The first time you open the app on Xbox

First launch on a console is a disclaimer, a sign-in that happens on your phone, and a short setup. It takes a few minutes, most of it waiting for the console to read your sources, and every answer can be changed afterwards.

A hint bar at the bottom right always says what the buttons under your thumbs do. B is back on every screen, so it is only listed when it does something else.

1. Accept the disclaimer

The opening screen is headed Bring your own playlist, under it Watch where you actually watch, with three statements: the app is a player and nothing else, your credentials stay yours, and you are responsible for what you add. Y opens the full disclaimer in a sheet; A or B closes it.

Move to I’ve read and understood and press A, then press A on Continue. Until the box is ticked the button stays disabled and the screen says why. B on this screen quits the app.

The same text is in Settings, About afterwards.

2. Sign in on your phone

The console shows a QR code, the address mytvplayer.app/pair, and an 8-character code in two groups of four, with a countdown underneath. Nothing is typed here.

Scan the QR code with a phone camera, or open the address on any device with a keyboard. Sign in to your account there if you are not already, enter the code, and choose Link device. The console checks every few seconds whether the code has been claimed; when it has, the chip under the code reads Code linked and the screen moves on by itself.

The code lasts five minutes. When it runs out the console issues a new one without being asked, and the Menu button issues one immediately. The code never contains I, L, O or U, so a character that looks like one of those is a 1 or a 0.

Have a code from another device? at the bottom opens a sheet that explains the direction of travel: a code is always claimed from a device that is already signed in, never entered on the console. Y opens the disclaimer from here too.

If the phone says the device is linked but the console reports it cannot register, the account has no device slot free or a device was revoked very recently. Free a slot under Devices in the web console and the console tries again with its next code. I cannot sign my TV in covers the rest.

3. Wait for the console to set itself up

A short overlay headed Setting up for your name shows the console signing in, syncing your sources, loading the program guide and restoring where you left off. It is over in seconds on an account that already has a source.

4. Pick a profile

The profile picker follows, every time the app starts. A selects, B signs the console out, Y locks a profile that has a PIN. The picker never skips itself, even for a household of one: choosing a profile is what makes kid profiles and PINs mean anything.

5. Set up your profile

The first time into a profile, setup opens. A crumb at the top reads Step 2 of 7: the first step, signing in, was the pairing you have already done. The steps are Sign in, Profile, Source, Import, Sport, Taste and Done.

Set up your profile asks for an avatar and nothing else; the name came with your account. There are five sets of ten. LB and RB move between sets, A picks one, and X picks one at random. The button under the grid reads Continue as your name. This first profile is the owner: it creates the others, holds the parental PIN and cannot be deleted.

6. Confirm your source

Add a source on your phone or computer is the step that explains why the console never asks for a playlist address: a source means typing a URL and credentials, which belongs on a device with a keyboard.

If your account already has a source, the right-hand side reads Source added and A continues. If it does not, the screen shows a QR code for the web import page and waits. Add the source on your phone or PC, then press A on I have added it; the console re-reads your account and moves on the moment a source appears. X, Skip for now, carries on without one; sources can be added any time and the console lists them under Settings, Sources.

7. Let the import run

The console now reads the source into a local database, counting channels, films and series as they arrive. You do not have to watch it: A, Carry on while it loads, moves on, and neither of the next two screens needs the read to finish. A first read of a large source takes a few minutes; later updates take seconds.

8. Answer the two optional screens

Sport is two screens under one step: Which leagues do you follow?, then Pick the teams you follow from the leagues you chose. A follows or unfollows, X follows everything on screen, and the button at the bottom continues with what you have picked, including nothing. The leagues offered are the ones for the country your account is registered in plus a handful followed everywhere; the rest of the world’s leagues are in the web console. Followed teams get a next-matches rail, highlights on results and a kick-off alert.

Taste is also two screens: What do you watch in?, the languages that stay visible in Live TV, Movies and Shows, then What do you like to watch?, the genres to put first. X on the first screen picks English only; X on the second clears the picks. Groups in other languages are hidden rather than deleted, and Filters on each page brings any of them back. Pay-per-view, replay and 24/7 loop groups from your source stay off on every device until you turn them on in Settings.

Both screens finish with whatever is selected, so skipping is one press.

9. Start watching

You are set up recaps the profile, the source and how much of it has been read, and what sport and taste you chose. A, Start watching, opens Home; Y opens the Sport page instead. If the read is still going, Home fills in behind you and nothing needs restarting.

Someone else using this Xbox gets their own profile under Profiles, with their own history, favorites and PIN.

What is not on the console

• No whole-setup skip. The Windows app has Skip setup and go to Home; the console does not. Each optional step is skipped by continuing with nothing chosen.
• No typing of sources, ever. Playlists and portals are added on the web or in the Windows app. Set up a TV or console without typing is the route.
• No email, password or Google and Microsoft sign-in. The pairing code is the only way in.
• Nothing to buy. Plans are managed on the web; the console shows what yours includes.

Changing the answers later

There is no run-again button on the console. Each answer lives somewhere of its own:

• Taste is under Profiles, in the section on what you like to watch, with an Edit button.
• Sport follows are changed from the Sport page or, for the full list, in the web console. Changes sync to the console on their own.
• Sources are managed on the web or in the Windows app. Settings, Sources on the console shows what is there and lets you pick which one is active.
• Avatar and name are under Profiles.

Creating a new profile runs the setup again for that profile, from the avatar onwards.