Going live

Start a stream

You need a server address from the place you are streaming to, such as your streaming platform or your own server. The app sends video over RTMP, RTMPS or SRT.

1. Tap , then Stream profiles.
2. Choose the protocol, then type your server address. For RTMP and RTMPS there is also a Stream key field.
3. Tap Save. The Save button stays greyed out until the profile has everything it needs.
4. Go back to the main screen and tap Go Live.
5. The app asks Go live? and names where you are about to broadcast. Tap Go Live.

The status pill at the top left changes from Connecting… to 🔴 LIVE with a running timer. See Stream profiles for every option.

While you are live

• You can leave the app. Pressing Home or switching apps does not stop your stream, and the app tells you with the message Still streaming in the background. The stream also keeps going if you turn the screen off with the power button.
• The screen stays awake while you are streaming and the app is open.
• Settings stay open to you. Opening Settings does not stop the stream. The app reminds you with Still streaming — your broadcast keeps running.
• Profile changes wait for a restart. If you edit or switch the stream profile you are live on, the new settings do not change the broadcast. The app asks Restart to apply changes? with Restart now, which briefly stops and reconnects with the new settings, or Later, which keeps streaming as you are. Changes to adaptive bitrate apply straight away and never ask.

The notification buttons

The app keeps one ongoing notification in your phone’s notification shade, titled Dual IRL Stream. While you are not streaming it says Ready to stream. While you are live it shows the timer, your connection type and speed, the video format, where you are streaming to and how much data you have sent. If you have chosen to keep chat running in the background, or you are playing a web source’s audio, extra lines say so.

• Start opens the app and goes live straight away, without the Go live? question. If your profile is not ready to stream, nothing happens.
• Stop ends your stream right away, with no question. The app stays open and the buttons change back to Start and Exit.
• Exit ends your stream, stops everything the app is doing in the background and closes the app.
• Tap the notification itself to open the app.

If you said no to notifications when the app asked, your stream still works, but you will not see this notification or its buttons. Use the red End stream button in the app instead.

Privacy mode

Privacy mode is for when you need a moment, such as walking into a bathroom or taking a private call. You stay connected, but your viewers see a black screen with a message instead of your camera, and they hear nothing from your mic.

1. While you are live, tap End stream.
2. Tap Privacy.
3. When you are ready, tap the green Resume button. You are back on camera straight away, with no reconnecting.

What happens while privacy mode is on:

• Viewers see a black screen with your message in white text. It says Be right back 🙏 unless you changed it. Change it, or clear it for plain black, in Settings → Display.
• Your own screen keeps showing your camera, with a banner across it: STILL LIVE 🔴 PRIVACY MODE ENABLED. It reminds you that you are still connected, but your camera and mic are not going out.
• Your mic is muted. The mic button is greyed out until you resume, and then your mic goes back to how it was before.
• The torch is switched off, and screenshots do not work.
• Instead of End stream, you get Resume and End stream. If you end the stream from here, the app asks first, and viewers stay on the black screen until it stops. Your camera is never shown.
• The Stop button in the notification also ends your stream without showing your camera.

When your connection drops

You do not need to do anything. If your connection gets interrupted, the app tries again by itself every few seconds, and the pill shows Reconnecting # with a number. The reason is shown in red in the stats panel at the top right.

• If your phone loses its internet completely after you have been live, the app does not give up. It waits, keeps showing Reconnecting, and starts streaming again on its own when a working connection comes back. Tap End stream, or Stop in the notification, if you want to cancel the wait.
• If you do have internet but the stream still cannot connect, the problem is usually the server address, the key or the server itself. The app stops trying and the pill shows ⚠ Failed with the reason in red. See Troubleshooting.
• A stream that has never connected does not wait quietly. It fails and tells you why.

Heat and slow connections

The app protects your stream when something is under strain. It does this by lowering your video quality for a while, and it shows you which problem it is reacting to in the stats panel:

• HEAT↓: your phone is getting hot, so the app is lowering your video bitrate to let it cool. The words HOT and OVERHEAT show when your phone itself reports it is very hot.
• NET↓: your connection cannot keep up, so the app is lowering your bitrate to avoid dropped frames. It raises it again when the connection recovers.

The bitrate you set in your profile is the most the app will ever use. Adaptive bitrate is on to begin with, and you can turn it off or set a lowest and highest bitrate in Settings → Adaptive bitrate.

Wi-Fi and cellular together

With SRT, the app can send your stream over Wi-Fi and cellular at the same time, so if one gets weak the other carries you. This is called bonding.

1. In Stream profiles, choose SRT as the protocol.
2. Under Network egress, choose Bonded.
3. Use the address of a bonding receiver. The profile screen says this needs a BELABOX SRTLA receiver, and that a plain SRT server will not bond.

Bonding uses mobile data. If you plug in a USB modem or a USB-C ethernet adapter, it can be used as well. While bonded, the stats panel reads SRTLA and shows each connection on its own line, such as WiFi and Cell, with a connection that has dropped shown as offline.

There is also an experimental Network handoff option for SRT, which tries to keep a single connection alive when your phone switches between Wi-Fi and cellular. It only works if your server accepts the change.

Using two cameras

Dual camera shows one camera big and the other in a small picture on top (picture-in-picture). It needs a phone that can run two cameras at once. The app asks your phone which pairs it supports and only lists those.

1. Tap .
2. Tap a pair in the DUAL row.
3. Use Swap, Corner and the shape button in the PIP row to arrange it.

If you do not see a DUAL row, your phone does not report any pair it can run together, and you can still stream with a single camera. If a pair cannot run together with the settings needed, the app shows This camera pair can't run together at the required settings and keeps your previous picture. See the Camera button for all the options.

Ending your stream

Tap End stream and then End stream again to confirm. You can also use Stop in the notification. Both end the broadcast and leave the app open.