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Other Android-specific wiki pages for topics, guides, and advice. For '''[[General topics|everything else]]''' standard Kodi pages will normally apply.
Other Android-specific wiki pages for topics, guides, and advice. For '''[[General topics|everything else]]''' standard Kodi pages will normally apply.
{{Index two column
{{Index two column
  | image 1 = Gnome-emblem-downloads.svg
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  | link 1 = HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Android
  | link 1 = HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Android
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  | link 3 = Android hardware
  | link 3 = Android hardware
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  | link 4 = Developing Kodi for Android
  | link 4 = Developing Kodi for Android
  | link 5 = #How-to's
  | link 5 = #How-to's
  | link name 5 = How-to's
  | link name 5 = How-to's
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  | link 6 = #Tips and tricks
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  | link name 6 = Tips and tricks
  | link name 6 = Tips and tricks

Revision as of 00:05, 11 November 2015

Google Play download big.png

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Devices ▶ Android
Looking for information on the Kodi remote control app for Android? See Kore -The official Kodi Remote for Android.
Attention talk.png 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.

icon 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.
icon Android FAQ
Android FAQ
icon 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.
icon Developing Kodi for Android
Developing Kodi for Android
icon How-to's
icon Tips and tricks
Boost performance, troubleshoot, enhance, and more.
icon Helpful applications
icon Device specific info
icon 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.
icon Supplemental tools
icon Random notes

Requirements

Stop hand.png 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:


HOW-TO:Change data location for Android
As of v14, Kodi supports a backdoor to specify the location of your settings folder, which includes the userdata folder and add-ons. It is the equivalent of using environment variables on other platforms
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.
HOW-TO:Install Kodi on Fire TV
This page describes some of the methods to install Kodi onto an Amazon Fire TV (box) or Fire TV Stick. The Fire TV uses Kodi for android and does not require root. All Fire TV products allow sideloading, so no hacking or modification is required to install Kodi.
HOW-TO:Launch Android apps
Android apps can be launched from within Kodi by going to Programs -> Android programs. It is even possible to launch Android apps from shortcuts on the main menu for skins that supports custom home items.
HOW-TO:Use external players on Android
To use an external player on Kodi for Android you simply need to make a playercorefactory.xml file in the userdata folder.


Tips and tricks

  • Note: Remember that hardware video decoding, which will be required on most devices for smooth video playback, requires Kodi/XBMC v13 or higher.
  • 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 most Android hardware as some (most?) ARM processors are not powerful enough to software decode it, and no hardware decoders exist for it. As faster ARM CPUs come out this will get better, but don't expect miracles from the average Android box.
  • 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.

Name Description Requires
root?
Link
Link2SD Good for moving the userdata to the external SD card, in case you are getting low on internal memory. Yes link
full!screen If you are using Kodi on a Android 4.3 or lower, you can use full!screen to hide the "nav buttons", allowing for full screen playback of videos. (Note: Kodion Android 4.4 should support immersive mode, allowing this switch to full screen to happen automatically) Yes 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
CatLog 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. Yes link
Ted (Text Editor) Free and open source text editor that is useful for editing various files, such as keymaps and advancedsettings.xml No link
XBMC Launcher Set Kodi (and various forks) as a Launcher without having to mod the APK ? link
XBMC Updater Easily update or install Kodi without having to manually sideload No link

Device specific info

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


Stop hand.png 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. *



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.