[Sparkle TV] Modernize the user interface

Hi all, I’ve recently thrown myself head-first into the world of IPTV. As part of that journey, I’ve been on the hunt for the best IPTV player that truly works for me. Initially, I was fully prepared to purchase a TiviMate lifetime subscription after seeing countless glowing reviews, until I began looking into its recording capabilities. A number of Reddit threads highlighting TiviMate’s unreliable recording feature also mentioned Sparkle TV, which is how I came across this player. My first impressions of Sparkle, if I’m honest - was that it looked rather dated and wasn’t especially user-friendly (especially when in TV Mode before i found app mode). Nevertheless, I decided to give it a fair trial. I purchased a one-month Sparkle subscription to test it properly before considering the lifetime option, and I also trialled TiviMate for two separate one-week periods. The main purpose of my viewing was to watch sports games, so my comments are based on watching sports. # TiviMate * **User Interface**: TiviMate’s UI design is the best I’ve seen. It looks like a premium cable service; fast, smooth, responsive, and offering plenty of customisation options. * **EPG**: Sleek, modern, and very well presented. * **Recording**: While recording is listed as a feature, in practice it’s unreliable. Unless you set up an SMB share, have gigabit internet, and a premium IPTV provider, recordings fail far too often. In my tests it only worked about 50% of the time. * **Timeshift**: Non-existent, and the developer has indicated no plans to introduce it. * **Channel Switching**: Impressively quick, with the next channel loading almost instantly. # Sparkle TV * **User Interface**: Functional and simple, but aesthetically dated compared with TiviMate. Scrolling and navigation can feel a little sluggish. * **EPG**: Very plain and box-like in design, though the shimmer effect is a nice touch. * **Recording**: This is Sparkle’s strongest feature. Over 90% of my recordings worked perfectly, even for long events such as sports games. This reliability really sets it apart from TiviMate. * **Timeshift**: Works well once configured, making live TV much more practical for sports. * **Channel Switching**: Noticeably slower than TiviMate, though on par with other players such as IPTV Smarters, XCIPTV, and Perfect Player. # Final Thoughts At present, TiviMate is still the undisputed king of IPTV apps, largely thanks to its polished interface and smooth user experience. However, its lack of proper recording support and the developer’s apparent reluctance to add features such as timeshift may open the door for competitors to chip away at its dominance over the next couple of years. Sparkle TV is already a very capable app. Its strengths in recording and timeshift make it highly practical, particularly for those of us who watch a lot of sport. That said, it’s let down by two things: 1. A dated, less appealing interface. 2. Slower channel switching compared with TiviMate. If the developer could modernise the UI and optimise performance (especially for channel zapping), Sparkle would be in an excellent position to overtake TiviMate and become the go-to IPTV player on the internet. As for me, I’m still undecided. Both apps are a bit pricey in my country, but I’m confident that either one will be a solid long-term investment. What are your thoughts?