One of Kodi's oldest and most popular addons is shutting down after a decade in operation. Navi-X, which was a favorite add-on for hundreds of thousands of Kodi users, will stop working due to changing laws, spam, and adult content pollution.
One of the main questions that new users of the Kodi media player have is what they should install to gain better access to content and a better quality experience.
Over the years, different add-ons like Exodus, Phoenix, SALTS, and SportsDevil have emerged and managed to gain top positions in the huge list of add-ons.
Navi-X began life ten years ago in 2007. It was developed by Dutch coder “Rodejo”, and made its debut on XBMC (the previous name of Kodi) initially on XBoX.
“Navi-X initially only played video and audio and eventually expanded to many other media types such as text, RSS, streaming, and podcasts,” explains the TV Addons team.
Over the years, however, things have changed dramatically. Because of the way Navi-X works, the addon can import playlists from any source and of course from copyrighted content, from movies and TV shows to live sports.
Thus, the addon gained a lot of friends, now reaching hundreds of thousands.
“All good things must come to an end. After ten years of successful operation, Navi-X is unfortunately being discontinued. Navi-X was first released in April 2007 and is the oldest Kodi add-on of its kind,” TV Addons explains.
“There are a few reasons why we decided to shut down Navi-X, and we hope that the hundreds of thousands of people who still use Navi-X every day will understand that it is best to shut it down while it is still at the top.”
The team says the main reason for the discontinuation of the addon and the service in general is the current legal climate. Hosting playlists on Navi-X is something that TV addons no longer feel comfortable with “due to some potential criminal liability.”.
The team also reports that Navi-X has been slowed down by people trying to profit from the service. The playlists are filled with spam, often advertising unusual and illegal IPTV services that other TV addons do not support and are strongly opposed to.
Adding adult content also caused various issues, and despite TV Addons' efforts to get rid of illegal content, the battle was lost.
“We tried to moderate the database, but there was too much content, no one had the time to watch thousands of videos to remove ads and objectionable content,” the team explains.
Unlike other addons that have come under legal pressure, Navi-X's shutdown is entirely voluntary. TV Addons continues to grow thanks to developers rodejo16 and turner3d, as well as Blazetamer and crzen more recently.
The repository also thanks those who took the time to create the playlists on which Navi-X was based.
“We would also like to thank all the exclusive playlists, and we invite you to get in touch with us if you are interested in releasing your own addons at some point in the near future,” TV Addons concludes.
