A large playlist is unusable until it is organised. TiviMate has good tools for this and most people never open them.
Build a favourites group
Highlight a channel, open the context menu and add it to favourites. Create several named groups rather than one long list — separating by household member or by type is far more practical than alphabetical order.
Reorder channels
In Settings → Channels, drag entries into the order you want. The order you set here is the order the remote cycles through, which is the single biggest usability improvement available.
Hide what you never watch
Hiding is better than scrolling past. Hidden channels leave the guide entirely, which also makes the EPG load faster on low-powered sticks — relevant on a Chromecast with Google TV.
Keep the layout when things change
Use the backup and restore feature before switching playlists or devices. Without it, a provider change can reset the arrangement you spent an evening building.
Why the list breaks
If favourites keep disappearing, the playlist is renaming or reordering channels on the provider side. TiviMate matches by channel identity, so unstable naming breaks the link. This is a service-side habit, not an app fault.
Start from a clean list
Organising is far easier when groups arrive sensibly structured. Our TiviMate Premium subscription keeps channel naming stable so favourites survive updates. Also useful: locking groups with a PIN.
Useful resources
- TiviMate official site — feature documentation.
- Android TV Help — device-level navigation tips.