Stremio on Apple TV, without sideloading
Apple TV is the device Stremio users complain about most, and the complaint is fair. There is no Stremio app in the tvOS App Store, and the official route is an IPA you sideload yourself, which means a Mac, a signing certificate, and a reinstall every time the signature lapses.
It was briefly better. Stremio Lite did reach the tvOS App Store in October 2025, and was pulled again in January 2026. Stremio's own February 2026 post about the sideloadable IPA says they are still waiting to hear from Apple about whether Stremio Lite can return. So the App Store route is not impossible in principle, it is just not available now and not on a timetable anyone can plan around.
There is a way round it that does not involve any of that: stop trying to put the addons in the app, and put them on a server instead.
Point a Jellyfin client at a server that resolves your Stremio addons, and the app on your Apple TV is an ordinary media player. That is the route this page covers, and the next section explains why it is also the durable one.
Why is everyone moving to Jellyfin clients?
Two reasons, and the second is the one that decides it.
The obvious one: Apple TV is full of excellent Jellyfin clients, all of which install normally from the App Store.
The one people learned the hard way: an app that carries Stremio addon support inside the app is exposed to App Store review in a way that a generic media player is not. Stremio Lite reached the tvOS App Store in October 2025 and was pulled in January 2026, and Stremio's own February 2026 post says they are still waiting to hear whether it can return. There are third-party apps that speak the addon protocol directly, such as Omni ($6, Apple only), and they work well today. What none of them can control is whether they stay listed.
A Jellyfin client is a different category. It contains no addon code at all. It is a media player that connects to a server, the same as it would to anyone's Jellyfin, and the addon resolution happens on the server where Apple has no view of it and no say. That is the actual reason interest has moved this way, and it is why the pairing of "any Jellyfin app" with "a backend that speaks Stremio addons" has become the setup people recommend.
The Jellyfin clients worth knowing on Apple TV:
- Infuse, the polished one most Apple TV owners already have (free tier, paid Pro)
- Swiftfin, the free and open-source Jellyfin client for Apple platforms
- Strand, free
- JellyTV, if you want one app across Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Mac
- Odin, a native player for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Mac from Orbital Builds, free in TestFlight beta. Strict direct play, per-device profiles with an optional PIN, Continue Watching in the Apple TV Top Shelf, and no account or analytics. One of the clients we tune JellyStreams against. More detail in AIOStreams with Jellyfin apps
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. The reason to take this route rather than an addon client is what the server can do that an addon never can: a profile per person with server-side watch state that follows them onto non-Apple screens, kids' libraries filtered by certification, daily screen-time caps, and a notification when somebody starts watching. The Stremio addon protocol has no concept of a user, so no addon client can offer those, however good it is.
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. They are compared properly in Stremio in Jellyfin apps; here is the Apple TV summary.
JellyStreams, for your AIOStreams library
JellyStreams serves your AIOStreams library over the Jellyfin protocol. Add its URL as a server in Infuse or Swiftfin, sign in with your AIOStreams config credentials, and your existing filters, providers and sort order carry straight across.
An Apple TV in a shared room is a household device, and JellyStreams is built for that. Everyone gets their own profile and watch history, the kids get a library filtered by certification, and you can set a daily screen-time cap and get a push notification on your phone when something starts playing.
The detail that matters on a TV: once a device is enrolled, each person taps their own profile rather than typing a password with the Siri Remote. The owner profile always asks, so the one account that sees everything is the one behind a PIN. Jellyfin Quick Connect is supported too, so you never type a UUID with the Siri Remote.
It comes with the AIOMagic Bundle or the Stremio Addons Bundle, and isn't sold separately.
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Remux, if your content isn't all from addons
Remux also keeps its own users, and adds what JellyStreams deliberately doesn't: several addons at once, a music pipeline, and libraries built from filter rules. No screen time or playback notices, so the choice against JellyStreams is libraries you shape against depth of household controls. Polyfin is another Jellyfin-compatible server, with an account and limits per person.
Jellyfin with Gelato, if you want the full server
JellyGoblin is an actual Jellyfin server with the Gelato plugin, so you get plugins, Jellyseerr, and a real library alongside the virtual one. JellyGoblin direct plays and doesn't transcode; for hardware transcoding you'll want Jellyfin with Gelato on a Hobbit tier or above.
Will it direct play on Apple TV?
Mostly, yes, and this is where Apple TV does well. Both JellyStreams 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.
What about Roku, Samsung and LG?
Same approach, same server. Stremio on Roku is the closest parallel to Apple TV: Roku has no Stremio app and Stremio has said it has no plans for one, so a Jellyfin client pointed at your server is the way in.
Stremio on LG and Samsung smart TVs is different, and worth being straight about: Stremio does ship native apps for Samsung Tizen (2019+) and LG webOS (2020+). If your TV is newer than that and the app is carried in your region, you already have a native option. Use a Jellyfin client when your set predates those cutoffs, when the listing is missing where you are, or when you want one library app with the same profiles across every screen.
Fire TV and Android TV have native Stremio apps too, so the same reasoning applies there.
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, via JellyStreams
- Remux setup
- Best Stremio addons in 2026
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