How to Organize IPTV Channels: Favorites, Categories, and Hidden Channels

With 27,000+ channels available through a service like IPTVBROS, finding what you want without some organization can feel like searching a library with no catalogue. The good news is that apps like TiviMate and IPTV Smarters have solid organization tools built in — you just need to know where to look.

This guide walks through setting up favorites, genre groups, and hidden channels so you can get to what you actually watch in seconds.

Why organizing matters

By default, your IPTV app loads every channel the provider offers. That is a lot of scrolling. A proper setup lets you:

• Jump straight to your most-watched channels with one click
• Browse by type (sports, news, movies, international, kids)
• Remove clutter from channels that are not relevant to you
• Keep adult content locked away or invisible to kids

Setting up favorites in TiviMate

TiviMate is the best IPTV app for Android and Fire TV devices, and its favorites system is the most flexible available.

Step 1: Add individual channels to favorites

1. Open TiviMate and browse to any channel in the main channel list
2. Long-press the channel name — a context menu appears
3. Tap Add to Favorites
4. The channel now appears under the Favorites group in your left-hand menu

Step 2: Create named favorites groups

Instead of one big favorites list, create separate groups:

1. Go to Settings > Groups
2. Tap Add Group and name it (e.g., “Sports,” “Kids,” “News”)
3. Navigate back to the channel list and long-press any channel
4. Select Add to Group and choose your named group
5. Repeat for each channel you want in that group

Your named groups now appear in the side menu alongside the default categories — making it fast to switch between, say, your sports channels and your kids lineup.

Step 3: Set a default startup group

If you always start with sports, set that as your default:

1. Go to Settings > Interface
2. Find Startup Group and select your preferred group
3. TiviMate now opens directly to that group every time

Setting up favorites in IPTV Smarters Pro

IPTV Smarters handles favorites slightly differently:

1. Go to Live TV in the main menu
2. Browse to any channel
3. Tap the heart icon next to the channel name
4. Find all favorited channels under Favorites in the left-hand category list

Smarters does not support named favorites groups the way TiviMate does, so it works best as a single favorites list of 10–20 top channels.

Organizing by genre/category

Your IPTV provider usually sends channels pre-grouped into categories (Sports, News, Entertainment, Kids, Movies, International). These show up automatically in most apps.

In TiviMate, you can customize which groups appear:

1. Go to Settings > Groups
2. Toggle off any group you never use (for example, if you never watch international channels, hide that group)
3. Reorder groups by long-pressing and dragging them to your preferred position

This keeps the left-hand menu short and relevant to what you actually watch.

Hiding individual channels

Some channels within a category may not interest you. Rather than scrolling past them every time, hide them:

In TiviMate:

1. Long-press the channel
2. Select Hide Channel
3. The channel disappears from the list

To restore hidden channels, go to Settings > Channels > Show Hidden and toggle them back on.

In IPTV Smarters: Smarters does not have a per-channel hide feature. The workaround is to use favorites as your primary navigation and ignore the full channel list.

Practical organization tips

• Start with your top 10. Add your 10 most-watched channels to a single favorites group first. Get that working, then expand.
• Use genre groups for discovery. Keep the provider’s sports and news categories visible for discovering channels you didn’t know you had.
• Lock kids content. If children use the same device, see our parental controls guide for PIN-locking specific groups.
• Sync isn’t automatic. If you reinstall TiviMate, you’ll need to recreate your groups. Some users export their TiviMate settings via Settings > Backup to avoid this.

Staying organized as channels update

IPTV providers periodically add or change channels. When this happens, new channels appear in the main list outside your organized groups. Get into the habit of checking for new additions once a month and moving anything useful into your favorites.

A well-organized IPTV setup makes the difference between a service that feels overwhelming and one that feels effortless. Take 15 minutes to do this setup once and you will spend zero time hunting for channels from that point on.

See also: TiviMate Setup Guide · Parental Controls · Free Trial

See also: Best IPTV Service · Free Trial · Pricing