Hiding adult channels
Most subscriptions arrive with adult categories in them whether or not anybody asked, and a television is the shared screen in the house. Providers rarely offer a filtered line, so the filtering has to happen in the player. Tivsy does it with a four-digit PIN — but it is worth being precise about what that filter actually rests on, because a parental control that quietly misses something is worse than one you do not trust.
Set a four-digit PIN
Settings, then Parental Lock. The PIN goes into the keychain, not into the database, and it is not recoverable — there is no account to reset it from, because there is no account at all. Choose something you will remember, or write it down somewhere sensible.
What gets hidden, everywhere at once
With the lock on, adult categories disappear from the channel list, from the home screen shelves, from search results and from the programme guide. This matters: a filter that only hides a category but still lets a search find it is not a filter. Nothing appears with a lock badge, because a visible lock is an advertisement for what is behind it.
How a channel is judged adult
By its name and, more importantly, by its category — providers signal it in the group far more often than in the channel title. The list of markers covers the usual words across several languages and the common decorations providers wrap them in. It runs on the raw text before any tidying, so a name that has been dressed up in symbols is still caught.
Where the filter can be fooled
It reads names, so a provider who names an adult category something innocuous will get past it. That is a limit worth knowing rather than glossing over: no player can inspect what a stream contains before it plays. If you find something the filter misses, the category name is the useful thing to send us — one added marker fixes it for everyone.
Common questions
Can somebody turn it off without the PIN?
No. Turning the lock off asks for the PIN, and so does changing it.
What happens if I forget the PIN?
Removing the app and adding your playlist again clears it, because the keychain entry goes with it. There is no reset link, since there is no account and no server that could send one.
Does it hide them on Apple TV too?
Yes, and the television is where it matters most. The PIN is set per device — a phone and a television each carry their own.
Will it hide things I did want?
It only touches categories and names carrying adult markers. If something ordinary disappears, tell us the category name; over-blocking is as much a bug as under-blocking.
One PIN, and adult categories are gone from every screen in the app.