Managing Playlists in UniPlayer: Refresh, Hide, Sort & Favorites

UniPlayer is built to work with multiple playlists at once, and almost everything can be organized to your liking: refresh schedule, per-device visibility, hiding unwanted content, channel order, favorites, and logos. Management is available in two places:

• In the app on your device (Apple TV, iPhone, iPad) — quick actions on the spot.
• In the dashboard at my.uniplayer.net — centralized control over all playlists and devices at once.

Here’s how it all works.

Adding a playlist: by link or by file

You can add a playlist in two ways, and the choice determines whether it will auto-refresh:

• By link (URL). The playlist refreshes automatically on a schedule and syncs, and you can also refresh it manually to pull the latest data from your provider immediately. The refresh interval is set on the device — once a day, every 3 days, once a week, or off — and does not sync between devices.
• By file. The playlist is static: if your provider makes changes, the file won’t update — you’ll have to upload it again. Adding by file is available only from the dashboard.

You can rename a playlist and change its link — for example, if your provider changed a key or token in the URL. This is easier than deleting and re-adding: all your settings (hidden channels, sort order, favorites) are preserved.

Local-network playlists

There’s an important distinction based on who fetches the playlist:

• A playlist added by link from the dashboard is fetched by our servers — so the URL must be reachable from the internet.
• If the playlist is on a local or private network with no external access, add and refresh it directly from a device on the same network — then the device itself does the fetching.

Playlist visibility per device

From the dashboard you can hide any playlist on any device and keep only the ones you need on each. For example, one set on the living-room TV, another on your iPhone. Access to all playlists is always preserved in the dashboard — hiding affects only specific devices, it doesn’t delete the playlist.

Hiding categories and channels

Providers often deliver hundreds of channels split into categories (groups). You can remove the clutter:

• An entire category can be hidden on all devices — from the category menu in the app or from the dashboard. This is a convenient way to hide adult content or channels for regions you don’t watch.
• An individual channel can also be hidden — from the dashboard or from any device.

Hiding categories and channels is global (applies to all devices and syncs through your account), unlike playlist visibility which is configured per device. Restoring hidden categories and channels is done from the dashboard.

Hiding is not parental control

Hiding and PIN-locking solve different problems and are easy to confuse:

• Hiding completely removes a channel or category from all devices and syncs through your account. It’s a way to permanently remove clutter from view.
• PIN-locking works only locally on the device. The PIN doesn’t sync, isn’t stored remotely, and can’t be recovered from the device itself; a channel locked on one device stays unlocked on another. The PIN can only be reset from the dashboard.

Why hidden channels sometimes come back

UniPlayer identifies each channel primarily by its stream URL. This means:

• If the URL stays the same but only the name changed, UniPlayer understands it’s the same channel (a rename) and preserves its state — hidden, sorted, favorited.
• If the stream URL itself changed (for example, both a new name and a new URL), UniPlayer treats it as a new channel — and it may reappear even if the old one was hidden.
• If your provider adds new channels to an already-hidden category, they’ll show up as new — you’ll need to hide them separately.

Sorting channels

Channels within a playlist or category can be sorted — both in the app and in the dashboard. After that, the provider’s order is replaced by your own sort order within UniPlayer.

To restore the original order from the playlist, delete your custom sort in the dashboard.

Favorites

Frequently watched channels can be added to favorites — in the app or in the dashboard. A dedicated favorites section appears, collecting your favorite channels from all added playlists. It can be sorted separately from the sort order within each playlist.

Search

Search lets you quickly find a channel — it’s available in both the app and the dashboard. Previous search queries are stored in the device’s memory (locally) and don’t sync.

Channel logos

By default UniPlayer uses channel logos from its own database. If you want to use logos from the playlist, switch the priority in Settings → Personalization, where you choose which logos to show first. Logo priority syncs between devices.

UniPlayer does not use logos from EPG (TV guide) files.

What syncs between devices

• Syncs through your account: hidden channels and categories, custom sort order, favorites, logo priority.
• Configured separately on each device: visible playlist set, auto-refresh interval, search history, channel PIN-lock.

Quick reference

Action	In the app	In the dashboard
Add playlist by link	✓	✓
Add playlist by file	—	✓
Rename playlist / change link	—	✓
Refresh playlist manually	✓	✓
Auto-refresh interval	✓	—
Hide playlist for a specific device	—	✓
Hide category (all devices)	✓	✓
Hide individual channel	✓	✓
Restore hidden categories and channels	—	✓
Sort channels	✓	✓
Reset custom sort	—	✓
Favorites	✓	✓
Search channels	✓	✓
Logo priority	✓	✓
PIN-lock a channel (local)	✓	—
Reset PIN	—	✓

UniPlayer doesn’t sell or provide channels — you organize your own playlists that you have the rights to, just as you’d open your own file in VLC.