So you’ve made the smart switch to 4K IPTV streaming — congratulations! But here’s something most new subscribers don’t realise: they’re probably only using about 20% of what their IPTV service actually offers.
Most people install their IPTV app, find their favourite channels, and stop there. But hidden beneath the surface are some incredibly powerful features that can completely transform your viewing experience — from never missing a game again to watching on multiple screens simultaneously.
In this guide, we’re pulling back the curtain on the top 7 hidden IPTV features that most users never discover — and showing you exactly how to use them with your 4KTVPlan subscription today.
💡 New to IPTV? Before diving into these advanced features, make sure you’re properly set up. Check out our step-by-step Firestick IPTV setup guide or our guide on the best devices for 4K IPTV streaming to get started.
📋 Table of Contents
- Electronic Program Guide (EPG) — Your Digital TV Schedule
- Catch-Up TV — Watch What You Missed
- Multi-Screen Viewing — Watch 4 Channels at Once
- VOD Library — 24,000+ Movies On Demand
- Favourites & Custom Channel Lists
- Cloud DVR & Recording Features
- Parental Controls — Safe Viewing for Kids
- How to Unlock All These Features
1 Electronic Program Guide (EPG) 🏆 Most Useful
The Electronic Program Guide — or EPG — is essentially a digital TV schedule built right into your IPTV app. Think of it like the programme guide on traditional cable TV, but smarter, faster, and covering thousands of channels simultaneously.
With EPG enabled in your IPTV app, you can see exactly what’s playing on every channel — right now, and for the next 7 days. This means you’ll never have to guess when the match starts, never miss a film premiere, and never accidentally tune in halfway through a show again.
How to Enable EPG in TiViMate
- Open TiViMate on your device
- Go to Settings → Playlists → your 4KTVPlan playlist
- Tap EPG URL and enter the EPG link provided in your 4KTVPlan welcome email
- Save and wait for the guide to load — this takes 1–2 minutes
- Now press the Guide button on your remote to see the full 7-day schedule
How to Enable EPG in IPTV Smarters Pro
- Open IPTV Smarters Pro
- Tap on your playlist and go to Settings
- Enable EPG / Programme Guide from the options
- The guide will automatically populate within a few minutes
💡 Pro Tip: In TiViMate, you can set reminders for upcoming shows and matches directly from the EPG. You’ll get a notification before your programme starts — so you never miss kick-off again. Essential for sports fans!
2 Catch-Up TV ⏪ Game Changer
This is one of the most underused yet most powerful features in all of IPTV — and most users don’t even know it exists. Catch-Up TV allows you to go back in time and watch content that already aired — typically up to 7 days in the past.
Miss the Champions League match because you were at work? Forgot to watch the season finale of your favourite series? With IPTV catch-up TV, simply scroll back through the EPG, find the programme you missed, and press play. It’s like having a built-in recorder for thousands of channels simultaneously — without any effort on your part.
How to Use Catch-Up TV
- Open your EPG guide in TiViMate or IPTV Smarters
- Navigate to a previous day using the left arrow on your remote
- Find the programme you missed
- Press OK / Select and choose Watch or Catch-Up
- The programme will play from the beginning instantly
🏆 Catch-Up TV is available on hundreds of channels with 4KTVPlan — including major sports, news, and entertainment channels. No recording required, no extra cost. It’s all built in.
This feature alone makes IPTV far superior to traditional cable TV — where you’d need a separate DVR box and recording subscription to achieve the same thing. Read our full comparison in the 4K IPTV vs Netflix vs Cable TV blog to see all the ways IPTV wins.
3 Multi-Screen Viewing 📺 Family Favourite
Did you know you can watch multiple channels on the same screen simultaneously with IPTV? This feature — called multi-screen or picture-in-picture viewing — lets you keep an eye on several games or channels at the same time without switching back and forth.
TiViMate’s premium version allows you to display up to 4 channels at once on a single screen — perfect for sports fans who want to follow multiple games simultaneously during a big sporting weekend. Watch the NFL game in the main window while keeping an eye on the Premier League scores in the corner.
How to Enable Multi-Screen in TiViMate
- Open TiViMate and start watching any channel
- While watching, press the Menu button on your remote
- Select Add to Multi-Screen
- Browse to another channel and add it to the multi-screen view
- Repeat for up to 4 channels simultaneously
- Click on any screen to make it the primary audio source
💡 Sports Fan Hack: During a big sporting weekend — like NFL Sunday or Premier League matchday — set up 4 screens showing different games. You’ll never miss a goal, touchdown, or knockout again! Check our complete live sports IPTV guide for more tips like this.
4 VOD Library — 24,000+ Movies On Demand 🎬 Underused
Most IPTV users set up their live TV channels and completely forget about the Video on Demand (VOD) library — which with 4KTVPlan includes over 24,000 movies and 7,000+ TV series available to watch anytime, on demand.
This is where IPTV truly competes with — and beats — Netflix. While Netflix charges $15–$23/month for around 6,000 titles (many region-locked), 4KTVPlan’s VOD library includes content from HBO, Showtime, Starz, Amazon Prime Video originals, Disney+ and more — all within your existing subscription.
How to Access the VOD Library
- Open your IPTV app (TiViMate or IPTV Smarters)
- Look for the VOD or Movies section in the main menu
- Browse by genre, year, language, or search by title
- Select any movie or series and press Play
- For series, navigate between seasons and episodes easily
💡 Did You Know? You can also access series categories separately from movies in most IPTV apps. Look for a “Series” or “TV Shows” section alongside the VOD library for organised episode-by-episode browsing.
Still paying for Netflix on top of your IPTV subscription? You probably don’t need to. See exactly how the content libraries compare in our 4K IPTV vs Netflix vs Cable TV full comparison.
5 Favourites & Custom Channel Lists ⭐ Time Saver
With 10,000+ channels in your 4KTVPlan subscription, scrolling through the full list every time you want to watch something would take forever. That’s where Favourites and Custom Channel Lists come in — and they’re a complete game changer for your daily viewing experience.
Most IPTV apps let you create multiple custom lists — for example, a “Sports” list with all your favourite sports channels, a “News” list, a “Kids” list for the children, and a “My Top 10” for your absolute favourites. One click and you’re instantly in your personalised channel lineup.
How to Create Favourites in TiViMate
- Browse to any channel in the channel list
- Long press OK on the channel name
- Select Add to Favourites from the popup menu
- Choose which favourites group to add it to (or create a new group)
- Access your Favourites anytime from the left sidebar menu
How to Create Favourites in IPTV Smarters Pro
- Navigate to any channel in the channel list
- Tap the star icon next to the channel name
- The channel is instantly added to your Favourites list
- Access Favourites from the main menu at any time
💡 Pro Tip: Create a separate favourites group for each family member — so everyone has their own personalised channel list ready to go. No more arguments about what to watch!
6 Recording Features — Never Miss Anything ⏺️ Advanced
While catch-up TV covers content from the past 7 days automatically, what if you want to save a programme for longer? IPTV recording features let you record live TV directly to your device’s storage — so you can watch it weeks or even months later.
TiViMate Premium supports local recording — meaning you can record any live channel directly to a USB drive or internal storage connected to your Firestick, Android Box, or NVIDIA Shield. Set a timer recording from the EPG and TiViMate will automatically record the programme even if you’re not watching.
How to Record in TiViMate
- While watching a channel, press Menu on your remote
- Select Record to start recording immediately
- Or, open the EPG, navigate to an upcoming programme
- Press OK on the programme and select Record
- TiViMate will automatically record it when it airs
- Access your recordings from Settings → Recordings
📁 Storage Tip: For recording, connect a USB drive (32GB or larger) to your streaming device. This gives you plenty of space for multiple recordings without filling up your device’s internal storage. The NVIDIA Shield Pro is particularly great for recordings thanks to its 16GB internal storage and USB expandability. See our best IPTV devices guide for more.
7 Parental Controls — Safe Viewing for the Whole Family 👨👩👧 Family Feature
If you have children at home, IPTV parental controls are an essential feature that most users never set up. With 10,000+ channels available — including adult content channels — it’s important to make sure your kids can only access age-appropriate content.
Both TiViMate and IPTV Smarters Pro offer PIN-protected parental controls that let you lock specific channels, entire categories, or the app itself. Once set up, children can freely browse approved channels while adult content remains securely locked behind a PIN.
How to Set Up Parental Controls in TiViMate
- Open TiViMate and go to Settings
- Select Parental Control from the settings menu
- Enable parental controls and set a 4-digit PIN
- Choose which channel groups or individual channels to lock
- Save settings — locked channels now require PIN to access
How to Set Up Parental Controls in IPTV Smarters
- Open IPTV Smarters and go to Settings
- Tap Parental Lock
- Set your PIN and select channels or categories to restrict
- Confirm and save — restrictions apply immediately
💡 Family Tip: Combine parental controls with the custom favourites feature (Feature 5 above) to create a dedicated “Kids” channel list with only pre-approved content. Your children get their own safe, curated channel lineup — and you get peace of mind.
How to Unlock All These Features with 4KTVPlan
All 7 features listed above are available right now with your 4KTVPlan IPTV subscription. Here’s a quick summary of what you need:
| Feature | Best App | Extra Cost | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPG / TV Guide | TiViMate / Smarters | ❌ Free | Easy |
| Catch-Up TV | TiViMate / Smarters | ❌ Free | Easy |
| Multi-Screen Viewing | TiViMate Premium | $4.99/year | Easy |
| VOD Library | TiViMate / Smarters | ❌ Free | Easy |
| Favourites Lists | TiViMate / Smarters | ❌ Free | Easy |
| Recording | TiViMate Premium | $4.99/year | Medium |
| Parental Controls | TiViMate / Smarters | ❌ Free | Easy |
As you can see, most of these features are completely free — they just need to be enabled. The only exception is TiViMate Premium for multi-screen and recording, which costs just $4.99/year — less than the price of a coffee.
Not sure which device to use for the best experience with all these features? Our guide on the best devices for 4K IPTV in 2026 will help you pick the perfect setup.
🚀 Unlock all these features today with a 4KTVPlan subscription.
👉 Get Your 4KTVPlan Subscription — From Just $12.50/Month
Conclusion — You’re Probably Missing Half of What IPTV Offers
IPTV is so much more than just live TV channels. With features like catch-up TV, EPG scheduling, multi-screen viewing, a 24,000+ VOD library, custom favourites, recording, and parental controls — a good IPTV subscription is a complete entertainment system that replaces cable TV, Netflix, and your DVR all in one.
And with 4KTVPlan, all of this is available from just $12.50/month. If you’re still paying for cable TV and multiple streaming apps separately, read our 5 reasons to switch to a 4K IPTV plan — and see just how much you could be saving.
Ready to get started or want to try before you subscribe? Claim your free 24-hour IPTV trial on WhatsApp — no credit card required.
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