TV storage and USB drives

Save on the TV itself or on a USB drive plugged into it.

TV storage

Nothing to set up. When you pick a file, choose TV storage. It is saved in the TV's Download/Downabit folder and appears in My files, where you can play, open or delete it.

The first time, Android asks whether Downabit may access photos, videos and music. Allow it: this lets Downabit show and play the files it saved, also after the app is reinstalled.

USB drives

Plug the USB stick or disk into the TV (or into a USB hub or OTG adapter on a streaming stick).
If Android asks how to use the drive, choose removable storage (sometimes called portable storage or use as media). Do not choose to use it as internal storage: that erases the drive.
Open Settings › Storage on TV in Downabit: the drive is listed with its free space.
When you save a file, the drive appears in the Save to list. Files go into a Downabit folder on the drive.

Which format? exFAT works on almost every TV and holds files larger than 4 GB. FAT32 works everywhere but cannot hold a single file over 4 GB. NTFS works on many Android TVs but not all. If a drive is listed as cannot be used, the TV cannot write to it: format it as exFAT on a computer (this erases it).

Free space

Downabit checks the free space before every download and keeps some room for Android. Files saved to a NAS, WebDAV or the cloud stream straight through the TV in small pieces, so a small streaming stick can pass on a film much bigger than its own free space.

Still stuck?

Write to support@shmerling.app with your TV model, what you are connecting to and a photo of the screen. The support page answers the most common questions.