Stremio on Apple TV, without sideloading

Apple TV is the device Stremio users complain about most, and the complaint is fair. tvOS has no sideloading in the Android sense, every app arrives through the App Store, and there is no App Store build of Stremio. The official route is an IPA you sideload yourself, which means a Mac, a signing certificate, and a reinstall every time the signature lapses.

There is a way round it that does not involve any of that: stop trying to run Stremio, and use a Jellyfin client instead.

Why does a Jellyfin client help?

Because Apple TV is full of excellent Jellyfin clients, and all of them install normally from the App Store:

• Infuse, the polished one most Apple TV owners already have
• Swiftfin, the free and open-source official Jellyfin client
• Strand and Fusion

A Jellyfin client connects to a server with a URL, a username and a password. It does not care what the server does behind that API. So if the server on the other end resolves Stremio addon results and hands them over as ordinary Jellyfin items, the Apple TV app plays them, and nothing on the Apple TV ever needs to know Stremio exists.

That is exactly what our Jellyfin-compatible options do.

Why do people run their addons on a server?

Two reasons, and the second is the one that sticks.

The first is device reach: a server that speaks the Jellyfin API can be played by an app that exists on tvOS, which solves the Apple TV problem outright.

The second is that you configure your addons once. Set them up on the server and every device you sign in on shares them: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, at home and away. No per-device addon lists to keep in step, and watch state follows you between screens because the server holds it.

That is why the DIY versions of this idea have been circulating: claim a free cloud VM, install Docker, run an addon server, point the Apple apps at it. It works. It also leaves you owning a machine, with SSH keys, firewall rules, container updates, and a free tier that will reclaim an idle instance without asking.

Do I have to build the server myself?

No. On ElfHosted the server already exists, with a hostname, a certificate and updates handled. If you have a private AIOStreams instance, the server is that instance, and you can point Infuse at it today.

What are my options on ElfHosted?

Three, in ascending order of weight and price. They are compared properly in Stremio in Jellyfin apps; here is the Apple TV summary.

AIOStreams, if you already have it

Every private AIOStreams instance also answers the Jellyfin API. Add your AIOStreams URL as a server in Infuse or Swiftfin, sign in with your config credentials, and your existing filters, providers and sort order carry straight across.

It is built into every private AIOStreams instance, so if you already have one, this costs nothing and takes about a minute.

Get your $1, 7-day free trial!

Remux, if the Apple TV is in the lounge

Remux is the answer when more than one person uses that TV. It keeps its own users, so everyone gets their own continue-watching row, and its filtered libraries let you scope what the kids' account sees. It also pulls in WebDAV shares and your own files alongside addon content.

Try Remux for $1

Jellyfin with Gelato, if you want the full server

JellyGoblin is an actual Jellyfin server with the Gelato plugin, so you get plugins, Jellyseerr, a real library alongside the virtual one, and hardware transcoding on the tiers that have it.

Will it direct play on Apple TV?

Mostly, yes, and this is where Apple TV does well. Both AIOStreams and Remux hand your player a stream URL and never transcode, so the device has to decode the format itself. Apple TV hardware and both Infuse and Swiftfin handle HEVC, 4K and the common audio formats without complaint, which is why the no-transcoding design is not a problem on tvOS the way it can be in a browser.

If a particular release refuses to play, open the version picker on the item and choose another one. An AVC/H.264 release will play essentially anywhere.

Does this work on other devices?

Yes, and for the same reason. Jellyfin clients exist for Roku, Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Fire TV, Android TV and the rest, and any of them can point at the same server.

Apple is where the gap hurts most, because it is where sideloading is hardest. After that comes Roku, which has no Stremio app at all and no plans for one, and TVs older than Stremio's model-year cutoffs (Tizen 2019+, webOS 2020+). Samsung and LG sets newer than those do have a native Stremio app in their own store, so on a recent TV this is a matter of preference rather than necessity: one library app across every screen, instead of Stremio here and something else there.

Where next?

• Stremio in Jellyfin apps: three ways, compared
• AIOStreams with Jellyfin apps
• Remux setup
• Best Stremio addons in 2026

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