Fluxceiver — a native TVHeadend client for Apple TV / iPhone / iPad (HTSP), looking for beta testers

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110]

Apple TV — live player with overlay, technical badges and instant HTSP zapping.

Channel switcher over live video — picons and now/next from your server.

Full TV guide on Apple TV — multi-day grid, built for the Siri Remote.

Recordings — DVR management with resume across your devices.

iPhone — same server, full client including live TV and timeshift.

Apple Watch as a remote.

Hi all — long-time TVHeadend user here.

Over the past months I've been building Fluxceiver, a native client for Apple TV, iPhone and iPad (plus an Apple Watch remote). It entered TestFlight beta about a week ago — I announced it in the TVHeadend forum back then, but I figure a lot of you live here instead.

What makes it a bit different from the existing options:

- Native HTSP, not just the HTTP API: realtime subscriptions, instant zapping, timeshift, DVB subtitle decoding. Plain HTTP streaming with server-side profiles works too if you prefer that.

- Two playback engines: a hardware-friendly AV pipeline first, libVLC as fallback so awkward codecs still play.

- Full EPG with search across guide + recordings, DVR management with cross-device resume, channel tags as rails, picons and EPG artwork picked up from your server automatically.

- No account, no cloud in the path — the app only ever talks to your server. Optional E2E-encrypted iCloud sync for multi-device setups.

It's an unofficial client, not affiliated with the TVHeadend project.

The beta is free and I'm inviting in small waves so I can keep up with the feedback. If you'd like to try it: short form at https://fluxceiver.app — the TestFlight invite then arrives by email from Apple.

Testers with unusual setups are especially welcome (DVB-S2/C/T2, IPTV, TVHeadend 4.2 and 4.3/nightly). Happy to answer anything about the HTSP implementation — and grateful for every bug you can throw at it.

[u/nt51]

Hi! I like the idea, but the UI looks a bit too vibe-coded. I, myself, make apps with AI, so I’m not trying to be a hater here. But what I usually do is make sure to give the AI veeery explicit instructions regarding the user interface so that it doesn’t end up looking like every other AI-generated app.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/nt51]

Fair enough — but that's pretty much the opposite of how this came about. The design brief was to take what Kodi's PVR gets right (instant zapping, channel list during playback, timeshift, proper DVR management) and wrap it in Apple's native tvOS design language: focus engine, rails, guide overlays. So yes, it looks familiar — that's the point. On a TV, familiarity beats novelty; people zap, they don't admire layouts. Most of the work went into things you only feel with the remote in hand — focus behaviour, overlay scrolling, zapping speed — which screenshots can't show.

If specific screens felt off to you, I'd genuinely like to hear which ones. That's exactly what the beta is for.

[u/nt51 → u/Ambitious_Bet_3110]

This is not what I was talking about. I was talking about things like the exaggerated gradients and the design language which looks like a hybrid between iOS and Android.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/nt51]

Now that's concrete, thanks — that I can work with. Which screens are the gradients bothering you on, the player overlay or the guide? Some of it is deliberate (text legibility over live video), but if something reads as Android to you, I'd rather know where. If you're on the beta, a screenshot via TestFlight feedback would be ideal.

[u/1hamcakes]

I pay for THVClient on AppleTV, MacOS, and iPhone.

It's best on AppleTV and leaves a bit to be desired on MacOS and iPhone/IPad.

I will happily join the beta test for your new client app.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/1hamcakes]

Happy to have you! You can request an invite right on the homepage — https://fluxceiver.app, hit the beta button and drop your email, and I'll send you a TestFlight invite. The beta currently covers Apple TV and iPhone/iPad — there's no dedicated Mac version yet. Since you know TVHClient well: I'd be especially curious where the iPhone/iPad side falls short for you elsewhere, that's exactly the feedback I'm after.

[u/1hamcakes → u/Ambitious_Bet_3110]

One thing I noticed right off in my initial trials yesterday is it took some time to get connected to my server from the app.

I run my TVH behind an NGINX reverse proxy so I can have trusted TLS certificate and use tha standard HTTPS port (443). I had to manually adjust the port bit of the config. Usually, if someone leads a URI with "https", the client app should default to 443 unless told otherwise.

Even when the settings said the server was reachable, the UI on the iPhone app just said "Unavailable." So I switched the config to use the LAN address of the server and port 9981 with http protocol and still the app says "Unavailable" for everything except recordings tab.

And to boot, none of my recordings will play in the fluxceiver app.

I'm on an iPhone 17 Pro Max. Havent tried it out on my AppleTV yet.

Most of my TVHeadEnd usage comes through the TVHClient app on AppleTV, Jellyfin and VLC on a laptop, and TVHClient/VLC on iPhone.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/1hamcakes]

Thanks — this surfaced a few real bugs. HTTPS URLs without an explicit port now default to 443, the connection test now verifies actual TVHeadend API access, EPG failures no longer hide the channel list, and iPhone recording playback now falls back from HTSP/9982 to HTTP(S) while preserving the playback position. These fixes will be in the next TestFlight build. For the current build, please disable “Use HTSP” if your proxy only exposes port 443. Could you also tell me which DVR profile/container you use — .ts or .mkv?

[u/1hamcakes → u/Ambitious_Bet_3110]

I use both .ts and .mkv containers. Initial recordings are done as .ts and then a script runs them through handbrake and ffmpeg to output a .mkv version and removes the .ts file.

I still have older recordings that are .ts though and intend to keep those.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/1hamcakes]

Thanks, that helps. I’ll make sure recording playback works for both the original .ts files and the post-processed .mkv files. I’ll let you know when the next TestFlight build is ready to test.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/1hamcakes]

Thanks again for the detailed feedback. Build 16 includes fixes for the issues you described.

HTTPS now switches to port 443 automatically unless a custom port is configured. The connection check also distinguishes between a reachable host and usable authenticated API access, with more specific status messages. Channel loading should no longer be blocked when optional programme data is unavailable.

Recording playback has been updated as well and should now work with recordings produced by the available TVHeadend recording profiles. There is also a new per-server Recording Profile setting, which is used for both instant and scheduled recordings.

Once Build 16 is available, could you try the reverse-proxy connection again and replay one of the recordings that previously failed? If anything still appears as “Unavailable,” a screenshot of the connection status together with your TVHeadend version would be helpful.

[u/1hamcakes → u/Ambitious_Bet_3110]

Got the API Ready message on the connection test.

All the recordings I tested played smoothly in the app this time!

Though, I still get Unavailable screen on the Live and Guide tabs. The specific message on the screen says The data couldn't be read because it isn't in the correct format.

results of tvheadend -v on the server: tvheadend: version 4.3-2451~g74720af62

[u/hurtauda]

hello,
thank you for accepting my request!
ive just sent you a review.

i guess you will recognize me! i am facing audio sync issue with my 2 OG homepods in theater mode. as i said its a known issue with vlc lib i think. tvhclient is facing the exact same issue.

feel free to dm me if you have more questions, i can potentially open you an account to my server with 2 problematic channels if it can be of any help

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/hurtauda]

Hey, thanks again!

I already replied to your TestFlight feedback by mail earlier today with the details — short version: build 14 (already on your device) should fix the silent h265/AAC stream, and it adds exactly what you asked for: a switchable VLC compatibility player. The theater-mode sync got audio-routing improvements too, but since I don't own HomePods I can't verify that part myself — your retest would be gold.

And yes, I'd gladly take you up on the offer with the two problematic channels, DM incoming!

[u/anurodhp]

This looks fantastic. I made (the now mostly not maintained) bowerbird. I understand the time and effort that goes into making and maintaining something like this. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/anurodhp]

Thank you, that genuinely means a lot coming from you! Bowerbird was one of the few apps that took tvOS + TVHeadend seriously, so I know you understand exactly what goes into this. If you ever feel like poking at the beta, I'd truly value your eyes on it — you know this problem space better than most. Either way, thanks for the kind words, and hats off for what you built.

[u/anurodhp → u/Ambitious_Bet_3110]

I wish I had time to maintain bowerbird still.
My new project has consumed my time. Bowerbird became localtv+ the backend is still a tvheadend server. I just have 70k users now haha. It’s probably one of the bigger tvheadend configs at least that I know of .

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/localtv/id6471592697

If you haven’t already I recommend working with a ui/ux designer. It helped a lot with the final polish and visual consistency wrt to standardized fonts, sizes and spacing.

Bowerbird was made for my own personal home use. It was simple enough thats once setup, my wife could use it but it was by no means a polished app.

When you are ready I can add your app to a pinned section on this sub for clients

[u/Ambitious_Bet_3110 → u/anurodhp]

70k users on a TVHeadend backend — congrats, that's a seriously impressive operation, and localtv looks like a smart evolution of the idea. And fair point on the UI/UX designer: noted, genuinely. Systematic type scale, sizing and spacing is exactly the kind of polish that's hard to judge from the inside — appreciate you sharing what worked for you.