Kodi is one of the most popular programs in recent years. This media player was born as a solution to be able to watch videos on the original Xbox and, since then, it has evolved into a universal media center that we can use, literally, on any device or system. One of its main features is the possibility of adding all kinds of functions through plugins, or “add-ons”, being able to do literally whatever we want with it. But, from one day to the next, we may find that one of the ones we have been using forever has stopped working. What happened?
There are many reasons why a Kodi add-on might stop working. And, depending on the origin of the problem, it is possible that we can solve it, to continue using it, or we have no other option than to start looking for an alternative.
The arrival of Python 3
One of the reasons why many add-ons stopped working last year was the arrival of Python 3. Python is the programming language in which the extensions of this multimedia center are programmed. For many years, the program used the engine of version 2.x of the programming language, and everything worked completely normally.
However, Python 2 reached the end of support, and, as expected, the developers made the leap to version 3 with the release of Kodi 19, in February 2021. This has meant that, due to compatibility problems, many Extensions have stopped working. And the only possible solution is for the developers to update them so that they can work with version 3 of this scripting engine.
The problem is that many developers no longer maintain their extensions. And, therefore, these have stopped working forever. The only solution, if the creator does not update it, is to use an older version of Kodi (18.x), if we want the add-on to continue working.
The backend has changed
This is very common, especially with pirated add-ons. In order to show us the complete list of series and movies to watch them in streaming, the add-on must connect to a server. And this server becomes, at the moment, the target of all companies in defense of copyright, who try by all means to close or block it.
Those in charge of maintaining the library of series and movies must update the add-on to include the new address where the content is hosted. Therefore, we will have to update the plugin manually (or from the repository) to be able to continue seeing these contents.
A bad Kodi add-on update
Finally, although this is usually less common, another reason why an add-on that, until recently, worked without problems for us can fail is due to a bad update. This doesn’t usually happen much, and when it happens quickly the developer usually fixes it by releasing a new version.
But, in case this is the case for us, we simply have to look for a previous version of the add-on, when it worked correctly, and install it by hand on our Kodi.
