TiVo vs Sparklight TV
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TiVo
Control your TV experience from your mobile device. Discover new shows, schedule recordings, and stream live or recorded content anywhere. Search across multiple services to find exactly what you want to watch.
- Out-of-home & in-home streaming
- Download recordings for offline viewing
- Personalized 'What to Watch' dashboard
- Remote recording scheduling
- Mobile search across TV and streaming services
- Integrated remote control functionality
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The free TiVo App for iOS is the ultimate entertainment app serving up control, discovery and a mobile place for viewing. Watch live or recorded TV via your TiVo, find shows and schedule recordings and browse content via the guide, by genre or category, explore the cast and crew, and even see where the content is available whether it be through cable TV, Netflix, Hulu PlusTM, YouTube, Amazon Instant Video, through VOD in certain markets and more. “What to Watch” combines real-time viewing data, recommendations and personal preferences to create a custom dashboard presenting the exact content you want most every time you sit down to watch TV. This feature allows you to categorize by content that is on TV now, starting within the next 30 minutes, or on later tonight. Categories include: Popular on TV, Sports on Now, Powered by Thuuz, Movies on TV, Kids, Favorite Channels, Viewer’s recorded TV, Shared by Friends. TiVo Roamio Plus, TiVo Roamio Pro, TiVo BOLT and TiVo Edge users can seamlessly stream live or recorded programming to their iOS devices. Download recordings while at home or away via WiFi or cellular to watch when you have no connection. TiVo Stream users can stream live or recorded content to iOS devices within their home network and download shows to go. Features of the TiVo app (some features are only available to TiVo Premiere or TiVo Roamio DVR customers): > Out-of-home & in-home streaming: watch your live or recorded shows remotely anywhere you have Wi-Fi > Out-of-home and in-home downloading: download your content to enjoy anywhere so that low bandwidth or lack of a Wi-Fi connection never slows you down > What to Watch Now: no matter where you are, TiVo’s second screen dashboard provides instantaneous personalized recommendations the second you pull up your TiVo app, providing you with available content options to watch now, in the next 30 minutes, or tonight. > Remote scheduling: browse and view the programming guide, manage recordings, check your To-Do List or set a Season Pass® any time – no matter where you are > Mobile Search & discovery: figure out what’s on whether you’re in the office or a hotel and enjoy the same browsing tools you have with your TiVo at home (including the TiVo editorial Collections and show, cast and actor information) > Use a TiVo remote control replica or our intuitive, gesture-based remote control > Search across TV, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video & Hulu Plus – and get integrated results on what you’re looking for > Explore cast and crew while watching a show > And much more Having troubles finding or connecting to your TiVo DVR? Try one or more of these steps: * Restart your network router by unplugging it, waiting 30 seconds, and plugging it back in * Restart your TiVo DVR by following the instructions in the TiVo menus under Settings & Messages > Help > Restart or Reset System > Restart the TiVo Box
Sparklight TV
Transform your devices into a TV to stream live cable and local channels. Record your favorite shows with cloud DVR, manage recordings, and utilize parental controls. Available in select areas with a required subscription.
- Stream live cable and local channels
- Record shows with Cloud DVR
- Multiple stream options
- Parental controls
- Video on Demand
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Never miss a show with Sparklight® TV – Turn almost any screen in your home into a TV and record your favorite shows at the touch of a button. Available in select areas only. Visit www.sparklight.com/about-sparklight-tv for details. With Sparklight® TV: - Your Favorite Cable TV & Local Channels streamed LIVE to almost any device in your home - 3 streams with optional upgrade to 6 streams - Record and watch your favourite shows with Cloud DVR - 10 to 200hrs of DVR recordings - Parental Controls - Video on Demand Subscription to Sparklight® TV Required
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: TiVo at free against Sparklight TV's subscription. TiVo also leads on ratings volume (3.3K vs 76). Sparklight TV's advantage is device support (4 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.6 vs 18.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 2.0 for TiVo against 2.1 for Sparklight TV. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: TiVo has 3.3K ratings behind it against 76, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 11% of TiVo's written reviews are positive against 4% of Sparklight TV's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TiVo | Sparklight TV |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.0 (3.3K ratings) | 2.1 (76 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 10.7% of reviews — better | 3.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3.3K — better | 76 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 164 MB | 39 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | TiVo Inc. | TiVo Platform Technologies LLC |
Customer experience
TiVo
Sparklight TV
Bugs and requests
TiVo
Reported bugs
3 issues- Constant need to re-login
- Streaming and downloading failures
- Incompatibility with newer iOS versions
Requested features
3 requests- Picture-in-picture support
- Improved remote control functionality
- Easier episode and recording management
Sparklight TV
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
TiVo
No in-app purchases
Sparklight TV
No in-app purchases
