KODI 17 and YOU

KODI 17 has been out for some time now and it’s worth mentioning the differences between itself and previous version of KODI. Namely, KODI 16.

At first, KODI 17 was not very appealing. It didn’t bring any new features to the table worth mentioning and came bundled with an ugly new default skin called Estuary which is quite unintuitive. To top it off, they completely dropped support for Android 4.4 devices (M8S, anyone?) and older which was completely unnecessary and avoidable.

There was a reluctance for us to move into KODI 17 territory, or even mention it for that matter. KODI 16 still ran perfectly fine and supported all of the current add-ons. In fact, some add-ons weren’t even working properly on KODI 17 at all. So if it ain’t broke? …you get the idea.

HTTPS Support

This is where things got sticky.

KODI began to utilize a new HTTPS handshake method which is used to encrypt traffic to and from your device. Since this new method is only supported in KODI 17 and up, sources which used HTTPS would be dropped from any version of KODI that could not support it. So if you are running KODI 16 or lower, you would have noticed a significant decrease in availability. It did not happen at all once, or right away, but slowly over time.

Sluggish / Buggy and Incompatible

We wouldn’t be posting about KODI 17 if most or not all of these problems have been resolved. However, they are still worth mentioning. We were able to get rid of the ugly Estuary skin and replace it with our customized version of Xonfluence that you all know and love. This was a big deal for us and it keeps things familiar and easy for you to use.

We are happy to see that most if not all add-ons are now fully compatible with KODI 17 and some add-ons are actually even ONLY compatible with 17 (another reason worth updating).

It’s also worth mentioning there was a substantial security bug that shipped with KODI 17. If you are running KODI 16 or lower, you are not affected by this! And in all fairness, it’s not as much of a big deal as you would think, especially on an Android device.

Newer is NOT always better.

You really need to understand this. With anything software – newer does not mean better. This goes for both Android and KODI. Just because a new version of something is released, doesn’t mean you should become obsessed with it and get the idea that you are now on “old” software. This is NEVER the case with software and 9 times out of 10, newer is not better until time has proven it to be. KODI 17 is a perfect example of this.

Do I need it?

Only you can answer this question. KODI 16 will still work with most addons however it will be restricted and we predict this situation will get worse. Our recommendation is to be on KODI 17 if you can. If you are running an M8S device, and as previously mentioned, the KODI team has dropped support for Android 4.4 so the only way to get KODI 17 and future version is to physically have your device re-flashed with a newer version of Android.

We are also happy to announce that we will be offering this service for a nominal cost which will prevent folks from having to purchase a new TV box just to run higher versions of KODI. We love the M8S and the hardware inside of it still blazes trails! Long-live it will. Click here for more info on our M8S update service.

How do I update?

Avoid the Google Play Store. Unless you want Google forcing KODI updates on your box and breaking things, then by all means. However, if you MUST use the Google Play Store, be sure to disable the auto-update option for the KODI app.

Our favorite way of installing KODI is of course from the KODI website directly by downloading the KODI apk (if you don’t already know, APK files are Android installation files – much like exe files on a computer).

You can navigate to http://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/android/arm/ and download the latest version APK right there. The best part about that link is that you can also navigate to the “old” folder and download an older release! This is particularly helpful if you are, say, on an M8S and want to re-install version 16.1.

If you’re running an M8S and want to have your Android firmware updates, along with KODI and our latest programming data all in one shot, check out our newly posted M8S update service!

As always, happy streaming!