Android

Devices

Android

Looking for information on the Kodi remote control app for Android? See Kore -The official Kodi Remote for Android.

Read this page and still need help? Check out the Kodi for Android support forum.

Kodi for Android is a full port of the complete Kodi application to Google's Android operating-system. With the Android NDK (Native Development Kit for Android) Kodi runs natively under Android as a Native Activity application. The main goal for the Android port is to have Kodi working on inexpensive Android set-top-boxes. And whole Android smartphones and tablets are not the main target platforms they do have limited support as well.

Main topics

Other Android-specific wiki pages for topics, guides, and advice. For everything else standard Kodi pages will normally apply.

	HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Android This page describes how to install Kodi, either from an app "store" such as Google Play, or manually from an APK file.		Android FAQ Android FAQ
	Android hardware For most high-definition videos (1080p or higher resolution), hardware video decoding is necessary for smooth video playback on most Android devices. Therefor this article contains a list of SoC chipset hardware, (SoC stands for "System on a Chip" which contain the CPU plus GPU and VPU circuits combination, and is also known as a "chipset"), as on Android platforms this SoC chipset is what can playback common video codecs smoothly using Kodi/XBMC.		Developing Kodi for Android Developing Kodi for Android
	How-to's		Tips and tricks Boost performance, troubleshoot, enhance, and more.
	Helpful applications		Device specific info
	Touch controls Touch gestures can be used to control Kodi on touch screen type devices such as those for Android and iOS and is installed preconfigured with default touch actions.		Supplemental tools
	Random notes

Requirements

Main page: Android hardware

See also: Supported hardware

It is highly recommended for users to not make any hardware purchases in anticipation of running Kodi on Android without first researching the device you want to buy. Before you do buy, make sure multiple people have verified that it works! If in doubt, do not buy any hardware!

• Kodi v17 and later requires Android 5.0 or higher.
• x86 (Intel) or a NEON-compatible ARM-processor, (for example: Nvidia Tegra 3 and newer are fully supported by Kodi, while Tegra 2 and older are not).
• The main aim for the Android port of Kodi is to foremost target media-players/set-top-boxes/sticks that connect to a large screen television and uses a standard remote control as its main interface device, (that is the same market as for HTPC).

How-to's

Assorted how-to's related to the video library that have been added to the wiki:

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Tips and tricks

See also: Android FAQ#Performance tips and Android FAQ#Troubleshooting

• Avoid using wireless. A lot of Android boxes and "sticks" have weak wifi, even those that advertise as being wireless-n. It may be possible to use a USB-to-ethernet dongle on some devices, or even a USB wifi adapter that has a better wifi radio than what is built-in.
• Switch to a different network protocol to see if that has any effect, i.e. SMB/CIFS, NFS, FTP, WebDAV, etc.
• Try sharing the media on another device to rule out a device-specific (or network) issue.
• Turn off thumbnails, Kodi -> Settings -> Video -> File and deselect 'generate thumbnails'.
• H.264 videos encoded with Hi10P profile will not work on some Android hardware as some ARM processors are not powerful enough to software decode it, and no hardware decoders exist for it. However, some newer/faster processors are able to playback Hi10P video using software decoding.
• If RSS feed is enabled, disable it in settings. This can make the main menu a bit faster.
• Running out of disk space storage, or want to try tweaking caching and other performance settings to achieve faster response times? See HOW-TO:Reduce disk space usage for help on modifying how Kodi handles images.

Helpful applications

Some helpful Kodi related Android applications, as suggested by the community. This list should not be seen as any kind of official endorsement by Kodi.

Icon	Name	Description	Link
	CatLog (requires root)	Useful for sending system logs to developers when trying to troubleshoot issues. If someone asks you for a "Log Cat" or a "crash log", this application will get that log.	link
	FireStarter (Fire TV/stick only)	Fire TV replacement launcher that can also launch Kodi by default. Also includes options to both install and update official Kodi versions.	link
	Multilanguage Keymap Redefiner	Remap keys on the Android level without having to use Kodi keymaps	link
	Startup Manager (Free)	Allows delectable software to open at startup.	link
	SoundAbout	Automatic bluetooth audio routing. Useful for switching between bluetooth headphones and TV audio automatically.	link
	Ted (Text Editor)	Free and open source text editor that is useful for editing various files, such as keymaps and advancedsettings.xml	link
	XBMC Launcher	Set Kodi (and various forks) as a Launcher without having to mod the APK	link
	Kodi Updater	Easily update or install Kodi without having to manually sideload.	link
	Media Codec Info	A tool to display what video codecs are enabled for your device. In theory, anything that your device has enabled for media codec should then work in Kodi.	link

Device specific info

Here are a few device-specific guides/help areas that the community has provided.

These pages are maintained by the community and should not be considered an endorsement or recommendation. Device pages are made when there's a bunch of useful information for a particular device, and someone takes the time to make that page. Keep in mind, some devices simply don't need a page of specific information, but are still excellent devices. *

Extension:DynamicPageList3 (DPL3), version 3.6.1: Error: MediaWiki\Extension\DynamicPageList3\Query::buildAndSelect: The DynamicPageList3 extension (version 3.6.1) produced a SQL statement which led to a Database error.<br/>The reason may be an internal error of DynamicPageList3 or an error that you made; especially when using parameters like 'categoryregexp' or 'titleregexp'. Usage of non-greedy <code>*?</code> matching patterns are not supported.<br/>The error message was:<br/><code></code>

Random notes

Feel free to place various notes, tips, and links here. As this section of the wiki gets more organized, those notes will be properly sorted. Consider this like a dumping ground for when you're not sure where to put something.

• Make "dummy" Kodi add-ons for launching Android apps. Kodi can do this without the dummy-add-on, but some skins might require it for home screen placement: https://github.com/elmerohueso/nnxbmcnetflix