In this post, I will answer a lot of the questions people have about the OpenLoad pair (OLPair) authorization in Kodi. I’ll explain what it is and how it works. I’ll also show you how to OLPair when using a VPN on your Kodi box or Fire Stick.
If you are a Kodi streamer, you have probably seen this pop-up before…
Why are you seeing this? What does it do? Is it safe? How do I do it? How often do I have to do it? How can I OLPair with a VPN? Is there an alternative to OLPair?
Allow me to answer these questions…
Why Does OpenLoad Require Pair Authorization?
OpenLoad is an awesome host that has a ton of video sources and has pretty good bandwidth.
A while back, they were not liking how all these Kodi users were using their streams without a browser. My guess is that their complaint stemmed from the inability to have proper traffic reporting in Google Analytics or something. For a while, they were actually blocking Kodi users from their servers.
So, Tknorris, one of the developers of URLResolver (which is the behind the scenes add-on that all the streaming add-ons use), worked with OpenLoad to devise this pair solution.
What Does OpenLoad Pair Actually Do?
From a technical perspective, when you open a browser and go to the pair website, it allows OpenLoad to register your IP address and get some analytics data on you. This allows them to include Kodi users in their analytics reporting that they already have for their website.
If you’re not familiar with Google Analytics, it shows reports on traffic on your website. It is very helpful for website owners to get a better understanding on which pages are more popular than others, and where they are coming from to get there, whether it be Google, social media, or a referral link from another website.
Another thing that this pair feature does is requires you to click the captcha to prove you’re not a robot. This helps to stop automated systems from scraping and downloading all of their video files.
Probably the biggest reason for this is to serve you some ads. You’ll notice on the page where you pair, there are ads between the captcha and the Pair button.
Is OpenLoad Pair Safe?
Yes, it’s safe.
How Do I Pair? What If I’m Using a Fire Stick With No Browser?
This is a question I get a lot on this topic. The pop-up message is not entirely clear how to do it.
Do you need to go to that website on the Kodi box? The answer is “no“, which is great news for Fire Stick users who don’t have a browser to use.
So, when you get this message, you can just pull out your phone, and use your mobile browser to go to https://olpair.com and pair. The reason this works is because your Kodi box and your phone are likely on the same local network which share a single external IP address of your house.
How Often Do I Have to Pair with OpenLoad?
The pair page states that it will give you access to their streams for 4 hours. So, you will need to keep pairing again every 4 hours.
I don’t know about you, but that’s really obnoxious. How about a way around it…
How to Pair with OpenLoad when Using a VPN
The one exception to the previous suggestion of using your phone is if you’re using a VPN (which I strongly recommend).
If your Kodi box has VPN software installed and running, then it will have a different external IP address than your phone (which would not be on the same VPN). In this case, you would need to use a browser on the Kodi box itself.
If your Kodi box is a Windows or Android box, then you should have a browser available to use. Just switch between the Kodi app and your browser app using Ctrl+tab on a keyboard or using the recent apps button on Android.
If you’re using a Fire TV or Fire Stick, you won’t have a web browser. But, you can download one by searching for the “Downloader” app and installing that.
Or, if all of this is too much hassle, and you’d rather just not deal with olpair with a vpn, keep reading for the Real-Debrid workaround…
Dump the Pair and get Reliable Streams with Real-Debrid
I have geared this whole post until now towards people who don’t use Real-Debrid, because after you start using Real-Debrid, you’ll never see that pop-up message again. Real-Debrid also works great with a Kodi VPN.
Plus, if you’re using Real-Debrid, you will have lots of high quality, high bandwidth steams available. It’s totally worth the roughly $3/month. (BTW, I don’t get any commission from them. I just know how great it works.)
To learn more, read How to Get Reliable Kodi Stream Sources with Real-Debrid.
How do I find out if I have a VPN?
You would know if you have a VPN as you have to sign up for one in order to use it. :)
Nevermind that. If you don’t know, then you don’t have one. But it also doesn’t matter. I just updated the post.
Nathan, can you tell me why you need a VPN in the first place?
Here is my answer… https://kinkeadtech.com/reasons-kodi-streamers-need-vpn/
My anti-virus won’t even let me open olpair. Before I got it and used olpair I would always get these popups and virus looking stuff coming on my screen. I advise against it at all costs.
Yes the pairing works well it typically says for me that it will allow me to stream from them for 4 hours after pairing
I just noticed that. I updated the post. Thanks!
Hi Nathan, I’m still unsure how to do this when I have a VPN turned on. I don’t have it on my phone so it wouldn’t match my Kodi Box. Sorry if this is a duplicate question.
Oh, great point! I totally forgot to address that. If you’re using a VPN, you have to do it on the device, which would be really annoying. I recommend you get Real-Debrid so you don’t have to worry about it.
Great, thanks Nathan and keep up the top rate blog you run! I’ve signed up for Real-Debrid as well now.
Thank you so much for the encouragement! Thanks for following along!
Visiting olpair.com did not put any viruses or spywear on your computer. Once you have them, they can be very hard to completely get rid of, so it probably just keeps coming back, but it’s not related to olpair.
Thank you Nathan
You’re welcome!
Hi Nathan,
I was trying to stream a movie on Kodi just this past Sunday by using Open load and was directed to pair from my PC, olpair.com. Which I did to watch the movie. Since then, I keep getting this annoying pop up on my laptop, supposedly from PayPal (and I can tell it is bogus). Is my laptop infected with spyware or a virus? How do I unpair olpair.com? Do I need to uninstall something off of my laptop? Will the pop up continue and how do I stop it?
I’m not that technically savvy, but I will try to follow along.
Oh no! Yeah olpair is a tremendous heap of garbage. They take advantage of all the traffic they get from people just going there to pair by barraging them with ads and doing all kinds of sneaky tactics like triggering fake clicks when you didn’t even click. Real shady stuff.
Your computer might have downloaded some malware while you visited that site. If so, you will need to get it cleaned. Hire a computer nerd to clean it up for you.
Unpairing has nothing to do with it. A pair only lasts like 4 hours (so they can get people to come back to see more ads). It wasn’t the pairing that downloaded the malware, but the ads plastered all over the site that does the pairing.
Thank you Nathan!
I took it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and had it cleaned up. That’s exactly what was required and I’ll never pair from Fire Stick again!
Thank you again!
Awesome. By the way, you should consider subscribing to Real-Debrid. You’ll have lots of high quality sources and will never again have a prompt to pair with openload.
I signed up for the free version of real-debrid and configured it within each of my favorite video addons “Tools” section as well as configuring in Kodi. It has cut my pair requests down to almost zero!!!