The menu can be added to or taken away which we found handy, because many times default menus gives us a lot of categories we may never use.

Box offers a good level of customisation for the home screen, while keeping the design minimal.

Confluence

You might recognise Confluence from several top Kodi addons. Its been around for several years and provides a great middle of the road solution, depending on how flashy or simple you want the design to be.

Starting with Confluence you get a black screen, black strip menu running horizontally across the centre of the screen, and blue menu writing with drop down categories.

Nice and simple, but unlike Box and Bellow you can add a background image. You can add or take away buttons on the menu and change the background graphic to display the cover art of the title that is now playing.

A good skin, that works on all kinds of devices whether its point and click or with a mouse.

Eminence

Eminence is one of the newer skins on our list and gives a crisp design which is reminiscent of MacOS and those.

The slanted bottom icons have been ripped directly from the LG TV operating system, but the designers have kept the same fluidity and ease of use.

The menu items appear on a bottom tab, and the block icons can be added to or taken away. You can set your own background image, as well as Home icons to appear on the rest of the screen.

The whole design is slick and crisp, and you have a massive amount of control for customisation, with almost every setting up for grabs.

Pellucid

Pellucid is a lot like Box. Also, this is our top skin if you are running Kodi on an old or slow Android device, as its one of the few skins that you can set to “Low CPU Power Mode”

It lacks when it comes to customisation and you get 4 basic categories to start off with. Doesn’t really offer the same versatility and slick design we see with other designs. But it gives you the bare minimum.

Unlike Bellow you do get a random background image.

Revolve

Revolve is a lovely theme, which brings a unique spin to your Kodi. The menu is displayed as a revolving disc. The menu items, colour and background images can all be modified at will.

You can also set images to fade and emphasise certain menu items in an innovative way. Revolve is a beautiful Kodi skin with a unique take on the Kodi experience.

Rapier

Rapier is a great minimal skin which unlike others out there is completely customisable. You start with a simple minimal bottom menu and no background. But everything can be tweaked and changed.

Add or take away menu items as well as subcategories, giving you a great range of freedom, to make the menu serve you.

FTV

FTV was designed with the Firestick in mind. The style and font of the menu items will remind you of the Firestick menu. Its incredibly minimalist and you won’t even get time and date.

Best not used on a small screen, as some items can be illegible. When you highlight a menu items, others will fade out of focus.

Great for being lightweight, but not a lot of customisation. What you see is what you get.

Xperience 1080

Another unique designed Kodi skin. Xpreience 1080 uses a Panel menu design, like Windows 10. So, unlike a strip menu or a revolver, you can to add and remove blocks from the menu.

You also get a high level of customisation, so while being lightweight it also delivers almost every setting to be changed. Due to the panel nature of the menu there is no central image.

Rapier

A great looking clean and simple skin. Start off with a large font bottom menu and simple background image. You get a good level of customisation and though the look is strongly classical you get some modern features like click and hover which shows you what is in certain menu items and categories.

A big plus for many users is that this skin gets regular updates and new features added.

Transparency!

This is a great skin for users who don’t want to mess around with customisation and settings. Sometimes you just want a skin where the hard work is done by other fans.

The skin starts with a big font left hand vertical menu and strong background image without transparency. You can then alter the addon simply using settings and images uploaded by other users.

A great addon for strongly visual users who love fan art and minimum fuss.

Adonic

This is one of the best Kodi skins for movie lovers. You get a simple pictographic bottom menu and top image.

What sets it apart from other skins, is that with Adonic, when you click on movies the cover art pops up in a menu above the main menu and you easily see all the key information about the movie you want to watch, like year, cast, rating and more.

Lovely looking emblems and a fresh design for those who want a minimal but arty design with easy drill down to subcategories and item details.

Black Glass Nova

A beautiful looking skin for users who want High Definition images and menu icons. The menu is a simple bottom, but you also get awesome HD images in the background as well as large icons for content art to give a great user experience.

Worth noting that due to the nature of the content quality this skin might be a bit laggy on lower CPU devices like the Firestick.

Estouchy

The best Kodi skin for those using Kodi on a touch screen device. Most users will use Kodi on a TV screen through a device, but some of you might watch Kodi through your phone, tablet or touchscreen computer.

Estouchy has been specifically designed for touch screen users. With giant easy to click menu buttons, clear cover art and large icons for navigation.

If you are using a touch screen use Estouchy. No other skin comes close for feel and user interface.

Mimic

You’d be fooled into thinking this was just a slight adaptation of Kodi’s default skin Estuary, but Mimic has a lot more to offer.

First off there is a greater level of customisation, with a large font bottom menu in blue, you can easily view a sliding carousel of titles in categories, which display the details at the top of your screen.

A great lightweight skin that works well on Firestick.

Amber

A stunning addon with a large slide out menu on the left-hand side, and a simple middle section to see titles of content in menu sections. Overlaid on a HD background image.

In the black and yellow its visually striking on a large screen, great for those who want fan or cover art to take centre stage on their Kodi skin.

Chroma

The best Kodi skin out there for users who want a skin specifically designed for an Ultra HD or 4K Tv. Chroma has been set for HD images and fonts, with clear and crisp lines.

The skin itself is simple with clear lines, simple menu and category sections and a strong faded in background image.

Not a skin for Firestick users, as these images and fonts are going to be CPU heavy.

Fuse (neue)

A great looking skin for a first time Kodi user. The big differences from other skins is you will find the menu at the top. With most of the space taken up by titles and cover art.

You also tend to get more space for the highlighted title cover art, content details and blurb, which is often missed on other addons.

Pretty like Netflix in some respect, giving you all the information, you need to decide if you want to watch a title, without having to click into the cover art and then go back to the category screen.

Grid

A cool looking skin which brings a fresh look to your home screen. The background image really takes centre stage here, and the menu on the left-hand side has no differentiating lines with the image, so merges into it.

Big and easy to navigate, with easy to navigate horizontal title tiles when you punch up each category. Also, highly customisable with a strong development team behind it. So, Grid is getting regular updates and new functions.

Unity

Only available on Kodi 17, this was one of our favourite skins. Reason being its one of the only skin which uses Google’s Material Design. Some years ago, Google introduced a method of web design which created clear and easy to use elements and sections.

Unity is beautiful clean and highly customisable. A clear middle horizontal menu on top of a striking background image, with an unlimited number of icons and sections that you can add to the home screen for fast navigation.

Each section is card based, and easy to scroll through.

Nebula

This is the ideal skin, for users who want a soft interface and the concentration to really be on the menu and sections.

Nebula has a soft grey overlay on an image, with clear card icons which can be navigated surrounded by vertical menu and section lines.

This skin is also customised for touch screen and is great for simple navigation using large icons. Scales well on touch screen.

Offers good customisation as well as great compatibility with HD TV’s, but this is still lightweight enough to work well on the Firestick.

Metropolis

This is the ideal skin for a data junkie, who wants to know exactly how much content they must hand.

For many the home screen may be overcrowded with a clear central image, and on the right-hand side you get a summary of the numbers of movies, TV Shows, artists, albums and much more that you have on hand in your library.

The menu sits on the left-hand side, with an updated news section, showing you your latest episodes that have been added.

Great addon for an information junkie, probably a bit overwhelming for everyone else. But you can easily customise the home screen and make it simpler or denser.

Arctic: Zephyr 2

A great addon for users who just want to view all their titles in easy to navigate card format showing cover art and nothing else. Artic has delivered an incredibly polished and beautiful skin, with a simple menu and silver background.

The emphasis is on the cards of titles available in each section and is reminiscent of Amazon Prime Video or Netflix.

You can also switch between an image and a text-based list. Also great for Live TV. Arctic delivers a beautiful TV guide.

A well thought out skin which has been going for a while and reached maturity in its execution.

Aeon MQ5

Another great skin from the Aeon family, this skin offers a minimalist design with a translucent bottom menu based over a strong HD image. Easy to navigate sections and categories give you a simplified cut down skin for those who want to concentrate on strong visuals.

Highly customisable and from a great pedigree, MQ5 used to be the most popular skin on Kodi until being replaced by its newer cousin Aeon Nox.

ReFocus

Think of ReFocus as the touch screen version of the default Estuary skin. This skin was specifically developed a while ago, to give Kodi users a best experience with touch screen devices.

But it offer the same simple and some would say boring interface as Estuary. Good for functionality, poor for looks.

Ace

The only skin to make the list which was specially designed with iOS in mind. Namely operating Kodi through your iPhone or iPad, so not a skin for everyone.

Easy to navigate side menu, semi-transparent on top of a clear background image. Easy to navigate via touch screen. One big draw back is this skin has no facility for live streaming.

Best Kodi Skins for Kodi 18 (Leia)

The following skins will only work on Kodi 18.

Aura

Think of Aura like the improved Estuary. Slick tile-based design which you will find on a lot of Kodi addons. Menu appears horizontally on the left-hand side, and you can add and remove widgets, categories and sub-categories.

Good performance and lightweight, so ideal for any device

Aeon Tajo

The latest offering from the Aeon team, we really love this fresh and minimal design. One of the only skins we have come across which comes with its own background theme music. You get a giant-sized bottom menu and high spec images. You also get a great level of customisation to really change it to look however you want.

A great modern looking skin for Kodi 18.

Quartz

Quartz is a funny looking skin, because when you use it to begin with all you have is a few white menu buttons on a black screen.

The beauty of Quartz is they have given you a blank canvas so that you can design the skin however you like. You get the basic structure and can add menu items, categories and sub-categories as well as widgets.

There are some limitations with the number of existing categories so not quite as open ended as we would have liked but still exciting.

Install NovaTV on Firestick for Free Movies & TV Shows in 2020

Posted on October 30, 2019April 10, 2020 by Bob Simon

Nova TV App

Nova TV is a relatively new free movie app that has already gained a following. It is being frequently updated and already has one of the largest selections of movies.

Many people have hailed Nova TV’s minimalist design but in fact, it’s just a fork of Bee TV.

Having said that you can get some great working links for the latest movies and TV shows and it gives a good back up to some of the big-name addons like Cyberflix, TV Zion and Cinema HD.

What has impressed us is that the developer has already rolled out integration for Trakt, Real Debrid, and Premiumize, which shows us that they are going for the long haul and are committed to the addon.

How to Install Nova TV

Note: ReviewVPN.com does not host this APK file. It is hosted on Archive.org.

From the home screen of the Firestick, scroll right until you reach Settings
Scroll down and to the right until you reach My Fire TV
Click on Developer Options
Turn on ADB Debugging and Apps from Unknown Sources
Click the home button and scroll once to the left
Search for and install Downloader
Type reviewvpn.com/nova (for the official version) or reviewvpn.com/novaaf
The app should install!

One more note – NovaTV has been one of the most frequently developed apps of late with six updates in the last two months. We try to update our apps at least once a month, but if you encounter any issues with an outdated app, please visit the official site for the most recent version.

Install Nova TV on Firestick with Screenshots

1. Scroll to Settings from the home screen.

2. Scroll down and to the right until you get to My Fire TV. Click on it.

3. Select Developer options.

4. Turn on ADB debugging and Apps from Unknown Source.

5. Click Turn On when the pop-up appears.

6. Click Home on your remote and scroll once to your left. It will be the search icon.

7. You can either say Downloader to your Alexa voice-enabled remote or start typing it. If you typed it, click on the suggestion when it appears.

8. Click on the Downloader icon

9. Click Download

10. Click on Open

11. Click on Allow.

12. Type https//reviewvpn.com/nova and click Go. (Note: ReviewVPN.com does not host this APK file)

13. Click Install.

14. Click Open.

15. Click Allow

16. Choose Default Player

17. Choose Language

18. Enjoy Nova TV

Compatible Platforms

Nova TV is compatible with Amazon Firestick, Fire TV, Android, NVIDIA Shield, and Xiaomi devices.

Features

Multiple Languages Support

It supports more than 80 Languages all-in-all

Trakt Integration

Trakt is one of the best ways you can keep track of your favorite TV shows and movies. This feature allows you to go to the exact point where you left off without having to skim through the video. It also gives you suggestions on what to watch based on your history/pattern and helps you in finding out content that is highly praised by a lot of users.

Real-Debrid Integration

Free links are often of more compressed versions to reduce the cost of tras Real-Debrid eliminates this issue by providing you with an array of high-quality video links. This will also give you the ability to have your own playlists. We recommend that you sign up for a Real Debrid account in order to gain access to this feature.

Premiumize Integration

This feature also works like Real-Debrid. Having two premium file hosts will yield more results compared to having none at all.

Categories for TV Shows/Movies

Western, War and Politics, Talk, Soap, Sci-Fi and Fantasy, Reality TV, News, Mystery, Kids, Family, Drama, Documentary, Crime, Comedy, and Action and Adventure.

Simple User-Interface

Tabs for TV Shows, Movies, Library, Calendar, and Settings

Pros and Cons

Pros

Subtitle Support
Thumbnails are coupled with the show’s description
It shows which links can be trusted
Links can be copied
Fast Loading time
Can be used with Chromecast
High-Quality Videos (720p up to 1080p)
Regular Update to the app

Cons

No Live TV
Movie links take longer to load up
Anime links take a while to load up and play
Subtitle unzipping errors

Our Opinion

Nova TV is really an amazing app to have on your device. What sets its apart from most streaming apps is its integration to Real-Debrid, Trakt, and Premiumize which makes your viewing experience more convenient. Also, the assortment of content to choose from will actually glue you to your seat and will make you want for more. There are minor setbacks like subtitles not working properly, movie links take a while to load and having no LIVE TV, which we find very tolerable. The good outweigh the bad for Nova TV. If the developers continue what they are doing, Nova TV will keep its place as one of the best apps for free movies and TV shows.

FAQ

Is it safe to use?

Nova TV is very safe to use and install on your device.

Is It Any Good

Nova TV is a rookie free Movie and TV app that has already amassed a good number of followers. It is updated on a regular basis and definitely has one of the biggest Movie and TV Shows selection. A lot of people praised its simplistic design but in reality, it is a fork of Bee TV. It provides a decent number of operational links for the latest movies and TV Shows and it proves as a worthy alternative to some of the most popular apps like Cyberflix, TV Zion, and Cinema HD. One of the most impressive things about it is its Trakt, Real-Debrid, and Premiumize integration, which tells us how committed the developers are in running this app for a very long time.

Are there Ads?

Yes, ads usually appear after you close a video or click the back button. We recommend that you use an ad-blocker app if you have little patience for ads. We tested the app with Adguard and that worked well.

There have also been many ad free versions of the app that were modded after the official release. The challenge is that the app is in such frequent development, the ad free versions are often a version behind the official version. This isn’t a big deal if you don’t mind a popup at the start saying to upgrade the app since the older versions typically work fine.

To try the most recent ad free version, you can type reviewvpn.com/novaaf. If you are on a Firestick, make sure to get Download from the Amazon App store since the regular browsers (Silk and Firefox) will not download on the Firestick.

Is There a Premium Version?

No, there is no premium version whatsoever.

Is There an Official Website?

The official website is www.novatv.app. You can go to the website to download the latest version of the app.

What is the Development Team Like?

The development team is very committed in maintaining the quality of the app. The Real-Debrid, Trakt, and Premiumize integrations are proof that they are invested and will stay for a long period of time. They have a Facebook Fan Page which you can visit for updates. If you have complaints, you can send them an email at [email protected].

How Long Has it Been Around?

Nova TV is pretty new on the block. It has been around since 2019.

Alternatives

In terms of content and features the best alternatives can be Cyberflix, Bee TV, TV Zion, and Cinema HD.

How Does the App Work?

As with most of the free movie apps, Nova TV uses scrapers to find content on the major cyberlockers (think RapidGator and Mega). The actual movies are not hosted in any format by the Nova TV developers. They simply provide links.

This detail is what allows the app to remain in the grey area.

Minimum Version Required

Any Android device that has version 4.1 and above

Review

We really like the look of Nova TV. They have started strong and rolled out some good functions like easily being able to get subtitles, as well as change the color, size, and font of them.

Adding in premium services early on is always a good indication of the developer’s intention. Often developers will wait a few months before adding in new functions to test the water first. This developer seems to be committing early and it’s paying off.

Though we know it’s a clone, we love the minimalist design, there are only 4 sections:

TV Shows
Movies
Calendar
Library

The Calendar is a direct nod to Terrarium and the Library is essentially your favorites.

You can navigate movies and TV shows by the sections above the titles which include:

Comedy
Crime
Drama
Documentary
Family
Kids
Mystery
News
Reality

Nova TV is one to watch.

Final Thoughts

We hope that this article helped you in having a deeper understanding of how Nova TV works and what it has to offer.

Please feel free to suggest anything that will make this article better. Drop your comments down below or at any of our other social media platforms. Thank you for reading and stay safe!

How to Watch UFC on Kodi

Posted on October 30, 2019March 4, 2020 by Bob Simon

How to Watch UFC on Kodi

The UFC has exploded over the past 5 years, and this year to date has had over 30 events, a far cry from its humble beginning in 1993 when it had just 4 events per year.

If you want to get in on the action and watch some of the finest pound for pound fighters in the world, we take through this in-depth guide on how to watch any of the UFC events on Kodi.

What is the UFC?

The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is the biggest promoter of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts in the world. Started in 1993, they have put on almost 500 events. A recent deal with ESPN for 5 years rights for $1.5bn solidified its title as the top promoter for the biggest MMA fights globally.

It has become the most lucrative PPV promoter surpassing Boxing and WWE.

Why You Need a VPN

Whether you are watching the UFC or using any addon on Kodi we always recommend that you use a VPN for several good reasons:

UFC fights are aired by ESPN and the UFC and are restricted for viewing to a set of several countries. Which means if you try to access an illegal stream from outside any of these countries then your IP address will automatically be blocked by the Geo-IP Blocker
Many Kodi addon sport streams use Ace streams for Live TV streaming which involves IP pooling, where other users can see and track the IP of all user son that stream with ease
Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will work closely with media providers to quickly blacklist IP addresses which are streaming content illegally. This is heightened with PPV fights as the money lost by promoters is considerable. So even if you circumvent other restrictions you may still end getting blocked by your own internet provider
A VPN can allow you to circumvent all these restrictions as well as keeping your connection secure and anonymous
All connections through a VPN provider are encrypted using military-grade encryption, which means no one, not even your ISP can track what you are doing or where you are browsing
You can also use a VPN to circumvent Geo-IP blocks by switching to a server-based in a sanctioned country and changing your IP address to give you access to the fight or content of your choice

Best Kodi Addons for UFC

If you are looking to get UFC fights for free, then these are the addons for you. Fair warning that many of the streams you want to watch may have degraded quality. Its rare to get live UFC streams with better than 720p quality, and many of them may only be 480p

Planet MMA

planet-mma-kodi-addon image

The best addon specifically for MMA on Kodi. They have over 30 sections dedicated solely to fighting, MMA, boxing and martial arts. Your first port of call when looking for a UFC fight.

Sections include:

MMA Fight Night
Born to Fight
Fight Motion
MMA Mindset
Ultimate Fighter Series
UFC Fight Night
Fight Night Live

Sports Devil

SportsDevil Image

Still, the best sports addon on Kodi, though Sportowa TV, the popular Sports Devil fork is closing in. There isn’t a sport that you can think of that won’t be on Sport’s Devil.

Querying 10 massive public websites and with 100’s of sources, Sports Devil will have links to almost any UFC fight. You can navigate directly to the Boxing and UFC section.

Here you’ll find a long list of sites where you can find links, recently we have found that dimsport.eu seems to work best, but that could change anytime. You won’t be short of links as Sports Devil provides more than any other sports addon.

Fair warning many of the streams will be low quality, and if you are trying to use Sports Devil in the UK many of the source sites will be blocked so you will need to use a VPN from a server outside of the UK.

Sportowa TV

Sportowa TV is the hottest sports addon for Kodi right now, and many believe it may replace Sports Devil which has started to show its age, many sections of Sports Devil no longer work.

The addon is super easy to navigate with 7 clear sections and you can always find some great working links, using improved scrapers that have been built on Sports Devils scrapers.

Sport 365

We love Sport 365 because it’s not another cloned sports add on. Many sports addons for Kodi rely on streams from Sports Devil, Live Resolver or Plexus. This means if 1 or all these sources aren’t working then you are screwed whatever addon you are using.

Sports 365 scraper directly from the website sport365.live and is a great place to come if you are struggling to get working links elsewhere.

We also like that the project is open-sourced on GitHub and receives regular updates, like using input stream to help streams load faster and stream smoother.

The Loop

One of those addons that tend to fly under the radar, The Loop has been serving up quality links since 2017 and has a great Fight Zone for live fighting. Meaning you can easily grab UFC, Boxing, WWE, and other martial arts all in the same place.

Fair warning, it grabs most of its streams from Sports Devil so the quality can be a bit sub-par. Most links tend to be in 480p or 720p quality.

Mobdro

The best free Live TV addon on Kodi. Mobdro has kept the number 1 spot for several years and for good reason. The addon receives regular updates and stays on current.

You can access thousands of channels including ESPN meaning you can watch any UFC match directly. You can even pay £2.99 a year to remove the ads, allow Chromecast and download Live streams offline to watch later.

Great for UFC and Live TV in general, sports or otherwise.

Destiny of Deathstar

Destiny of Deathstar Image

The merged addon of two highly respected and well know addon and development teams has given birth to a monster. Destiny of Deathstar is a fantastic all in one add on, bringing you movies, TV Shows and Live TV all in one place.

There’s a lot to love including 1 click play, Real Debrid seamless integration and the number of streams you can access.

Destiny of Deathstar offers streams from M3U8, Ace streams, Fluxus and Worldwide IPTV, meaning you have fantastic sources to ensure you can always get a working link.

You can also view in-depth details of links and extract additional metadata, which is useful when looking for working links, instead of waiting 20 seconds to see if each source loads.

The Magic Dragon

magic dragon kodi addon

Probably the most popular all in one addon after Exodus Redux. You can get literally anything apart from adult TV on The Magic Dragon.

They have a great sports section, with Live TV, special sections, highlights, and news. Plus, once you’re done with the watch you can enjoy a 4K movie or gorge on catch up TV.

Fluxus TV

The weird and wonderful Fluxus TV brings you 1500+ live channels including ESPN and many other live sports channels, as well as global radio, adult content and even close circuit feeds from 200 random cameras.

You’ll never be bored with Fluxus, and the sources work as many other addons use Fluxus as a dependency

Freeflix HQ

Freeflix has been going strong for years and continues to receive regular updates. You can see Live TV schedules access hundreds of Live TV channels and the Sports IPTV section was recently updated and improved.

You can also get Freeflix as an Android application for your phone and watch everything from Anime to WWE on Demand with many of the streams in 1080p.

Find your UFC match on the Live Calendar or through ESPN on their Live TV service.

Best official Kodi addons for UFC

If you are looking to see the fight in all its glorious HD action, with no looking for the best source or cut-outs in streams, then here are the two-best official Kodi addons for UFC.

UFC Fight pass

UFC’s official subscription service comes with its very own official Kodi addon which you can download and use as soon as you sign up.

Packages start from $9.99 a month and go as low as $7.99 a month for an annual subscription. Your best source for all things UFC, nothing is going to beat going straight to the source.

Fight Pass will also give you access to exclusive behind the scenes content, follow your favorite fighters and download the mobile application to watch fights on the go anywhere in the world.

DAZN

If you fancy not just UFC but also boxing and other light fights, then DAZN may be for you. With over 30 organization represented, you may not get the same coverage as UFC Fight Pass, but you do get more sports

Monthly subscriptions start from $19.99 a month or you can save 58% and pay $99.99 for the year.

How to Watch PPV on Kodi

Posted on October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 by Bob Simon

How to Watch PPV on Kodi

Some shows and sports matches draw such massive publicity and interest that you need more than a paid subscription to watch them, in this in-depth guide we will take you through what a PPV is and why using a VPN is important. Then we’ll get you on the best Kodi and official Kodi addons to watch any PPV match around the world.

What is PPV?

PPV (Pay Per View) is generally used for fights and was first popularised with boxing. The biggest matches and fighters can generate tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars, as people tune in from all around the world.

Due to the money involved paying the fighters, tickets to watch the match online can cost you more than $50 a time. With the UFC and other top fighting events like the MMA, what once a rare occasion is now a monthly feature with one or another PPV event happening.

Why Use a VPN to Watch PPV?

Whatever you use Kodi for, but especially when watching PPV we recommend that you use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) for several reasons:

PPV matches are one of the most lucrative TV events on Earth. Media companies and advertisers stand to make tens of million of dollars in the course of a few hours. As a result, they have teams dedicated to shutting down illegal feeds of fights. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will quickly blacklist its users access to any IP addresses flagged for showing fights
To avoid your access being restricted or censored, using a VPN allows you to encrypt your connection. Meaning that no one, not even your ISP can see what you are doing
If you are in a country that doesn’t have rights to broadcast a fight, your connection may be blocked by a Geo IP lock, using a VPN you can change your VPN and physical location to anywhere in the world

Best Kodi Addons for PPV

The good news, if you don’t fancy paying $50+ a fight, there are a wealth of great Kodi addons out there which will let you watch PPV matches for free. Bear in mind that PPV matches due to their popularity can be particularly hit and miss when it comes to finding working streams, so we recommend you have multiple addons downloaded.

Sports Devil

Probably the best sports addon Kodi has to offer. Recently it has seen some decline and there are rumours that it may be replaced or merged with Sportowa TV. But as one of the longest running addons, Sports Devil has seen plenty of rumours and other sports addons come and go in the 5 years it has been around.

Sports Devil is unique because you either find links yourself or hook into P2P networks that are streaming PPV fights. They over one of the widest selections of sports of any addons, and you can find PPV matches from the following sports all in one place:

UFC
WWE
Ice Hockey
Motorsport
Rugby
Snooker
Golf
Darts
NFL
NBA
Football
Boxing
MMA

One criticism of Sports Devil and all free Kodi addons for PPV is don’t expect the streams to be of a high quality. If you are lucky you may get 720p, but most will be 480p quality, which means the content can be grainy at times and break up.

Many other addons use Sports Devil and its 20+ hosting providers as a dependency for streams. So better to go straight to the source.

Mobdro

Mobdro is not specifically centred around sports but is probably the best free Live TV addon on Kodi. With thousands of channels, and many premium channels like Sky Sports having 90%+ uptime, Mobdro is a great choice when looking out for PPV events.

They have some cool features like a Live Event Calendar, a sleek UI and the ability to turn off adverts. Plus, even after a few years the development team remains active with regular updates being rolled out.

A great addon to have for PPV and Live TV in general.

Planet MMA

If MMA is what really gets you going, then Planet MMA is for you. This is the best Kodi addon for MMA fight nights including UFC. They do MMA and nothing else.

Categories include:

UFC Fight Night
Fight Night Live
MMA Fight Night
Born to Fight
Fight Motion
MMA Mindset
Ultimate Fighter Series

They also cover some boxing fights and other martial arts.

Fight Tube

Fight Tube is another great addon for people who love all things fighting, what we love about Fight Tube is they have a lot of obscure sections as well as PPV. You can also get your fix of WWE as well. As well as covering some more obscure martial arts like Shaolin Kung Fu

Categories include:

UFC
Shaolin Kung Fu
Wresting
Behind the Gloves
Box nation Official
Boxing Legends
Fight Hub TV
Fight Network
HBO Boxing
Taekwondo
Jiu Jitsu
Judo
Karate
WWE
Boxing
Bareknuckle gypsies
MMA
Ultimate Fighter

The Loop

A great little addon which has been around since 2017. The Loop sits in a relatively little-known repository so often gets missed but has garnered good fans as they tend to get good PPV links. You can also find a wide range of live sports and events from:

Auto Zone
Ace Stream Zone
Fight Zone
Wrestling
EFC
UFC
Box nation
Wrestling

Pure Soccer

If football is your thing, but you don’t want to pay the extortionate prices for Sky, the Pure Soccer is the addon for you. Featuring live football matches from all around the world.

We love the way they display links. One of the big problems with finding links for Live TV and PPV is the endless amount of dead links you end up clicking on.

Pure Soccer have made it so simple. Dead links are displayed in red and working links in green. How easy is that!

UK Turk Playlist

A great addon if you hail from the UK, but also a solid addon that has been around several years. Bear in mind that if you are trying to access this addon from within the UK you will need to use a VPN, or your access will be blocked.

UK Turk has a great selection of Live TV, PPV and Sports Channels from Russia, Canada, USA and the UK. They also have a good hit rate for working streams.

Zem TV

Zem TV is a great Live TV addon which is mainly aimed at Cricket PPV coming from India and Pakistan. They have a good selection of sports channels, Live TV and PPV, but be warned its strongly Asia based.

A great addon though for those who love Asian sports and can’t find it through the more Western based addons.

Sportowa TV

The up and coming contender for the best sports addon on Kodi. Sportowa is new, but have absolutely nailed it with 150+ sports channels, Live TV calendar and content from all around the world.

They have an enormous amount of content and categories and have been great for finding working PPV links whatever the sport and country.

A great one for watching stable Live Sport TV as well. A must have addon alongside the older Sports Devil.

Best Official Kodi Addons for PPV

One of the sacrifices you are going to have with a free PPV stream is quality and stability. It can be frustrating to watch a stream in crap low res quality which keeps stopping and starting and cutting out.

Or maybe you’re just not comfortable not paying for athletes who have spent years training to be at the top of their game.

If so here are 3 premium and official Kodi addons for PPV.

DAZN

DAZN concentrates solely on boxing and fighting and offers a lot of fights all on one platform, with an easy to download app for your mobile phone or device.

They concentrate on exclusive fights, Bellator, World Boxing Super Series and a lot of old fights content and behind the scenes footage.

Prices start from $19.99 a month or save 58% and pay $99.99 for a year.

If you are not sure about the price you also get a 30-day trial

Showtime PPV

Showtime and HBO concentrate on Boxing and the NFL and will set you back $19.99 a month. The good news is you also get a lot of other good content in the package so not just fights.

There is a much more limited number of fights though than other providers.

Sky Sports Box Office

Sky is the undisputed King when it comes to paying for the biggest fights. Problem is you’re unlikely to get the PPV fights included, even with packages of £40+ per month. You do get hundreds of channels, Sky Sports, Sky F1 and premier League Football.

But for us, unless you want all of Sky you are probably better off with DAZN.

Best 4K Kodi Addons

Posted on October 30, 2019March 4, 2020 by Bob Simon

Best 4K Kodi addons

Using Kodi can find the best content has never been easier, but Kodi may be delivering you movies and TV Shows that can only truly be done justice if they were delivered in HD or 4K Quality. The good news is that an increasing number of addons are offering 4K links and streams, but before we list the best 4K Kodi addons, we want to make a strong case for investing in Real Debrid

No Real Debrid, No 4K

Almost all Kodi addons are free. Which is awesome. But chances are they will only deliver content in 720p or 1080p quality. In fact, finding working HD links can prove difficult, and getting 4K links can be almost impossible.

The reason being is that 4K a much higher quality than SD or HD. That means much bigger files. To give you an idea a 2-hour movie could be between 1-10GB. The same movie in 4K could be almost 10 times as much at 100GB. So free servers are much less likely to store such large files when they could store ten times as much lower quality content.

The next thing to bear in mind is the connection speed. Free servers don’t have super fast connections and transmission speeds. They are as cheap as possible to run. So, streaming a 4K movie from a free server could take as long as shooting the movie itself.

The addons we cover in this guide all deliver content in 4K, but the libraries are limited. If you really want to supercharge the best 4K Kodi addons you need to get Real Debrid.

Real Debrid gives you access to 50+ high-speed hosters, who in turn host premium content that can be quickly accessed, watched and download.

They meet a real need in the Kodi market, where people don’t want to waste countless hours always finding the best working link, or any link at all when it comes to 4K and HD content.

Real Debrid synchronizes with almost all popular Kodi addons with a simple authentication method and will then serve you the best working link in the quality of your choice when you select any title.

They have 4 paid subscriptions:

15 days for 3 Euros
30 days for 4 Euros
90 days for 9 Euros
180 days for 16 Euros

You can try it here: https://real-debrid.com/premium

Once you’ve used Real Debrid, particularly for watching the best quality 4K content on your TV, you won’t want to go back. Give it a go for 15 days and let us know what you think.

The only other alternative is Premiumize which only gives you access to 30+ high-speed hosters and prices start from 9.99 Euros for a month. Plus, they aren’t compatible with many Kodi addons. Developer prioritizes Trakt and Real Debrid compatibility for their users.

List of Best 4K Addons

So, here’s our list of the best Kodi addons delivering 4K content, to really get the best out of all of them, use them with Real Debrid to take your Kodi experience to the next level

Nole Cinema

Nole Cinema is the perfect addition for any movie lover. It’s the kind of addon we love because it just does one thing and does it well. Nole Cinema provides curated categories of films, which means it doesn’t have the biggest library out there. But it makes your life that much easier by giving you the best content by genre.

We also love the 1-click play function, all you need to do is select the film and the quality whether that is 720p/1080p/HD/4K.

You won’t get 4K links without Real Debrid, but there is a category called 4K community with a limited selection of titles.

Release BB

When it comes to addons, Release BB is truly unique. Unlike almost all other addons that fetch links from torrent sites. Release BB fetches quality and premium content from scene release groups. These groups get to watch movies and TV shows before they are released to the public.

The quality of the videos tends to be at least HD, and you can get several titles in 4K as well. With Real Debrid you will get access to a much-increased number of HD and 4K streams.

Seren

Seren is one of the best looking and slickest addons on Kodi. Coded completely from the ground up by Nixgate the makers of the widely successful Deceit addon. Seren takes streaming to a whole new level with an awesome Netflix style interface and functionality.

Real Debrid is a must with Seren as it won’t pull down streams without it. Also, one of the few addons that work with Premiumize as well. Once synced with Real Debrid you will get a wealth of 4K content for movies and TV shows. You can also cache torrents and download content to watch offline.

Limitless

Limitless is a great all in one addon which allows you to watch movies, TV shows, and Live TV all in one place.

With a Real Debrid account, you can access over 3,000 titles many of which are in 4K in their Real Debrid lounge. Limitless also has a dedicated 4K Movies section for the best quality movie titles.

For their Live TV sections, they work as well as can be expected for a free addon. If you want HD and 4K Live TV you are better off paying $7+ a month for Player’s Klub or Helix IPTV, who will give you 3,000+ channels in the best quality.

Scrubs v2

Scrubs was consistently voted one of the best addon of 2019. Offering a massive range of TV Shows and movies, as well as documentaries and boxsets. Scrubs has great variety and stability.

Unlike other addons you won’t find a specific 4K section, so if you want to find HD and 4K links you’re going to want to connect it to your Real Debrid account unless you want to trawl through links or just settle for SD.

The Magic Dragon

The Magic Dragon is one of the most well known and popular addons on Kodi. So, if you haven’t already got it, where have you been?

Another all in one addon like Limitless. But The Magic Dragon has been around since 2016 under several different names.

They don’t have a dedicated 4K section, but with Real Debrid you will be sure to pull down tonnes of 4K links. The Magic Dragon supports several premium players and services including Premiumize and Open Load, as well as having some of the best scrapers around. So, you may well get lucky without Real Debrid depending on the title.

Exodus Redux

Probably the best-known addon on Kodi. The most successful fork of the famous Exodus addon. Just like The Magic Dragon, Exodus Redux is so popular and big that it is compatible with most of the premium services and players on the market.

There is a dedicated 4K section, as well as one of the biggest content libraries on Kodi. Use with Real Debrid to capture the best links.

Gaia

Gaia is one of the oldest addons on Kodi dating back to 2017, a fork of the original Bubble addon. Currently on its 5th major version there a couple of good reasons to come here to stream 4K films.

Their Orion system which they introduced this year reduces streaming time and bandwidth making it faster to watch large-high-quality 4K content. Gaia is also compatible with 10+ premium host providers, as well as Usenet. This means more links, much more.

Of course, best used with Real Debrid to get the best links, but even without it, you are bound to find a good quality HD link if you can’t find 4K.

Venom

Venom is a brand new addon in 2019 which has rapidly gained popularity for being a snappy cut-down fork of Exodus. Removing as much bloat as possible to make the UI crisp and loading fast.

Good range of movies and TV shows and Real Debrid compatible for 4K links.

Voodoo

Voodoo is a great new addon that is flying under the radar but is sure to gain in popularity quickly. Great selection of content as well as 1-click content. Tonnes of working HD links, as well as passable Live TV.

Compatible with Real Debrid and you can search The Movie Database in the addon, to easily find all your favorite movies.

Movie Theater Butter

We love Movie Theatre Butter because they offer 2 versions of the addon. One you can manually search for links and the other you can take advantage of their 1-click system.

Just bear in mind without Real Debrid the 1 click system will normally deliver 720p movies. So, if you want HD and 4K, sometimes you will need to switch to manual and then find the best Debrid link.

Fladnag

Fladnag is 6 different addons all specialized in an area. So, one for TV Shows, another for movies and so on. We haven’t seen any other addon apart from maybe Nole Cinema which goes into such depth with its categories and curation for different types of entertainment.

Compatible with Real Debrid to find 4K links.

Install Mouse Toggle on a Firestick (Fire TV Stick) in 2 Minutes – 2020

Posted on October 29, 2019March 6, 2020 by Bob Simon

What is Mouse Toggle?

One of the most underrated pieces of hardware on any computer is your mouse. A mouse pointer helps you quickly and easily navigate across a myriad of options. I mean can you imagine having to tab through Amazon on your keyboard.

Many applications on the Firestick have areas that can only be accessed using a mouse. This is especially true of applications that are sideloaded and thus not originally intended for the Firestick.

Some of the best Android TV streaming applications have been specially designed for touch screens. This is great on a tablet or phone but can become frustrating when using it on a TV. Without the touch function, you either have to click through each successive button or find a replacement for a mouse.

This is the void that Mouse Toggle helps fill. Mouse Toggle allows your Fire TV remote to act as a wireless mouse to a better level of accuracy than any other application currently on the market.

With over 50K downloads on Google Play and an average rating of 3.9/5.

Steps to Install Mouse Toggle on a Fire TV Stick with Screenshots

From the home screen of the Firestick, go to Settings

2. Scroll down and to the right until you can click on My Fire TV

3. Click on Developer options

4. Turn on ADB debugging and Apps from Unknown Sources

5. When you turn on Apps from Unknown Sources a popup will appear. click turn on

6. Click the home button on your remote and scroll once to the left to the search magnifying glass

7. Either say Downloader to your Alexa voice-enabled remote or start typing it. Once the suggestion appears, click on it

8. Click on the Downloader icon

9. Click on Download

10. Click on Open

11. Click on Allow

12. Click on OK

13. Type “reviewvpn.com/mouse” in the browser window and click Go (we do not host this file. we have merely setup a redirect)

14. The app will automatically install. Click on Open after installation (note delete the apk files after installation to save space on the Firestick)

15. On the Mouse Toggle screen wait until you see Status changed to started before trying to use the app

16. A popup should appear that asks if you want to allow USB debugging. Check the box that says always allow and click ok

How to Use Mouse Toggle?

Hit the play/pause button two times quickly to activate. You should see a bluish-purple circle appear on the screen. Hit the play/pause button and any other button to make it go away. When it is active, you can use it just like a mouse.

Video on How to Install Mouse Toggle on a Firestick

Where Is It Available?

In addition to the method we have just shown, you can also download Mouse Toggle from the Google Play Store. This will require you to download the app and then push it from your Android device to the Firestick.

You can read more about Mouse Toggle, at their official website

Like any other popular software make sure to only use the official website or a trusted provider. Many malicious parties will use similar name websites to give you access to files that may be infected with malware. There are many antivirus programs available for Android that will allow you to scan the app if you get it from an unknown source. Bitdefender is both free and well respected.

What Features Does It Have?

Mouse Toggle offers:

Turns your regular remote into a mouse
Scroll
Click
Long Click
Drag
Auto device discovery, the app will automatically discover your Amazon Fire device on startup and synchronize with it

How Do You Use It?

Download the App on your phone and then sync with your Android device.

Cetus Play is free with ads, and for $3 you can pay for the premium app and remove ads from the device.

When Was It Developed?

Mouse Toggle was released in 2016 and was last updated in June 2018 to work with the newest generation of Amazon Fire devices as well as other 3rd generation devices

What Tools Does it Compliment the Most?

Most Android TV application has been developed for touch screen and therefore don’t have the user interface for remote controls.

We’ve found that browsers not intended for the Firestick, like Chrome, Opera, and Microsoft Edge, require Mouse Toggle to work. Also, many of the best live TV apps require Mouse Toggle. There are also a variety of applications that can work without it but work better with it. ES File Explorer is one that falls into this category. This is particularly true when trying to close windows.

Common Problems

The app has been going for a long time, and in 2016 and 2017 the developer would normally respond to comments directly.

However, when we took a closer look at the reviews from 2019 the app seems to be going downhill. The majority of users have it 1 star and said they were having problems getting it to work on their device.

It’s possible that if the developer has moved onto other applications that Mouse Toggle may need updating to allow it to work on newer devices and applications.

There seemed to be a lot of problems with the application not getting past the start screen, also for people using Fire TV (3rd gen UHD) you’ll need to reduce the resolution on your Fire TV Display setting from UHD (3840) down to 1080p. Which defeats the main reason for using a UHD device. Also, if the status for Mouse Toggle is stuck on ‘starting’ you need to run Mouse Toggle on your phone (or other devices) and run ‘troubleshoot’ and restart the service.

History / Is it in active development?

Mouse Toggle has been active since 2016, but there have been no updates since June 2018, from the reviews it seems like the app could really do with an update or the ratings may start to fall.

Much of the negative reviews have come over the past year as people report problems with functionality.

There are a Help section and email that you can use if you have persistent bugs, but other than there seems to be little way to get the app to work if you have persistent problems.

What Devices Does it Work On?

Mouse Toggle works with Android devices

What Alternatives Exist?

Cetus Play is probably the best alternative, though it doesn’t offer the same refinement for mouse toggle functions but is reasonably accurate, you also get a heap of other functionality including:

Multiple navigation modes which include Direction-Pad, TouchPad, Keyboard mode, and Mouse mode;
Cast your favorite streaming media like YouTube directly from your phone to TV
Use Cetus Play to send applications to your TV or Android device
Quickly launch your TV apps though one clicks on your phone;
Clean cache and trash to speed up your TV with a one clicks trash function
Screen capture function which allows you to take a picture of the screen in-app, cut and share on Social Media
Cast local videos, photos, and files to your device
Load your M3U Playlist directly to your TV
Cast directly from links online
Compatible with over 13,000 TV models, 250+ TV applications

What Apps Does it Compliment/are Required to Use It?

Mouse Toggle compliments any app and is really well suited for Amazon Fire Stick users. For example, using Chrome on Fire Stick is really frustrating without Mouse Toggle as well as most big-name Android TV applications.

How to Update Kodi

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Bob Simon

How to Update Kodi

Kodi gets regular updates as well as new version, running since 2002, Kodi has a major update roughly once a year and is currently on its 18th version called Leia.

If you miss an update, things can start to break on Kodi. Also, your favourite addons may stop working as they also update to the latest version.

Luckily this article will show you how to update Kodi whatever your device. So, scroll on through whether you have an Apple TV or an Amazon Firestick to find the best and easiest way to update Kodi on your device.

You can find the latest version of Kodi here: https://www.kodi.tv/download

Windows

Windows Logo

If you run a Windows PC, there are 3 different ways that you can update Kodi. Probably the easiest platform to run and update Kodi from.

From Kodi 18 onwards, the file now comes in a 64-bit version as standard, which means that you can easily install the latest version of Kodi over your older version.

You can either navigate to Kodi and download the latest version manually and allow Windows to install the .exe file, or you can find the latest application version through the Windows App Store.

In February 2019, the development team at Kodi also released a Kodi Windows installer which you can find here: https://kodi.tv/addon/scripts/kodi-windows-installer

The Windows Installer is really interested if you want to get your hands on the latest nightly builds, updates and even test builds that the team has to offer. So, a good option for those who are more technically minded. Bear in mind that nightly builds and fresh installs which have been untested are more likely to have bugs.

MacOS

On Mac there is only one way for you to update Kodi, by reinstalling the latest version on your OS supported device:

Go to the link in the introduction to find the latest version of Kodi
Scroll down the page until you find Mac OS
You want to install the 64-bit format, which will download as a DMG file
When your file has finished download, double click on it
Now all you need to do is drag and drop the Kodi icon into your applications folder
Your Mac will ask if you want to replace the existing Kodi installation, click yes to update to the latest version of Kodi

Linux

As any good Linux user knows, your better off installing and upgrading Kodi through the terminal rather than navigating through the Kodi website:

Open Terminal on your Linux device
Input: sudo apt-get update ,to find all applications where an update is available
Next: sudo apt-get upgrade, then: sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
These commands will update all the applications on your device where an upgrade is available including Kodi

Some Linux versions like Ubuntu, have a Software Updater built into the GUI, where Linux will automatically check for updates and indicate it on your home screen. So, alternatively you can update using this method.

As Linux users already know, applications are typically installed on this OS by typing a series of commands. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see the same procedure is applied to updating Kodi.

As any Linus user knows, its worth running the update and upgrade commands at least once a week to make sure all your software is up to date, especially when it comes to minor patches and security fixes.

Android

There are two ways to update Kodi on your Android device, it depends how you installed Kodi in the first place.

Google Play Store

If you installed Kodi using the Google Play store, then Google will automatically detect that a new version of the Android Application is ready. If automatic updates isn’t set, you can manually update Kodi through the Google Play Store

Sideloaded Android Application

You might not have the Google Play Store on your device, or you chose to download Kodi directly from a URL.

In that case you simply need to repeat the process, by navigating to the downloads section on Kodi, scroll down and click on the most up to date version for Android. When you download the latest version, your device will ask if you want to overwrite the existing version, agree and Kodi will update.

Amazon Fire TV / Fire TV Stick

As an Amazon device user, you’ll know that you can’t download Kodi through the Amazon App user, which means you will have to repeat the process you first went through sideloading Kodi to install the latest version:

Navigate to the Kodi Download links above either through Downloader or ESL File Explorer
Download the latest version for Android
When prompted, allow your Amazon device to overwrite the current version of Kodi

It’s worth mentioning that updating Kodi on an Amazon Fire device can be glitchy at times. If you get a persistent problem with updating Kodi, you might have to delete the original version and download the latest version fresh. It’s a pain we know, just make sure you make a note of your favourite builds and addons to download on your updated version of Kodi.

Xbox One

The original device that Kodi was created for will normally operate like the Google Play Store and always check for updates for all your applications.

However, if for some reason you encounter a glitch its pretty simple to get an update for Kodi:

Press the Xbox button on your controller
Go to My Games and Apps
On the left-hand side of the screen, click Updates
Click the available Kodi update

You can fully automate this process by simply going to Settings and System Updates and setting this to automatic, so you don’t need to do the same thing next time.

iOS

Just like Amazon, the iOS store doesn’t host Kodi in the app store, so you’ll need to go back and repeat the process you first did to sideload Kodi onto your iOS device:

Repeat the process that you first installed Kodi, either using Cydia Impactor or XCode

We found that Kodi an be really glitchy if you don’t first uninstall the original version of the software. You would be better off going through a fresh install of the latest version of Kodi. Keep a note of all your existing addons and builds to install on your fresh version of Kodi.

Chromebook

Chromebooks are a breed of their own when it comes to laptops, using all of Google’s software. Luckily it also makes it extremely easy to update Kodi:

Open the Google Play Store and check for automatic updates, or manually update Kodi through the My Application section under your profile
Alternatively, if you used one of the other 2 methods to install Kodi, you can repeat that process through Arc Welder or updating the Kodi extension on Chrome

If you didn’t do so before, we recommend that you install and run Kodi through the Google Play Store. Particularly if you were quirky enough to install Kodi through Arc Welder, this method is experimental, and you’ll probably end up having to install a fresh copy of Kodi. So, use the Google Play Store for a seamless update and to avoid having to reinstall your build and addons each time you update Kodi.

Apple TV

Just like iOS you can’t get the Kodi application through the tvOS store.

You will need to repeat the original process you went through installing Kodi through Cydia Impactor or XCode.

Again, like iOS there is a chance the updated version of Kodi may be glitchy, so you might need to carry out a fresh install every time you want to update Kodi.

Nvidia Shield TV

One thing we love about the Nvidia Shield is that it comes with the Google Play Store fully integrated in the OS. Which means if automatic updates are set, then Kodi should automatically update.

If you need to update Kodi manually:

Start the Google Play Store
Go to My Apps
Click and update the Kodi installation if its available to update

Raspberry Pi

For the most intrepid and experimental of Kodi users, you’ll be familiar with LibreELEC which you would have originally used to install Kodi.

The Pi is the only device where you don’t have to update Kodi, but the software you installed it with:

Start your Pi and go to Settings
Go to LibreELEC/OpenELEC
Click System
Go to Updates
From Updates Channel click Main Version
Confirm and the software will update

Kodi should automatically update, but you may need to restart your Pi to see the updated version.

Smart TVs

You can download Kodi on most Smart TV’s directly. To update it you just need to follow the same process as any other Android device:

Open the Google Play Store on your device
Go to My Apps
Click and update Kodi

If your Smart TV isn’t running an Android OS, then you will need to update the device that you are using to mirror Kodi onto your TV.

How to Install Kodi on an Apple TV

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Bob Simon

How to Install Kodi on an Apple TV

The Apple TV hasn’t quite had the all reaching effect of the iPhone, iPad and Mac but has been growing steadily more popular since it’s first release in 2007.

The latest version 4th and 5th Generation released in 2015 and 2017, differ in terms of hardware, and the 5th generation took away the USB C Port. In this guide we’ll show you three methods of installing Kodi that will work for both the 4th and 5th Generation Apple TV.

What is Kodi?

Kodi has been going strong since 2002. One of the most popular free media players, which helps to turn any modern TV into a home entertainment centre. Run by the XMBC Foundation Kodi is now in its 18th major version and has garnered over 50 million downloads worldwide.

Kodi remains popular due to its 10-foot user interface, which allows you to easily scale any Android application to work on a TV and has a stretched User Interface, also the sheer amount of functions and media files it can play. Most importantly Kodi offers an opportunity to cut the cord and watch almost any media for free, through the thousands of third-party applications the software hosts.

Can I Install Kodi From the App Store?

No, one of the things that makes the Apple TV a bit fiddly, is that it doesn’t host Kodi on the Apple App Store, so it means we need to go through a few easy steps to get a working version of Kodi on an Apple TV.

3 Ways to Install Kodi on an Apple TV

The following methods covers all eventualities you may come across using a 4th or 5th generation, and a bonus section to install Kodi 14.2 “Helix” on a 2nd Generation Apple TV

The first 2 methods are for wired installations, and the last for non-wired. Use the first 2 methods for a 4th Generation Apple TV, and the third for a 5th Generation.

Cydia Impactor

Using Cydia Impactor is for users who have a 4th Generation Apple Tv but aren’t going to connect their Apple TV to a Mac Book. You can connect your Mac Book to any computer that has a USB C or USB A Port.

Download the latest Kodi DEB file here: https://kodi.tv/download onto your computer
To unzip the file, use your chosen programme. Or download Unarchive for Mac, 7-Zip for Windows
Unzip the Kodi DEB File and fine the file named “data.tar”
Once you unzip this file you ‘ll see a folder called “Data
Open the folder and find the folder called “Kodi.app”
Create a new folder next to it called “Payload”
Drop the “Kodi.app” folder into the “Payload” folder
Then use 7-Zip or Unarchive to create a new zip file
The zip file must be created in archive format and named “Kodi.ipa”
Connect your Apple TV to your Computer
If you haven’t already done so, download Cydia Impactor here: http://www.cydiaimpactor.com/
Open Cydia Impactor and drag and drop your “Kodi.ipa” file into the application
When prompted enter your Apple ID and Password
Give it a few minutes to process. Cydia Impactor will be installing Kodi on your Apple TV
Switch your Apple TV on and you should see Kodi installed on the home screen

XCode Wired

This method is for users who have a Mac Book that they can connect their Apple TV to.

Connect your Mac to your Apple TV
Launch XCode on your Mac
In the left-hand side bar, you will see tvOS, go to Application and then Single View Application
Call the app Kodi
When XCode loads it will show you a warning saying it has no provisioning for the file. Click Fix Issue
Enter your Apple ID and XCode will fix the issue
Open the iOS App Signer
In the input file section, browse for your downloaded Kodi DEB file
Name the App Kodi, under App Display Name and then slick Start
Wait while iOS App Signer unpacks the data and creates a new file
Go back to XCode
On the top window bar, click Windows and then Devices
Find your Apple TV and click the “+” button
You can then add your newly created Kodi app, which will be installed on your Apple TV

XCode Wireless

This version is for the 5th Generation Apple TV, which cannot be connected via a USB C to USB A cable.

You will be following all the above instructions above for the XCode wired installation, but instead of connecting your Apple TV using a wire it first needs to be connected wirelessly
On your Apple Tv go to Setting
Click Remote Devices, then Remote App and Devices
Open your Mac and start XCode
From the top menu bar go to Windows and then Devices and Simulators
Your Mac should automatically find your Apple TV, particularly if you are in the same room, if not you can try to manually find the device
You can then pair your two devices. You will be prompted to enter the verification code which pops up on your Apple TV into XCode on your Mac
Once your 2 devices are paired you can start from Step 3 of the XCode Wired installation process above

Install Kodi on a 2nd Generation Apple TV

Unfortunately, the latest versions of Kodi aren’t available, but you can still install Kodi 14 on a 2nd Generation Apple TV. Just be aware this may affect some Kodi addons.

Using an Apple Mac, open Terminal and enter: ssh YOUR.ATV2.IPADDRESS (Replace IPADDRESS with your Apple TV Address), enter the password if you have changed, if not the default password is: alpine
Once accepted enter the following commands:

apt-get install wget
wget -0- http://apt.awkwardtv.org/awkwardtv.pub | apt-key add –
echo “deb http://apt.awkwardtv.org/ stable main” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/awkwardtv.list
echo “deb http://mirrors.kodi.tv/apt/atv2 ./” > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list
apt-get update
apt-get install org.xbmc.kodi-atv2
reboot

Your Mac TV will reboot with Kodi installed.

What About 1st and 3rd Generation Apple TVs?

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easily known way to install Kodi on these generations of Apple TV, though a brave soul might find some luck trawling through Stack Overflow.