5+ Broadcasting/ Video Capture & Live Streaming Apps for iPhone

Update: Please refer to this article for updated information as of December 2009.

I know you always wanted to capture video from your iPhone but never found any application in iTunes Store.

This is because officially Apple iPhone doesn’t support video recording.  It may be because live streaming on a 3G network may create bandwidth issue for the service providers (AT&T in particular for US). Or Apple might be having some other plans for live streaming or even video recording through iPhone.

Whatever is the reason but why should you be holding back from capturing those memorable moments from your iPhone.  You guessed it right, there are some applications which let you record video, stream live and broadcast whatever you can capture with that tiny camera in your iPhone.  Only thing you will have to do is Jailbreak your iPhone.  (Did I not say, Apple doesn’t support video recording officially.  So you will never find any application for it in iTunes store.)

Before reading further, make sure you have a jailbroken iPhone.  If not, but you would like to jailbreak, then follow the excellent instructions provided by the good guys at Dev-Team Blog or iClarified. Once you have jailbroken, you should be able to install the apps I am going to talk about further.

I found about 7 iPhone applications that let you stream live, broadcast, view and record video or do similar things from your iPhone.  The apps are available through ‘Cydia’ or ‘Installer’ that you get after jailbreaking your iPhone.  The apps I am going to talk about are listed below:

Well, this is the very first video capture app I installed on my iPhone because of its usability and set of features.  After installation of application on your iPhone, tap on ‘qik’ at the bottom left side and update your profile details.  If you don’t already have one, it give you a chance to create your profile right from your iPhone.  Or you can register online and then use those qik credentials to start quickly.  You don’t need to learn anything to use it.  Just tap on the red button in the bottom and start broadcasting.  Your friends can see your live streaming online at ‘http://www.qik.com/username’.  How cool is that?  (Mine is http://www.qik.com/knowliz)
Other than that one cool feature I love is, qik lets your record video even if you are not connected to internet.  But once you are online it will start sending that recorded video to your online account.  This feature is good for situations where you gotta capture something but not necessarily want to broadcast or don’t have wifi.
Another good feature of Qik is that it lets you become social.  By that I mean, once you stream through Qik, you have an option to stream the same video over various other services like Mogulus, 12Seconds, Ovi etc. or even Youtube and send a tweet on twitter about your video with a link.  Just enter your account details on Qik to enable this feature.

2. UStream.tv :
Ustream.tv is a live interactive video broadcast platform that enables anyone with a camera and internet connection to quickly and easily broadcast to a wide audience of unlimited size globally.  And this platform comes to iPhone users through ‘Ustream Broadcaster’ application on Cydia.  Fill in your login credentials once you install the app on your iPhone and you are all set to live stream any video you capture.  Make sure you are connected through Wifi for better results.  Similar to qik, your friends can see you live online at ‘http://www.ustream.tv/username’. (Mine is http://www.Ustream.tv/knowliz)

3. Flixwagon :
With Flixwagon, you can broadcast live video from your iPhone to the web, keep the streamed video to view for later and you can stream to your blog directly.  Install Flixwagon from Cydia, enter your login details and start streaming.  If you don’t have an account, create one quickly by entering your mobile # and then claim it online later at http://www.flixwagon.com.  Very details instructions about how to install Flixwagon on your iPhone, follow this document on Scribd written by Jivebotic from 12seconds.

4. Cycorder :
Cycorder is not a live streaming application.  Whereas Cycorder works exactly as any other camcorder or video capture device works.  Just launch the application and start recording the video from your iPhone.  The video size will be 384×288, a 4:3 (television) aspect ratio because this is an ad supported application.

5. Mogulus :
Mogulus is a little different from other services in a way that it not only lets you live stream but also create a channel for you.  In this channel you can import videos from services like Youtube or add video by URL.  Once you import these videos in your channel, it creates a kind of video playlist which is played when your followers/friends go to your channel.
Though Mogulus doesn’t have any native client for iPhone but you can still live stream on Mogulus using Qik (mentioned above) by entering your Mogulus account details in Qik.

6. 12Seconds.tv :
As the name say, you can record anything in 12 seconds.  But the iPhone app doesn’t support the video capture yet.  It sorts of let you create a slidecast with an audio.  12seconds is a twitter like service where you record and capture something in audio and video (only online) and then post it like tweets.  Because online also you are limited to record for 12 seconds only, something like 140 characters limit in twitter.

Why only 12 seconds, anything beyond 12 seconds is boring – they say.

BTW, this app is available through iTunes.

7. Kyte Producer :

Kyte is another app availabe in iTunes which lets you create a quick show with photos, poll and links.  Kyte have plans to provide full featured video capture capabilities but looks like that is still in process.

I know the last two applications I listed here are not exactly video capture apps, but I have listed them here as they have plans to come up with those apps and/or they provide similar service online.

As of now anyone creating a video capture application for iPhone will have to provide the application through Cydia or any other unofficial medium as officially Apple iTunes doesn’t allow that and hence they will never appear in iTunes unless Apple changes its policy.  Hopefully iPhone 3.0 brings some good news for iPhone users.

Hopefully, iPhone users will find this post useful and will be happy to finally find some cool apps for their iPhones.

I will really like to hear about your experience with various services.  If you are already using it, then did you find a better option here.  Also don’t hesitate to share this article on Digg, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.  Any comment or suggestion is always welcome to improve the quality of posts.