Your data

Where Theia keeps its files

On Windows it’s %LOCALAPPDATA%\Theia. Paste that into the address bar in File Explorer to open it. The Microsoft Store version keeps its own copy of this folder out of sight, and Windows removes it when you uninstall. Buttons that open a folder, such as Open folder beside Log files in Settings > Advanced, open this real folder even in the Store version. The same is true if Theia offers to open your data or logs folder because it can’t start normally.

In the folder	What it holds
theia.db	Your sources, channels, guide, favorites, watch history and recordings list
config	Your settings in config.json, with the five earlier versions beside it, your Premium license, and your saved sign-ins
logs	theia.log and up to four older logs
backups	A copy of your sources, favorites, groups, history and recordings list from each of the last 7 days
cache	Posters, channel logos and other things that download again by themselves

Elsewhere on your PC:

• Theia itself is in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Theia. It installs for your Windows account only and doesn’t need an administrator.
• Recordings go in Videos\Theia, unless you picked another folder.

Passwords are encrypted for your Windows account, so only you on this PC can read them. Settings > Storage shows how much room each part takes, and Clear empties the image and poster cache, guide data, the sports schedule cache or the logs.

Moving to a new computer

Copying the folder brings everything across: sources, favorites, watch history, settings and your Premium license. Signed in to a Theia account? Sign the new PC in too, and your license and sources come to it without copying anything.

1. On the old PC, close Theia.
2. Copy the Theia folder from %LOCALAPPDATA% to a USB stick or a cloud folder.
3. On the new PC, install Theia. Close it if it opened.
4. Copy the folder into %LOCALAPPDATA% on the new PC, replacing the one there.
5. Open Theia. In Settings > Sources, each Xtream login shows Sign in again on this PC. Click it and enter the password.

Passwords can’t come along, because they only open for the Windows account that saved them. Plain playlist links work as they are. A WireGuard config or proxy sign-in in Settings > Network & VPN needs adding again too.

If you’re keeping the old PC, the license is still on it. Remove it there if you want it off.

Back up and restore to a file

Back up in Settings > Advanced saves your sources, favorites, channel edits, recording rules, settings and history in one file. Turn on Include sign-ins to add your saved sign-ins too, locked with a password of at least 8 characters that you set there. The password can’t be recovered, so keep it somewhere safe. Leave sign-ins out and each source just asks for its password again after a restore.

To use the file, open Restore from a file in Settings > Advanced on any PC, or click Restore from a backup in first-run setup. Theia shows what the file holds and when it was made before anything changes.

• Add to what’s here keeps your sources and favorites, and adds the backup’s. Where both have a change to the same channel, the backup’s wins.
• Replace what’s here replaces your sources, favorites, edits and history with the backup’s, and keeps what’s replaced as a daily backup first.
• Use its settings carries the backup’s settings over too. It’s on by default when replacing, off when adding.

Some settings stay as they were on this device: its VPN setup when the backup’s can’t run here, its Settings > Privacy choices, the If video has problems switches in Settings > Playback, a TV’s remote keys, a TV’s Guide layout and Live TV layout when the settings come from a computer, and its recordings folder when the backup’s folder doesn’t exist here. The channels multiview keeps for next time stay on the device they were on: they aren’t in a backup or an export, and they don’t sync.

This is separate from the daily backups in Going back to an earlier day below, and from Premium sync. It isn’t on TVs yet.

Moving from the Microsoft Store version

Install the website version on a PC that already has the Microsoft Store version set up, and Theia offers Bring it over the first time it opens. Bring it over copies your sources, favorites, channel edits, settings and history from the Store version, in one click, and leaves the Store version as it was. Start fresh skips it and the website version starts empty instead.

Going back to an earlier day

Theia keeps a copy of your sources, favorites, groups, history and recordings list from each of the last 7 days. To go back to one, click Choose a backup beside Restore a backup in Settings > Advanced, then Restore on the day you want. What you have now is saved as a backup first.

Only your settings

Export settings in Settings > Advanced saves your settings to a file in config\exports inside the Theia folder. On the other PC, Import settings loads it. The file holds settings only: no sources, favorites or history. This is free, on computers only.

Keeping your devices in step

Sync goes only through your Theia account. Theia no longer syncs through a folder from OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud Drive or Google Drive. A device that used one has sync turned off when it updates and shows a notice with Sign in. Nothing in your cloud folder is touched or deleted, and your data on the device stays as it was.

Syncing through your account

With Premium and a Theia account, sync works on every device you sign in, TVs included. In Settings > Sync, Sync through is Your Theia account or Off. The first time a signed-in device has Premium and sync was never set up on it, Theia sets this for you. Turn it off or change it any time, and Theia keeps your choice.

It syncs favorites, watch history and resume points, hidden channels, group order and renames, your Home layout, guide and interface preferences, player preferences, keyboard shortcuts and sports favorite teams. Each has its own switch. Your sources come along whole, sign-ins included, and they do even without Premium. Logs, caches and playlist files on a computer never sync. Everything is locked on your devices before it leaves, with a key only they hold, so we can’t read it. A sync password brings your sources to a new device even when your other devices are off.

When another device of yours is open, changes reach it in seconds: Theia sends a change about 3 seconds after you make it.

Compare the key code when a new device signs in. It’s how you know your sources went only to your device.

What the status line means:

• Up to date, with how many devices: all in step.
• Waiting for the key: this device hasn’t received your key yet. It says what to do next. See how your sources get to a new device.
• Sync is full: your account has no room left for more. Choose what syncs and turn off Watch history, which frees the most.
• Update to keep syncing: your other devices use a newer Theia. Update this one.

Removing Premium from a PC

To take a Premium license off a PC, open Settings > Premium on that PC and click Remove from this PC, then Remove. You can paste the key again whenever you like. Uninstalling Theia doesn’t do this for you, so remove the license first.

Premium doesn’t need the internet to stay on.

A license that came from your Theia account leaves a device when you sign that device out of the account. After a plain Sign out, Sign out everywhere, or 400 days unused, we keep a one-way code of the device for 30 days, so it can sign back in with the key it kept. A device you remove, or sign out and erase, leaves no such code.

Updates

When a new version is out, Theia tells you after it opens: “A new version of Theia is ready,” with a line or two about what’s new.

• Update now downloads it right there. When it’s done, Restart now installs it and Theia opens again.
• Later (or Esc) waits. Theia won’t ask about that version again for three days, and never more than once a launch.
• What’s new opens the full changelog.

It never appears during setup. It waits until you close the player, until nothing is playing in a preview, and until you’ve stopped pressing keys for a moment. If something is recording, Restart now asks first, and Keep recording leaves it alone. You can always update from Settings > About.

After a bigger update, Theia also shows a short What’s new card with the highlights, once, when nothing is playing and you’ve stopped pressing keys for a moment. Small fixes never show one, and neither does a fresh install. Got it closes it, and Show me opens the feature (not on a TV). To see it again, choose Show on the What’s new row in Settings > About. To stop it, turn off Show what’s new after updates there.

If your version is no longer supported, or has a known problem, a note at the bottom right says so, with Update and Later. Update opens Settings > About and starts the download. Later puts it away until the next check, when Theia next opens or 12 hours later. The note never covers the player.

If an update stops partway (you cancel it, the drive fills up, or the power goes), Setup puts the old version’s files back and Theia opens as before. Your sources and settings are never touched. If a file is in use and can’t be moved, Setup stops before it changes anything and says so. Close Theia and run it again.

This is for the Windows version from theiaplayer.com, the portable version included. The portable version updates itself in its own folder, without opening the install wizard, and stays portable. The Microsoft Store updates its own copy.

On the Microsoft Store version, Settings > About also has a Rate Theia button.

On Google TV, Android TV and Fire TV

Theia from the TV page checks for a new version when it starts and twice a day. When one is ready, a window shows what’s new. Press Install.

• The first time, your TV asks to let Theia install apps. Choose Open settings, turn on Theia, then press Back. On Fire TV it’s under Settings > My Fire TV > Developer options > Install unknown apps. On older sticks it’s Apps from Unknown Sources.
• Your TV then shows its own install screen. Press Update. Theia closes while it updates. Open it again from your apps.
• Every update is checked before it installs, and a file that doesn’t match is deleted.
• To check now, go to Settings > About > Updates.

Versions 0.6.1 and earlier can’t update themselves: install 0.6.2 once from the TV page. Theia from Google Play is updated by Google Play.

Uninstalling

Uninstall Theia from the Apps page in Windows Settings. Before it removes anything, it asks whether to remove your data too:

• Leave Also remove my data unchecked to keep your sources, settings and history. Reinstalling picks up where you left off.
• Check it to remove the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Theia folder as well.

Recordings and saved problem reports are never removed, unless you chose a recordings folder inside the Theia folder. Delete them yourself if you want them gone.

The Microsoft Store version has no checkbox. Windows removes its data with it.

The portable version has no uninstaller. Delete its folder, then %LOCALAPPDATA%\Theia if you want your data gone too. It keeps its data in the same place as the installed version.

Starting over

Reset Theia, under Delete your data in Settings > Privacy, deletes everything Theia keeps on this device: sources and sign-ins, favorites, history, settings, your Premium key, backups and logs. Recorded videos stay in their folder. It asks first, with Cancel selected. It also frees this device from your Premium license. Theia then closes, and starts fresh with first-run setup when you open it again.

To keep a copy you can go back to, close Theia and rename the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Theia folder instead, for example to Theia-old. The next time Theia opens, it starts empty with first-run setup. To go back, close Theia, delete the new folder and rename the old one back.

What Theia sends

Anonymous usage statistics have a switch in Settings > Privacy, and What’s sent there shows exactly what goes. From 0.9.4 the switch starts on, unless you’re in the EU, EEA, Switzerland or the UK, where it starts off and nothing is sent until you turn it on. One switch turns it off at any time. While it’s on, they go once a day: which features you used and how well playback and search worked, with no ID. Crash reports are off, and their switch stays hidden until crash reports work.

A problem report goes only when you click Send report, and a search only when you send it with Didn’t find it?. Your sign-ins, playlist and server addresses, channel names and what you watch are never sent. A report carries a short history of how playback was going, such as how often it stopped to buffer. More in the privacy policy.

On a TV

On Android TV, Theia keeps everything in its own storage on the TV, where other apps can’t open it, and sign-ins are encrypted with the TV’s own key store. Settings > Storage, Restore a backup and Reset Theia work as they do on a PC. There’s no export, import or file backup on a TV. To bring your sources to a new TV, sign it in to your Theia account and your other devices send them, or type them on your phone with Use my phone. With Premium, a signed-in TV syncs through your account like any other device. Uninstalling Theia from a TV deletes everything, recordings included.