What catch-up actually is
Catch-up — also called replay, archive or timeshift depending on who is describing it — lets you play a programme that has already been broadcast. You open the guide, scroll back, and start something from yesterday evening.
The mechanism is simpler than it sounds. The provider records the channel continuously on their own servers and keeps a rolling window, commonly between one and seven days. When you select a past programme, the player asks for that segment of the recording by time and the provider returns it.
The important detail: the recording is theirs, not yours. Nothing is stored on your device, and the window is decided entirely by the provider.
Why some channels have it and others do not
Catch-up is enabled per channel by the provider, and recording every channel continuously is expensive in storage. Most services enable it on a subset.
- The channel must be flagged as catch-up capable in the data your provider sends. If the flag is absent, no player can offer it — there is nothing to request.
- The window varies by channel even within one provider. Two days on one, seven on another, none on a third is entirely normal.
- Accurate guide data is a prerequisite. Catch-up is requested by programme time, so if the EPG is wrong or missing you will get the wrong footage or nothing at all.
- Some providers restrict it to higher tiers, which is worth checking before concluding it is broken.
Catch-up, recording and downloads are three different things
- Catch-up plays from the provider’s rolling recording. It needs a connection, and it disappears when the window passes.
- A recording in the traditional sense — a personal copy stored for you — is not something most IPTV services offer, and it is not something a player can create from a live stream on iOS.
- Offline downloads apply to on-demand content: films and episodes from your provider’s library, saved to your device for viewing without a connection. Momnt supports this for on-demand content, and it is a different feature from catch-up.
What to do when catch-up is missing
Almost always a provider question rather than a player one, but the order below tells you which quickly.
- Check another channel. If catch-up appears on some channels, the feature is working and the missing ones simply are not enabled.
- Check the guide is populated. No schedule data means no programme to request. Fix the EPG first — the guide explains how.
- Ask your provider directly. Which channels have catch-up, how many days, and whether it depends on your package. These are questions only they can answer.
- Confirm you are on Xtream Codes. A plain M3U playlist frequently carries no catch-up information at all, even when the provider supports it. Switching to an Xtream Codes login can make the feature appear.