Headent Client

Overview

Headent Client is an independent Android client for a Tvheadend server. It bundles no channels or content — it connects to a Tvheadend server you run and configure yourself. One APK serves both phones and TV boxes, with a UI optimised for D-pad remotes as well as touch. Version 1.0.6 added a teletext decoder built into the app, a guide and favourites for radio stations, and the colour keys of a TV remote. The app and website are localised into 31 languages. No ads, no tracking, no telemetry.

Screenshots

Android TV home screen (Modern UI) EPG grid (TV guide) Recordings and archive Player powered by libVLC

Key features

• Live TV from your Tvheadend server over HTTP and the native HTSP protocol
• EPG grid (TV guide) with fast scrolling and instant now/next from cache
• Teletext (EN 300 706) decoded by the app itself, over HTSP and HTTP — colour pages, mosaic graphics, subpages, Fastext and all European character sets
• Recordings (DVR): scheduling from the guide or the player, playback, resume and a categorised archive
• Seeking inside recordings and the archive — drag the bar, or move a marker in 30 s steps with the remote (holding an arrow accelerates)
• Audio tracks labelled by language and DVB subtitles with a dedicated renderer
• Radio stations with their own guide, now/next, favourites and numbering from 1; picons (channel logos)
• Favourites in your own order — reorderable with the remote or by dragging, published as launcher shortcuts and as a row on the Android TV home screen
• Channel switching by number, channel list and zapping; colour and media keys on TV remotes
• Optional parental lock with PIN — configurable grace period and scope
• Deinterlacing (automatic or manual) and audio passthrough to TV/AVR on Android TV
• Optional modern UI mode — home screen, player and navy/teal theme
• Multiple servers with backup & restore of settings
• Optimised for Android TV / set-top boxes (D-pad) and phones
• Localised into 31 languages

Tech & architecture

Kotlin Multiplatform with Jetpack Compose for the UI and libVLC for playback. The shared KMP core holds the API client (Ktor, Basic/Digest auth), data models, HTSP, the DVR classifier and secure storage. The Android app is the actively developed target (one APK for phone and TV); an iOS (SwiftUI) target shares the core and is work in progress. Built with Gradle (the wrapper is part of the repository, so a fresh clone builds without installing Gradle); CI runs on GitHub Actions on each push, producing R8/minified release builds.

Project structure

shared/      — KMP core: API client (Ktor, Basic/Digest), models, HTSP, DVR classifier, secure storage
androidApp/  — Jetpack Compose UI, one APK for phone and Android TV
iosApp/      — SwiftUI (work in progress)

Requirements

• A running Tvheadend server you have access to
• Android 6.0 (API 23) or newer — Android TV or phone