HOMEFLIX

Watch the movies on your Windows PC, Mac or Linux computer from your iPad, iPhone, Android phone or TV, over your home Wi-Fi. No account, no internet upload, no subscription.

Website and download: kprakz.github.io/homeflix

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Install on a Mac

1. Download HOMEFLIX for Mac. Choose Apple Silicon for Macs with an M1–M4 chip, or Intel. (Apple menu → About This Mac shows which you have.) Requires macOS 12 or later.
2. Open the downloaded .dmg and drag HOMEFLIX onto Applications.
3. Open HOMEFLIX from Applications. The first time, macOS says it can't verify the app. Click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. You only do this once. (HOMEFLIX isn't notarized by Apple, which needs a paid developer account.)
4. Click Choose your movies folder.
5. When macOS asks whether HOMEFLIX may accept incoming network connections, click Allow. Your phone and TV can't connect otherwise.

HOMEFLIX then lives in the menu bar at the top right of the screen. Everything else below works the same as on Windows.

Install on Linux

1. Download HOMEFLIX for Linux: the .deb for Ubuntu, Debian and Mint, or the AppImage for any other distro. There are versions for 64-bit PCs (x64) and ARM computers such as the Raspberry Pi 4/5 (arm64).
2. Install it:
   • .deb: open it with Software Install, or run sudo apt install ./HOMEFLIX-<version>-linux-amd64.deb. HOMEFLIX then appears in your apps menu.
   • AppImage: right-click it → Properties → Allow executing as program (or chmod +x HOMEFLIX-*.AppImage), then double-click it. On Ubuntu 22.04 and later, install libfuse2t64 (or libfuse2) once if it won't start.
3. Click Choose your movies folder. Don't run HOMEFLIX with sudo: it doesn't need admin rights.
4. If your computer has a firewall turned on, let your home network reach HOMEFLIX's port. With ufw: sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.0/16 to any port 8080 proto tcp.

HOMEFLIX then lives in the system tray (on GNOME you may need the AppIndicator extension to see the icon). Everything else below works the same as on Windows.

Install on Windows (5 minutes, one time)

1. Download and run the installer

⬇ Download HOMEFLIX for Windows, then double-click the downloaded HOMEFLIX-Setup-<version>.exe.

Requires Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit).

"Windows protected your PC"? This shows up for new apps that aren't from a big publisher. Click More info, then Run anyway.

Follow the installer. It puts HOMEFLIX on your Desktop and in the Start menu, and opens it when it finishes. No admin password is needed.

2. Choose your movies folder

Click Choose your movies folder and pick the folder where your movies are, for example Downloads or Videos. Sub-folders are included, and you can add more folders any time.

3. Let your phone through Windows Firewall (if HOMEFLIX asks)

HOMEFLIX checks Windows Firewall and shows a box at the top of its window if something needs doing:

• Your Wi-Fi is set to Public: click Open network settings → your Wi-Fi → Properties → Private network. Only do this for your home Wi-Fi, never for café, hotel or airport Wi-Fi.
• HOMEFLIX isn't allowed on home networks yet: click Allow on home networks and say Yes when Windows asks.

The first time HOMEFLIX starts, Windows may ask "Allow HOMEFLIX to communicate on these networks?" It ticks whichever network type you're on at that moment. If your Wi-Fi was Public then, HOMEFLIX ends up allowed only on Public networks, and stops working once you switch the Wi-Fi to Private. The Allow on home networks button fixes that.

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Watch

1. Connect your iPhone, iPad, Android phone or TV to the same Wi-Fi as the laptop.
2. Scan the QR code in the HOMEFLIX window with the camera, or type the address shown (for example http://192.168.1.57:8080) into the browser.
3. Pick a movie and press Play.

iPhone and iPad

Open the address in Safari. Tap Share → Add to Home Screen to get a HOMEFLIX app icon.

Android phones and tablets

Open the address in Chrome. Tap ⋮ → Add to Home screen (or Install app) to get a HOMEFLIX app icon. Videos go full-screen in landscape, and the phone's back button works as you'd expect.

Smart TVs

Open your TV's web browser, such as Samsung Internet, LG Web Browser, or a browser app on Android TV / Google TV / Fire TV, and type the address.

Remote button	What it does
Arrows / OK	Move around and choose
Back	Go back, or leave the movie
OK (while watching)	Pause / play
Left / Right (while watching)	Skip back / forward 10 seconds
Up / Down (while watching)	Show the controls: subtitles, skip, play/pause

If HOMEFLIX doesn't switch to TV controls on its own, add ?tv=1 to the end of the address once, for example http://192.168.1.57:8080/?tv=1. Your TV remembers it.

From an iPhone or iPad you can also AirPlay to an Apple TV or an AirPlay-compatible TV.

Audio language and subtitles

Movies with several audio languages (for example Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and English in one file) get a language button in the player:

• iPhone, iPad, Android, laptop: tap 🔊 Tamil (or whichever language is playing) at the top right of the player. On iPhone/iPad, leave full screen first.
• TV: press Up, then choose Audio.

The movie continues at the same point in the new language. Each device remembers your choice for that movie, and the last language you picked becomes your default. Choose English once, and other multi-language movies start in English on that device.

Subtitles inside the movie, or a .srt / .vtt file next to it with the same name, appear in the player's subtitle menu (on a TV: Up → Subtitles).

Tips

• Each device remembers where you stopped and shows those movies under Continue Watching. To watch from the beginning instead, choose Start over: next to Resume on the home screen and in More Info, at the top of the player, or in the TV controls.
• Too quiet? Many films are mixed quietly for cinemas, and phones and TVs can't go above 100% the way VLC can. Turn on Volume boost in the player (top right; on a TV, press Up). It makes the sound about twice as loud on that device without distorting it, and the device remembers it. Turn it off for the original sound.
• TV shows named like Show S01E05 are grouped into series, and the next episode plays automatically.

Good to know

• Keep the laptop awake and plugged in while you watch. Nothing plays on the laptop itself: the movie plays on your device.
• Closing the window doesn't stop HOMEFLIX. It keeps running in the system tray, near the clock. Right-click the red H icon → Quit HOMEFLIX to stop it.
• Start with Windows in Settings makes HOMEFLIX start quietly when you sign in.
• MKV files are repackaged once into a format phones and TVs play. This usually takes seconds, or a few minutes for movies with Dolby audio.
• Devices that can't play HEVC (x265), which includes many Android phones and TVs, get a version converted while you watch. It starts in a few seconds, and HOMEFLIX uses the laptop's Intel, NVIDIA or AMD graphics chip for this when it can. If you see sound but no picture, tap Picture missing? in the player.
• Disk space: converted copies are stored on the laptop. When space runs low, HOMEFLIX deletes the ones watched longest ago, keeping 2 GB free. Settings → Free up space removes them all, and they're made again when needed.
• Files still downloading show a Downloading badge and become playable when finished.

Privacy and security

• Home network only. HOMEFLIX only answers devices on your own network (addresses like 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x and the computer itself). If your router forwards the port, or the computer has a public address, people on the internet are still turned away.
• Optional PIN. Without a PIN, anyone on your Wi-Fi can open HOMEFLIX. To stop that (shared flats, guests, an office), turn on Settings → Require a PIN and choose 4 to 8 digits. Each phone, tablet or TV asks for it once and remembers it. Changing or turning off the PIN signs every device out. After 5 wrong tries, each new try has to wait longer (30 seconds, then 1 minute, 2 minutes… up to an hour).
• Only by its address. The page must be opened by its address (like http://192.168.1.20:8080) or a home name (mypc.local), so a website can't reach your library through your browser.
• Nothing is uploaded, and there are no accounts or tracking.

Uninstall

Settings → Apps → Installed apps → HOMEFLIX → Uninstall. This also removes HOMEFLIX's converted copies. Your own movie files are never touched.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
The page won't open on my phone	Same Wi-Fi? Then follow the box at the top of the HOMEFLIX window. To check by hand: Windows Security → Firewall & network protection → Allow an app through firewall → Change settings → homeflix.exe should have Private ticked, and your home Wi-Fi should be set to Private.
It only works when my Wi-Fi is Public	HOMEFLIX was allowed on Public networks only. Click Allow on home networks in HOMEFLIX (or tick Private for homeflix.exe as above), then set your Wi-Fi to Private.
The address changed	Your router gave the laptop a new address. Scan the new QR code in the HOMEFLIX window.
A movie shows "Downloading"	It's still being written to disk. Wait for the download to finish and reload the page.
Sound but no picture	Tap Picture missing? in the player. On a TV, press Up and choose it.
My TV shows the phone layout / no remote controls	Add ?tv=1 to the end of the address once.
"Not enough free space"	The laptop's drive is nearly full. Free some space. HOMEFLIX streams a converted version in the meantime.
No thumbnails / MKV won't play	Reinstall HOMEFLIX (its video tools are missing).
A device asks for a PIN I don't know	The owner of the HOMEFLIX computer turned on Require a PIN. The PIN is set (and can be changed or turned off) in Settings in the HOMEFLIX window.
"HOMEFLIX only works on the home network it runs on"	The device isn't on the same network as the computer: it's on mobile data, a guest Wi-Fi or coming from the internet. Join the same Wi-Fi.
Linux: phone can't connect	Allow the port in your firewall (see Install on Linux).

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For developers

Requirements: Node.js 20+, and ffmpeg on PATH (winget install Gyan.FFmpeg.Essentials).

npm install
npm run ffmpeg      # copy ffmpeg/ffprobe into vendor/ffmpeg
npm start           # run the desktop app
npm run dist        # Windows: build dist/HOMEFLIX-Setup-<version>.exe

With npm run serve, set a PIN by adding "pin": "1234" to config.json.

Website and download map. The site in docs/ is served by GitHub Pages and by a Vercel project (homeflix-rho.vercel.app), which also runs the download counter in api/:

• api/download.js counts a download for the visitor's country (Vercel's x-vercel-ip-country header; no IP addresses or personal data are stored), once per browser, then redirects to the installer on GitHub. It only redirects to HOMEFLIX's own release files.
• api/downloads.js returns the totals per country and platform for the map.
• Counts live in Upstash Redis (free). In the Vercel project: Storage → Marketplace → Upstash (Redis) → create a free database → connect it to the project → redeploy. Until then the map says counts are coming and the download buttons link straight to GitHub.
• The map's square grid (docs/world-grid.json) is made by npm run world-grid.

Mac builds are made by GitHub Actions (.github/workflows/mac.yml) on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs whenever a release is published. The workflow starts the built app with a test movie, checks it lists, streams and prepares it, and attaches HOMEFLIX-<version>-mac-arm64.dmg and -mac-x64.dmg to the release. To build on a Mac yourself: npm install --no-save ffmpeg-static ffprobe-static && npm run dist:mac.

Linux builds are made the same way by .github/workflows/linux.yml on x64 and ARM64 Ubuntu machines, with static ffmpeg from BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds. It installs the .deb, checks it lists, streams and prepares a test movie, refuses a foreign web address and asks for a PIN once one is set, checks the AppImage starts, and attaches HOMEFLIX-<version>-linux-*.deb and .AppImage to the release. To build on Linux yourself: npm install --no-save ffmpeg-static ffprobe-static && npm run dist:linux.

npm run serve runs only the streaming server (server.js), configured by config.json (copy config.example.json to start). npm run icons redraws the icons.

Path	What it is
server.js	Streaming server: library scan, byte-range streaming, MKV→MP4 remux, on-the-fly H.264 HLS (hardware encoders when available), thumbnails, subtitles, disk-space management
public/index.html	The Netflix-style web player that phones and TVs open (per-device format choice, TV remote navigation)
electron/	Desktop app: tray, setup window (control.html), settings, PIN
build/	Installer icons and NSIS uninstall script
vendor/ffmpeg/	Bundled ffmpeg (not committed; created by npm run ffmpeg)

App settings live in %APPDATA%\HOMEFLIX\settings.json (Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/HOMEFLIX/settings.json, Linux: ~/.config/HOMEFLIX/settings.json). The PIN is stored there only as a salted scrypt hash. Converted copies live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\HOMEFLIX\cache (Mac: ~/Library/Caches/HOMEFLIX, Linux: ~/.cache/HOMEFLIX).

HOMEFLIX ships unmodified FFmpeg programs, which are GPL-licensed. See vendor/ffmpeg/LICENSE.txt and SOURCE.txt, which are installed to resources\ffmpeg.