Clownworld documentation

Everything on this page describes what the site does today — no planned-but-missing features.

What is Clownworld?

Clownworld preserves and plays video. Paste any video URL on the home page to watch it, download it, or save a copy into your own library with a shareable link. Around that core sit the media sections: 🎬 Flix (the on-server video library), ⬇ Video (search and fetch new material), and the u-tube tools (search, a TV-friendly player, and a “For You” feed).

You can use the home page without an account — anything you save in an anonymous session stays private to that browser. An account keeps your library across devices and unlocks the gated sections.

Accounts & sign-in

  • Registration is invite-only. An admin generates a one-time link (…/register?key=…) and hands it to you. Opening it lets you pick a username and password and signs you straight in. There is no open sign-up form.
  • Sign in with your username, not an email address — at /account, or the “Sign in” link at the top right.
  • An email address is optional. You can add, change, or remove one on the account page; it is never used to sign in and never used for password resets.
  • Forgot your password? There is no reset-by-email. Ask an admin for a reset link — it works like an invite and revokes any earlier link for your account.
  • One account covers Clownworld and the connected Hugpy media tools.

Getting around

The navigation bar at the top of every page is the same everywhere:

  • clownworld — home: the save form and the saved library.
  • ▶ u-tube ▾ — a dropdown holding 🔍 Search, 📺 TV, and ★ For You. Tap or click to open it; it works with keyboard (Tab + Enter) and touch as well as a mouse.
  • 🎬 Flix — the on-server library, with an “All” and a “My items” tab.
  • ⬇ Video — torrent search and fetch (see Downloads for who can reach it).
  • 📖 Docs — this page.
  • Sign in / 👤 Account — far right: profile, email, password, sign out. Admins also see ⚙ Admin.

Using u-tube

  • 🔍 Search opens the search page. Results can be watched in place, and the “library ▸” link jumps to Flix.
  • 📺 TV is a 10-foot interface designed for big screens and remote controls — everything is reachable with arrow keys / a D-pad.
  • ★ For You is a catered feed. With no watch history yet, it seeds suggestions from the on-server library (the heading says so when that happens).

Finding, playing & managing content

  • Save a copy: paste a URL on the home page. The saved item appears in your library (home page and /saved), with “All” / “My videos” tabs.
  • Everything you save is public by default. On a video’s page you can Make private so only you (and admins) can see it, or Make public again.
  • Share links: signed-in owners can mint a share link for a private video — 24 hours by default, adjustable from 1 hour to 30 days, optionally restricted to signed-in accounts. Shares are view-only, can be revoked at any time, and expiry is enforced on every request. Shared video links preview with a playable thumbnail in most messengers.
  • Deleting and editing are owner-only (or admin). If two accounts save the same source, the second becomes a view-only co-owner of the existing copy rather than a duplicate.

How downloads work

  • Saved videos can be downloaded from their video page — the file links sit under the player.
  • ⬇ Video (torrent search + fetch) and 🎬 Flix are reachable from the local network, or from anywhere when you are signed in to an account. If you get a “forbidden” page there, sign in first.
  • Pulling brand-new content from arbitrary URLs (yt-dlp ingestion, uploads) is restricted to the local network as an anti-abuse measure; saving a copy of a public post (“rehost”) works from anywhere, rate-limited.

Android — phone & tablet

Availability: Clownworld is not on Google Play. Two real install paths exist today: install it as a web app (PWA) from the browser — recommended — or sideload the signed APK.

Install as a web app (recommended)

  1. Open https://clownworld.biz in Chrome on Android.
  2. Menu (⋮) → Add to Home screen / Install app.
  3. After installing, Clownworld appears in Android’s share sheet: share a post or video from another app to Clownworld and it saves a copy automatically.

Direct APK download & sideloading

The APK is a thin signed wrapper around the website (a Trusted Web Activity), so it always shows the current site — it rarely needs updating.

  • Download: clownworld-1.0.0.apk (~1 MB, works on Android 5.0+, all architectures).
  • SHA-256 checksum: 5c6071a97d1f3b05269653b01d6e2928ead4e0dbeeac852e6ad880d90a66df30
  1. Download the APK on the device (or copy it over via USB).
  2. Open the file. If Android blocks it, allow Install unknown apps for your browser or file manager (Settings → Apps → Special app access → Install unknown apps).
  3. Confirm the install; open Clownworld.
  4. Updating / replacing: install a newer APK over the old one — it upgrades in place (same signing key). To replace a copy installed from a different source, uninstall first.

Permissions

The app requests no special permissions — it is the website in an app shell. Sign-in works exactly like the browser (Accounts).

Troubleshooting

  • “App not installed”: a previous Clownworld install with a different signature is present — uninstall it and retry; also make sure the download completed (compare the checksum above).
  • Browser bar visible at the top of the app: the app opens as a custom tab when Chrome can’t verify the site link on first run — open it once with a network connection and it verifies; it is cosmetic either way.

iPhone & iPad

Availability: there is currently no native iOS app — nothing on the App Store and no TestFlight build. The supported path is Safari, optionally installed to your home screen as a web app.

Use in Safari

Everything works in Safari at https://clownworld.biz — watching, saving, sharing, account management.

Add to Home Screen (web app)

  1. Open https://clownworld.biz in Safari.
  2. Tap the Share button (the square with an arrow) → Add to Home Screen → Add.
  3. Launch from the icon: Clownworld opens full-screen with its own dark theme.

Setup, permissions & limitations

  • No permissions are requested; sign-in is the same as the web.
  • iOS does not offer the Android-style share-sheet integration for web apps — to save something, copy its link and paste it on the home page.
  • The web app updates itself — it is always the live site; there is nothing to reinstall.
  • If sign-in doesn’t stick, make sure Safari isn’t blocking cookies for the site (Settings → Safari).

Android TV & Google TV

Availability: not on the Play Store. The same signed APK used for phones installs on Android TV / Google TV (Android 5.0+, all architectures) — it opens the site full-screen, and the 📺 TV section is built for D-pad navigation. A TV’s built-in browser also works for browser-based access without installing anything.

  • APK: clownworld-1.0.0.apk — SHA-256 5c6071a97d1f3b05269653b01d6e2928ead4e0dbeeac852e6ad880d90a66df30

Sideload with a downloader app

  1. Install a downloader/file-manager app from the Play Store on the TV.
  2. Enter the APK address: https://clownworld.biz/app/clownworld-1.0.0.apk
  3. When prompted, enable Install unknown apps for the downloader (Settings → Apps → Security & Restrictions), then confirm the install.

Sideload from USB storage

  1. Copy the APK to a USB drive on another device (checksum above verifies the copy).
  2. Plug it into the TV, open it with the TV’s file manager, and install (allow unknown apps for the file manager if asked).

Install over the network with ADB

  1. On the TV: Settings → System → About → click Build 7 times to enable Developer options, then turn on USB debugging / Network debugging.
  2. From a computer on the same network: adb connect TV_IP:5555 then adb install clownworld-1.0.0.apk. (Over USB, just adb install clownworld-1.0.0.apk.)

Setup & remote control

  • Sign in once via /account — an on-screen keyboard appears for the fields.
  • The 📺 TV and ★ For You screens highlight the focused tile as you move with the D-pad; OK/Select activates.
  • Updating: install a newer APK the same way — it upgrades in place. Uninstalling: long-press the app icon → uninstall, or Settings → Apps.

Common problems

  • Install blocked — enable Install unknown apps for the specific app you’re installing from.
  • Playback stutters or won’t start — try the “compat” playback option on Flix items; it serves a TV-friendly stream.
  • Focus gets lost on a page — press Back to return to the navigation bar; every control on the TV screens is reachable by D-pad.

LG TVs (webOS)

A minimal LG webOS hub app exists (com.solcatcher.clownworld_1.0.2_all.ipk) for sets with LG Developer Mode enabled; it opens the same TV interfaces. Most people are better served by the TV’s browser.

Help & reporting a problem

  • The sign-in page has a ? Help assistant — ask it how anything works, or use Request a fix to file a problem report that goes straight to the operators for review.
  • Invite links, password resets, and account approvals all go through an admin — the person who gave you your invite link is the right contact.

Privacy, sessions & limits

  • Public by default: saved videos are visible to everyone unless their owner explicitly makes them private.
  • Anonymous sessions are isolated — saves made without an account belong to that browser only. Clearing cookies (or switching browsers) permanently orphans an anonymous library, so sign in if you care about keeping it.
  • Share links expire (default 24 h, max 30 days) and can be revoked; revocation takes effect immediately, including for the video file itself.
  • Changing your password signs you out of every device. A server restart can also sign everyone out once.
  • Accounts are invite-only and can be suspended by admins; email is optional and never used for recovery.