Installing and updating Kodi for iOS
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- Secure Shell (SSH) is used to send remote commands to iOS devices. You might need this for some Kodi related tasks detailed on this page. For SSH access you can use putty or Tunnelier on Windows, Terminal.app in Mac OS X, or any standard terminal/shell in Linux.
- To SSH into an iOS device open your SSH application and type in:
ssh [email protected]
- For most things you can and should use "mobile" as the user, as shown above. For some tasks, such as upgrading Kodi itself, you will need to replace "mobile" with "root".
- The default password (for "mobile" or "root") will be alpine
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Is Kodi for iOS different from normal Kodi?
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- The current stable version of Kodi for iOS is Kodi v21 Omega. This is the same code that all of the other platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows) are using.
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How do I find out what version of Kodi am I running?
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- Kodi -> Main menu -> System -> Lower submenu -> System info. Note the build date.
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Formats and resolutions iOS devices can playback
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- Kodi on iOS can playback most formats supported by Kodi in standard definition.
- H.264 (up to High Profile) encoded videos that are not interlaced are supported for high definition (720P and up) using hardware video decoding.
- The iPad 2 (and later) and iPhone 4S (and later) are the only exceptions to this and will play some other HD codecs due to the more powerful CPU inside using software video decoding.
- Videos with 16 reference frames will not playback correctly (using 16 ref frames is out of spec for most codec standards anyways)
- Videos at 60FPS may not playback correctly for reasons not yet known (possible hardware limitation).
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- Most users just connect to media that's being shared from a computer, HTPC, or NAS device on your local network. iPad and other iDevices can store files locally, and the iPad specifically can also use the Apple Camera Kit to use USB drive and SD cards.
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- Kodi for iOS is a full version of Kodi and will be able to use all non-platform specific Add-ons and Skins. For iPad users, a "Re-Touched" skin is included in Kodi that makes the device easier to use. See Skins for more info about switching to other skins.
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Backing up Kodi's settings
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- Most users will just want to use the backup add-on from within Kodi. See Backup for more general backup information, including the add-on.
- Users can also manually copy the Userdata (via iFile or other file manager app from Cydia) from the iOS device to another computer:
/private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/Kodi/ for all of your Kodi data, add-ons, skins, etc, or just
/private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/Kodi/userdata/ for just the settings files themselves (which takes up less space, but means you would have to re-download add-ons, etc).
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- Context menu: Single-finger long tap or two-finger single tap the menu item.
- Go Back: Two finger swipe left.
- Zoom into/out of Image: Pinch.
- Slide out menus: Hold the menu item to bring it up, then swipe right to access the sub content.
- iDevices can use the multitasking player control bar and lockscreen controls for music.
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- Direct touch screen input
- Web interface, including add-on interfaces
- Kodi smartphone and tablet remote apps.
- Bluetooth keyboards can be used for navigation and playback, in addition to text entry.
- Headphone remote control of Apple headphones or on bluetooth headphones can control play/pause and next/previous item (playlist or auto play next).
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Resolutions iDevices can play and output
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- iDevices can playback most videos as high as 1080p.
- Retina and widescreen is fully supported on iPhone 4, 4S, 5, 5c, 5S and iPod touch 4, 5.
- Retina GUI is supported for iPad 3, 4, iPad Air, and iPad mini 2 (Retina) but video playback is still clamped to 720, pending some issues.
- Native video out as of v12 (Frodo) is now supported for HDMI adapter, VGA adapter, and AirPlay mirroring (to ATV2/3 only for mirroring). See #iOS to TV.
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How to use video output to a TV
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Native video out as of XBMC v12 (Frodo) is now supported for HDMI adapter, VGA adapter, and AirPlay mirroring (to ATV2/3 only for mirroring). Currently limited to 720P outout:
HDMI/VGA adapter (A4 processor or higher) |
AirPlay mirroring (requires A5 processor or higher)
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1. Before opening XBMC, first plug in the video out adapter and connect it to the display
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1. Before opening XBMC enable global AirPlay mirroring
On iOS 6: Double-tapping the home button, swiping from left to right to bring up the volume control and AirPlay icon, and selecting your Apple TV from the options.
On iOS 7/8: Bring up the Control Center by swiping from the bottom of the screen to the top, and then selecting AirPlay, and then select Apple TV from the options.
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2. Go to Settings -> Appearance -> Skin and change the skin to something like Confluence (not required, but makes operating XBMC on a TV easier).
3. Go to Settings -> System -> Video output and change it to "Display #2"
4. Now you can use the iDevice screen for directional navigation by swiping. Tap to select things, two finger tap to go back.
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- Note: AirPlay mirroring only works from an iDevice with an A5 or higher SoC (iPhone 4S, iPad 2/3), and will only stream to the native AirPlay feature of Apple TV 2 and 3 (in other words, it won't work with XBMC's AirPlay server as a target).
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iPad camera connector for USB and SD cards
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- Kodi for iOS can read videos and files via the iPad Camera Connector Kit though the SD card reader or the USB port adapter (drives must be self powered or hub powered). Files should show up under /var/mnt/mount1/.
- As of iOS 8.1.x, it seems that mounting only Apple HFS(+) formatted SD cards is supported.
- There are limited reports of success mounting FAT32 or exFAT formatted SD cards, even those less than 4 GB in size. Previous versions of iOS (7.x) appear to have supported more file systems.
- As of iOS 8.1.4, a known good workflow to use an HFS+ formatted SD card as a video source is:
- Double-press the Home button to launch the App Switcher and swipe up to close Photos and Kodi, if open already.
- Insert the Camera Connection Kit with SD card installed.
- Wait several seconds until the message appears: "Cannot Use Device - USB Storage: The connected device is not supported." This may not appear if using a powered USB hub and separate card reader.
- Launch the Photos app. It may appear unresponsive and even terminate and re-launch automatically. It should take less than 30 seconds in total for the activity to subside.
- Launch Kodi.
- If the screen is black for 5-10 seconds after launching Kodi, then double-press the Home button twice, launch the App Switcher, swipe up to close Kodi, and then re-launch Kodi.
- Once in Kodi, add a Video source with the path /var/mnt/mount1 to view videos stored on the SD card.
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