Go live from your phone camera

This is the shortest path from installing Super Simple IRL to being live. Everything happens on the phone in your hand: the camera, the encoding, and the bonding that keeps the stream up while you move. There is no encoder box to buy, no relay to rent, and no stream URL to paste anywhere.

Before you start

You need three things: an Android phone, Super Simple IRL installed, and an SSIRL Cloud subscription. There is no fourth thing. No capture card, no laptop, no encoder box, no rented relay.

The subscription is £50 a month and you start it at my.ssirl.com. It covers the whole chain: the bonding on the phone, the cloud that receives your stream, your overlays and scenes, and the restream to your platform. There is nothing else to buy and nothing metered.

The app is tested on budget hardware, so a phone costing around fifty pounds is enough to get going. A newer phone will encode at higher resolutions more comfortably, but it is not the difference between streaming and not streaming.

Set it up

1. Link where you are going live

   Sign in at my.ssirl.com and add a destination for the platform you stream to. This is the one place your platform details live, and you only do it once. Your key is encrypted when you save it and is never shown again.

2. Open the app

   Super Simple IRL opens straight into the camera, in landscape, ready to go. There is no menu to work through first.

3. Frame your shot

   Flip between the front and rear cameras, and if your phone has more than one rear lens you can reach for the ultra-wide or the telephoto. Front camera is the default, because most people start by talking to their chat.

4. Check your audio

   Watch the meter as you talk. It should move well but not sit pinned at the top. Audio is the thing viewers forgive least, so it is worth ten seconds here.

5. Pick your destination

   Choose the destination you set up in step one. If you stream to Twitch and you have linked your account, you can set your title and pick a category here too.

6. Go live

   Tap it. The bonding starts on the device, the stream comes up, and you are live.

Getting a good first stream

Test privately first

Do a short private or unlisted stream before your first real one. Walk your usual route, watch how the stream holds, and get used to what the app is telling you. Five minutes of testing saves an awkward first broadcast.

Let the app pick your settings

Simple mode asks for your platform and a target bitrate and handles the rest. That is the right place to start, and for most people it is the right place to stay. Advanced mode is there when you want resolution, frame rate, latency, MTU and codec by hand, and you can move to it any time.

Give the bonding something to work with

Wi-Fi counts as a link alongside your mobile data, which is useful when you start indoors and walk out. A phone only runs one SIM’s data at a time, so extra carriers come from extra phones: put them on the same Wi-Fi network and they join the bond. A friend’s phone works too, with just the app and no account. None of this needs configuring; the app uses whatever it can reach.

What to do when it wobbles

Signal is not uniform, and no transport can invent it where there is none. What SSTL does is squeeze the steadiest stream possible out of whatever links you have, and shift traffic onto whichever is holding up best as you move.

If your stream looks rough in one spot, it is usually the area rather than the app. Lower your target bitrate a little and keep going. If you stream the same route often, you will learn where the dead patches are faster than any tool can tell you.

Frequently asked questions