rPlayTV — Getting Started

From a fresh install to live TV on your car screen.

rPlayTV includes no channels. It is a player for the playlist you already have, from your own IPTV provider. If you don't have one yet, you can still follow this whole tutorial using our free demo playlist in step 2.

1. Install

Get rPlayTV from the App Store — it's free, with no account and no ads. One purchase-free download covers iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.

You need iOS or iPadOS 18 (tvOS 18 on Apple TV) or later. Video on the CarPlay screen additionally needs iOS 26 or later, including iOS 27 — on iOS 18 the car screen is audio‑only.

2. Add your playlist

On first launch rPlayTV opens on the welcome screen. Tap Connect a Server, then pick the kind of source you have.

rPlayTV welcome screen with a Connect a Server button — 1. Tap **Connect a Server**. (*Skip for now* lets you look around first, and *Sync via iCloud* pulls in a playlist you already set up on another device.)

Choosing between Dispatcharr, Xtream Codes and M3U plus EPG — 2. Choose your source type. Most providers hand out an **M3U** link — pick **M3U + EPG**.

If your provider gave you an M3U link

Give the playlist a Name — anything you like; it is only a label.
Paste the M3U URL your provider gave you.
Optionally paste an EPG URL (an XMLTV file) to get a programme guide.
Tap Test Connection. rPlayTV fetches the list and tells you how many channels it found before saving anything.
Tap Save Playlist.

No playlist yet? Use our demo list to try the app. It carries four channels the broadcasters offer publicly — DW English, France 24 English, Red Bull TV, and Apple's HLS test stream:

https://www.tarplay.com/rplaytv/demo-playlist.m3u

The configure screen with a name and M3U URL filled in — 3. Name it and paste the URL. Leave EPG blank if you don't have one.

Connected successfully, four channels found — 4. **Test Connection** confirms the list loads before you commit — here, four channels.

If your provider gave you a username and password

Choose Xtream Codes instead, and enter the server URL, username and password. rPlayTV then loads live channels, movies and series, and the guide, in one step.

If you run Dispatcharr

Choose Dispatcharr Direct Connect and sign in with your admin login or a personal API key. This unlocks recording to the server as well as playback. (rPlayTV is not affiliated with the Dispatcharr project.)

3. Watch on your phone

Channels appear under Live TV. Search by name, filter by group, and tap a channel to play it. Tap the picture once to show the controls.

The Live TV channel list — The channel list, with search and group filters.

The player with playback controls visible — Tap once for controls: play/pause, full screen, cast, and more. The badge at the bottom shows which engine is playing the stream.

From the player you can also go full screen, hand the picture to an AirPlay or Chromecast device, or add the channel to a Multiview grid of up to nine streams.

4. Watch in the car

This is the part no other IPTV player does. Connect your iPhone to CarPlay and open rPlayTV on the car display — your channel list is there, and picking one plays it on the car screen. Video on the car screen requires iOS 26 or later, including iOS 27.

A live channel playing on a car's CarPlay display — Live TV on the car screen. Video is for passengers, never the driver.

rPlayTV picks how to do this automatically, and you do not have to configure anything:

Head units that support video (Apple's newer video-in-car feature) get the picture handed to the system, which presents it.
Head units without it are served by rPlayTV's own renderer, so the feature still works on older cars that have no video support at all.

The first time video plays in a CarPlay session, a full-screen safety notice appears and must be acknowledged. Video on a car display is for passengers. Watching while driving is unsafe, and in most places illegal — you are responsible for the law where you drive.

5. If something doesn't work

A channel won't play. Try the same stream in another player. If it fails there too, the problem is the stream or your subscription, not the app. rPlayTV keeps a second decoder for streams the system one refuses, and remembers which channels need it.
No channels after saving. Re-check the URL — most failures are a typo or an expired provider link. Test Connection tells you before you save.
No guide. A programme guide needs an EPG (XMLTV) URL, which is separate from the playlist. Add it in the playlist's settings.
Nothing on the CarPlay screen. Video in the car needs iOS 26 or later (iOS 27 included); on iOS 18 the car screen plays audio only. The safety notice also has to be acknowledged before the picture appears.
Logos missing. Logos come from your playlist or a public catalogue; both can be briefly unreachable. They are cached once loaded.

Still stuck? Write to info@vmlite.com with your device model, iOS version, and the app version from Settings → About. For playback problems, include the channel name and your playlist type.