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Nuvio Addons Guide

Nuvio is a media player app in the same family as Stremio: it holds no content of its own, and everything it can find comes from addons you install. This guide covers which addons are worth installing, how to set them up, and what Nuvio does and does not do.

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Nuvio addons and Stremio addons are the same thing

The useful fact first: Nuvio reads Stremio addon manifest URLs. Any addon published as a manifest, whether a public community instance or one you host, installs in Nuvio the same way it installs in Stremio.

That means the addon ecosystem is not something Nuvio has to build. It is already there, and guides written for Stremio addons mostly apply.

Practically:

  • An addon's install link is a URL ending in manifest.json.
  • You add it in Nuvio under addons, by pasting the URL.
  • The same addon can run in both apps at once, with the same configuration.

Which addons to start with

You need at least one addon that finds streams. Everything else is optional.

Start with one aggregator. An aggregator searches many sources at once and hands you a single ranked list, which saves installing a dozen separate addons that each return three results. AIOStreams is the one we recommend and the one most of our members use. It is open source, and there is a free public instance you can try without paying anyone.

Then improve what you see. Nuvio shows whatever metadata an addon gives it. A metadata addon replaces thin catalogues with proper shelves, artwork and descriptions. AIOMetadata is ours, also with a free public instance.

Then, if you want them, the extras. Ratings on the poster, subtitles, a catalogue of what your friends are watching. These are preference, not plumbing.

None of the above requires paying us. Public instances exist, they are free, and this guide works if you never buy anything. What a paid instance buys you is covered in why run your own instance below.

Configuring an aggregator for Nuvio

Two settings matter more in Nuvio than they do elsewhere.

Stream formatting. Nuvio displays each result as a line of text, and how that line reads is controlled by the addon, not the app. AIOStreams lets you choose a formatter and decide what appears: resolution, codec, size, source, language, and whether they sit on one line or two. If your stream list looks like an unreadable wall, the formatter is the setting to change.

How many results to return. A list of 200 results is slower to load and no more useful than a list of 20. Most aggregators can cap results per resolution, or filter out what you will never press play on.

What Nuvio does that Stremio does not

  • Free multi-profile cloud sync. Separate profiles, synced, at no cost.
  • Interface customisation. Layouts, themes and which catalogues appear, to a degree Stremio does not offer.

What Nuvio does not do

Worth knowing before you move:

  • It is not on iOS, iPadOS or tvOS. The apps were withdrawn from Apple's stores. If your household watches on an iPhone or an Apple TV, Nuvio is not currently an option there.
  • It has no native usenet streaming. Stremio's desktop app can stream usenet directly. Nuvio cannot, so usenet content has to arrive through an addon instead.
  • It is younger. Expect rougher edges than a mature app, because that is what it is.

For a longer, honest comparison, see Nuvio vs Stremio.

Why run your own instance

Public addon instances are shared. Everyone's requests, one cache, one rate limit, and configuration that belongs to whoever runs it. That is fine, and for a lot of people it is enough.

A private instance is yours: your catalogues stay warm, your cache holds what you browse, your configuration persists, and the admin side of the addon is visible to you. If you want that, we host them, starting with a $1 week.

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