Insomniac Kodi Add-on – How to Install and Watch Movies at Night w/ Kodi
If you’re anything like me, you love to fall asleep watching TV. Or perhaps you suffer from insomnia and need something on in the background to lull you to sleep. In any case, what you need is a way to find something–anything–to watch late at night. The Insomniac add-on for Kodi by Skeletor and Co. might be just what you need for those sleepless nights. It has a good selection of almost random movies and TV shows episodes combined with a simplistic user interface, perfect for when you’re half-asleep.
Today, we’ll start with explaining the importance of using a VPN when streaming content. Then, we’ll go into details on the installation of the Insomniac add-on. Our step-by-step instructions will ensure it’s an easy and successful endeavour. Once we have the Insomniac add-on installed, we’ll take you on a guided tour of what it has to offer. Before we conclude, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of the add-on.
For Better Privacy When Streaming Content, Use a VPN
You should protect yourself from the overzealous scrutiny of Internet Service Providers. They’ve been known to monitor their client’s activities to ensure no one violates their terms and conditions. And when they suspect you do, they can react by sending you infringement notices, throttling down your bandwidth or even interrupting your service.
A VPN protects you from these annoyances and secures your activities by encrypting all data in and out of your computer using strong algorithms that make it almost impossible to decipher. Even if someone intercepted your communications, they’d only see meaningless garbage with no possibility of knowing what you’re doing or even where you’re going. As an added bonus, a VPN will let you access geo-blocked content by spoofing your location.
With so many VPN providers out there, picking the best one can turn into a challenge, though. There are many factors to consider. Among the most important, a fast connection speed will reduce–and sometimes even eliminate–buffering. A strict no logging policy will increase your privacy. No usage restrictions will ensure you can access any content at full speed. Finally, client software for multiple devices will ensure the VPN works on all your equipment.
The Best VPN For Kodi Users – IPVanish
After testing several VPN providers against our criteria, the VPN we’d recommend hands-down for Kodi users is named IPVanish. They have hundreds of servers worldwide, no speed cap or throttling, unlimited bandwidth and unrestricted traffic, a strict no-logging policy and client software available for many platforms. IPVanish truly delivers impressive performance and value.
*** IPVanish offers a 7-day money back guarantee which means you have a week to test it risk-free. Please note that Addictive Tips readers can save a massive 60% here on the IPVanish annual plan, taking the monthly price down to only $4.87/mo.
Insomniac Add-On Installation
Like most third-party add-ons, installing Insomniac is a three-step process. You begin by adding the repository installation source to the Kodi file manager. Then, you install the appropriate repository and finally, you install the actual add-on from the repository. If you’ve done it before, you’ll be on familiar ground.
And if this is your first time, have no worries, our detailed instructions will ensure you complete this task quickly and easily. Let’s do it!
Enabling Unknown Sources
Before installing third-party add-ons on Kodi, Unknown Sources must be enabled. If you’ve installed other third-party add-ons before, they most likely are already enabled and you may ignore this step.
Otherwise, from the Kodi home screen, click the Settings icon (it’s the little gear at the top left of the screen) then click System settings. On the System settings screen, click Add-ons on the left side of the screen and check that the Unknown Sources option is enabled. If they’re not, click the switch at the right to enable them.
When you enable them, a warning will pop up. Read the warning and the Yes to close the message box.
Adding The Illuminati Repository Installation Source
Starting again from to the Kodi home screen, click the Settings Icon once more. This time, though, click File manager.
Now, from the File manager screen, double-click Add source on the left side.
From the Add file source screen, click <None> and enter the installation path exactly as shown: https://repo.illuminatitemple.xyz. Click OK when you’re done.
Back to the Add file source screen, click the box below “Enter a name for this media source” and type in a meaningful name. This is the source for the Illuminati repository so we’ll call it Illuminati.
Make sure everything looks alright and click OK to save the new media source.
Installing the Illuminati Repository
A repository is more than just a place from where Kodi add-ons are installed. Installing an add-on from a repository will ensure all the required dependencies–other add-ons that are required–will also be installed. The repository will also handle add-on updates, ensuring you always get the latest version.
Back to the Kodi home screen, click Add-ons on the left side. Next, click the Add-on browser icon. This is the one that resembles an open box at the top left of the screen.
From the Add-on browser, click Install from zip file.
Click the Illuminati source that we just added in the previous step, and then click Illuminati Repo (1.0.6).zip.
This will launch the installation of the Illuminati repository. After a little while, a message will pop up at the top right of your screen, confirming the repository installation.
Installing The Insomniac Add-on
Now that we’ve taken care of all the preliminary steps, we’re ready to proceed with the actual add-on installation.
You should still be on the Add-on browser screen from the previous step so click Install from repository.
From the list of available repositories, click Illuminati. Your list could look different from ours, depending on how many other repositories you have installed.
Click Video add-ons and then, from the list of available add-ons, click the Insomniac add-on.
The Insomniac add-on information page will open. Click the Install button at the bottom right, launching the installation of the add-on of and its dependencies.
Several messages will flash at the top right of the screen as the add-on’s various dependencies are installed. Once all the dependencies are installed, the Insomniac add-on will too, as confirmed by a final message.
With the Insomniac add-on installation complete, it’s now time to have a look at what it has to offer to sleepless viewers.
DISCLAIMER: AddictiveTips.com does not condone or recommend the use of Kodi or any add-on to access copyrighted content to which you have no right. We’re not responsible for what you decide to do with the contents of this article. Software piracy is not something we support or approve, and we strongly advise users to only access content they are legally entitled to. As a Kodi user, you must take steps to ensure you are not in breach of any copyright law.
A Guided Tour Of The Insomniac Add-on
The Insomniac add-on boasts a simplistic user interface. It is perfect for when you’re half-asleep and want to quickly find anything to watch. There’s a strong feeling throughout the add-on that it was built with insomniacs in mind. This is the kind of add-on you’d use what you want to watch nothing in particular. You do have some degree of control over what you watch but, to a certain extent, the add-on has the last say.
One important thing to know about this add-on is that all streams are live, not on demand. Playback won’t, therefore, start at the beginning of a movie or TV show episode. It’s like turning on the TV.
Main Menu
The Insomniac add-on’s main menu is probably the most minimalist we’ve ever seen. It has only two items, 24/7 TV Shows and Movies. The third line on the menu shows the Twitter username of the add-on’s developers. You might want to follow them for news about their add-ons. But that’s not all, it also reveals a hidden feature of the add-on. More about it later.
Let’s examine both sections in greater details.
24/7 TV Shows
This section, you would have guessed, is all about TV shows. Since this is a 24/7 list, what you get at any given time depends on what’s currently playing. Typically, you’ll get a motley list of about one hundred titles, give or take a dozen or two.
The variety is impressive. You have classic oldies such as the 1966 Batman series. And while talking about classics, there’s also I love Lucy or Mission: Impossible. There are also more contemporary selections like Downton Abbey or Breaking Bad. You will even find TV shows that are still running like Big Bang Theory or The Blacklist.
And you won’t only find TV shows titles on the list. There is, for instance, an entry for Adult Swim, the nighttime adult-oriented programming block of the Cartoon Network. There’s also an Anime item which will play some seemingly random anime content
While you can choose what TV show you want to watch, you input stops there. What the add-on will play is what’s currently on. You can’t choose, for example, a specific episode or season. This add-on was not meant for binge watching.
One thing I liked about this section is the descriptions you have on the left pane of the screen for most selections. Some of them are very basic while others are more elaborate but they can often be a welcome addition when you don’t know what to watch.
Movies
The movies section is very different from the TV shows’. Instead of titles, the section lists categories. You have 15 different options to choose from. Some items have to do with movie genres such as Action or Documentaries. Other have to do with collections such as Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings or Star Wars and Star Trek.
Here’s a complete rundown of the fifteen available categories.
- Action
- Animation Movies
- Christmas Movies
- Comedy Movies
- Documentaries
- Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings
- Horror Movies
- Mafia Movies
- Movie Night
- Musical Movies
- Mystery Movies
- Random Movies
- Romance Movies
- Star Wars and Star Trek
- Studio Ghibli
What you get under each section is a mystery. Clicking a section name immediately starts playing back what’s currently on. The problem is that you have no idea what’s on. Not only that, there’s no way to know. Even after you’ve started watching it.
And since these are live streams, just like their TV shows counterparts, they don’t start from the beginning. You start watching where the broadcast is at. But then again, the point of the add-on is not to watch movies but to fall asleep on them so it does not really matter.
Is That All?
Remember the hidden section we discussed earlier. You access it by clicking the Twitter username on the main menu. When you do, you get a list of live IPTV channels.
The list is just over 25 entries long so we can’t say that the selection is extensive but all the essential appears to be there. There’s a great selection of the most popular American TV channels. Here’s the complete list.
- A&E
- ABC
- AMC
- Animal Planet
- Bravo TV
- CBS
- CNBC
- Comedy Central
- Discovery Channel
- ESPN
- Fox
- Fox News
- Freeform
- FX
- National Geographic
- NBC
- Nickelodeon
- PBS
- Spike TV
- Sundance TV
- SyFy
- The CW
- TLC
- Universal Channel
- USA Network
- WWOR-TV
Most of the streams are working fine but this is the section where you’ll find the biggest quantity of dead links. This is often the case with links to broadcast TV channels and Insomniac is not any worse than others. Stream sources come and go on the Internet on a daily basis and it’s hard–if at all possible–for any add-on developer to keep up. There are also some channels that might need you to be located in the US. A VPN will help you with that if you happen to be somewhere else.
Unfortunately, you have no way of knowing, when a stream won’t start, if it is because the source is dead or geo-blocked. Our suggestion: connect to a US VPN server and retry.
Pros And Cons Of The Insomniac Add-on
The Insomniac add-on is unlike most other add-ons we’ve reviewed. Consequently, there are things we really loved about the add-on while there are others that we found kind of annoying. Let’s have a closer look at what the pros and cons of the Insomniac add-on are.
Pros
The whole point of this add-on is to put you to sleep. Therefore, what you actually watch does not really matter and you probably don’t care much about it. Insomniac almost completely eliminates the burden of choosing content. For movies, it will show you a random movie from your chosen category and for TV shows, it will show you some random episode of the series you selected. You won’t spend half an hour trying to decide what to watch. You just click, watch and fall asleep.
Apart from a few in the hidden live IPTV channels section, there doesn’t appear to be a dead link in this add-on. We didn’t try them all but all those we tried worked fine.
Another great thing about this add-on is that whenever you click to start a stream, it starts rapidly. It’s important as the point is not for viewers to fall asleep before the program starts.
One last touch we appreciated was the developers Twitter contact info. Not only can you follow them on Twitter but, should you run into issues or have questions, you can try messaging them.
Cons
On the downside, you can’t really choose exactly what you’re watching. You may think I’m crazy. Wasn’t I just saying that choosing content was a burden? Well, as much as I admit that I’m kind of contradicting myself, the truth is that there are times when you don’t want to have to choose but there are also times when you’d prefer more control. However, I totally understand that we can’t really have it both ways.
The second annoyance I’ve found with the Insomniac add-on is that you never know what you’re watching. This is particularly true with movies. The other day, I was watching what seemed to be a very good movie in the documentaries sections. Unfortunately, I caught it late and only saw the last 10 minutes. I’d love to watch the whole movie but I have no idea what its title is.
Another drawback is that the selection, especially in the 24/7 TV shows section, varies according to what’s currently available. Most titles are always there but some are not. Of course, given the purpose of the add-on, perhaps it’s not such a big deal.
In Conclusion
I’ve always relied on TV to help when I have trouble sleeping. With an add-on such as Insomniac, it takes all the hard work off. You just click and fall asleep. And the content selection is good enough that you’ll do it watching something you like. It sure beats spending hours in front of the Shopping Channel. Content quality is great, so is selection and streams start fast and rarely suffer from buffering. What’s not to like. This might not be an add-on for everyone but, if you’re anything like me, chances are you’ll love it
If you’ve tried the Insomniac add-on, let us know what you thought of it. Did it meet your expectations? Have you had any issues installing or using it? What did you love most about it? Use the comments below to share your thoughts.
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