Kodi
★ 3.5What it actually doesKodi is an open-source media center for playing video, music, and photos from local sources and network storage with plugin support, but suffers from instability, localization issues, and complex configuration.
Actually does
- ✓Video player30% of reviews
- ✓Music player10% of reviews
- ✓Podcasts5% of reviews
- ✓Open source
- ✓Ad-free8% of reviews
- ✓Free tier10% of reviews
- ✓API access12% of reviews
- ✓File manager(bonus)12% of reviews
- ✓PVR / IPTV(bonus)15% of reviews
- ✓Game emulator(bonus)5% of reviews
- ✓Offline-first8% of reviews
- ✓Система плагинов/аддонов20% of reviews
- ✓Трансляция через локальную сеть10% of reviews
Claimed, but not confirmed by reviews
- ⚠Photo cloud
Common complaints
- ✗Frequent crashes and crashes on startup28% of mentions
«Player v21.2 on AndroidTV v9 cannot start, the splash screen doesn't have time to open and the player spontaneously closes»
- ✗File access permission errors (Android TV 14+)12% of mentions
«Permission denied!! Exiting... I checked the settings, allowed the app everything—didn't help. The app is broken»
- ✗Inconvenient interface, poorly adapted for mobile devices14% of mentions
«Adapt the app interface to smartphone screen sizes, the current version is extremely inconvenient to use»
- ✗Missing or incomplete Russian localization16% of mentions
«Half in Russian, half in English (I set Russian everywhere)»
- ✗Sound issues (disappears on startup on Android TV 14)6% of mentions
«On Android TV v.14, when the app starts, sound disappears on the entire device. A forced restart is required»
What people praise
- ★Extended functionality through add-ons/plugins
«Extends TV functionality, now Kodi is my main player because only it has the ability to install add-ons for watching series»
- ★High-quality video playback (4K, Dolby Vision/Atmos)
«Enables playback of local Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos if the device supports it in hardware»
- ★File management capabilities (deletion, renaming)
«You can delete and rename all videos, true 4K and lots of other interesting stuff»
- ★Free and open-source
«The advantages more than make up for some difficulty in configuration»
- ★Ability to play emulated games (retro consoles)
«You can play Dendy games and watch TV channels»