Broadcast control

Before the broadcast the screen shows what to send and the settings. On air it shows the live controls and the ways to share. A block that does not apply at the moment is hidden, not greyed out. The screen is kept awake while it is open, until you let it go to sleep (17).

Before the start it lets you choose a camera by what it shows. It appears when a camera mode is chosen and the camera is allowed; if you refuse the camera, the area stays empty and the screen asks only once per visit. On air it shows the picture that goes out. It is hidden for sound only and for a file or screen broadcast, which do not use the camera.

The default mode. It needs the microphone only. You can pick another mode on air too: the broadcast is then reopened in that mode, and viewers reopen the stream by the updated link or QR code.

Needs the camera and the microphone. On air the camera and the microphone can be switched off one by one (14, 15).

Needs the camera. In some editions Android also asks for the microphone, although no sound is sent.

One button per camera the phone offers: back, front or external. They appear with a camera mode, once the phone has listed its cameras. On air a tap changes the camera at once. The choice is remembered for the next time.

The card holds the same options as the Broadcast group of the Media settings: whether live broadcasting is on, the title of your broadcast, the bit rate, the port, the audio format, the microphone gain, the feedback guard and whether this screen opens by itself when a broadcast starts. Changes are saved at once, and a title or port you have just typed is used by the broadcast you start next. The card is hidden on air, because the settings of a running broadcast cannot change.

If the broadcast needs an access the phone has not given yet - the microphone, the camera or notifications - the system asks first, and a message names what is missing if you refuse. If the broadcast cannot start, for example because the phone cannot open the port, a message says why and the screen stays as it was. Once you are on air, the button gives way to the live controls and the sharing block.

Opens the system file picker for audio and video files. The picked file is played out as a live broadcast, without the microphone or the camera, so the controls for them are not shown. A file that does not open or has nothing to play is refused with a message. The button is shown only before you start, and only in editions that can broadcast.

The system asks for confirmation every time. The permission is for one broadcast only and is never kept. If you decline, nothing starts. During a screen broadcast the buttons for the camera, the microphone and the screen are not shown, because blanking the app would blank what the viewers see.

Shown before the broadcast starts. The page opens in your browser, so it needs the internet; nothing changes in the app.

The number appears only while you are on air and follows people connecting and leaving.

It shows in red only when the Feedback guard has turned the microphone down. That happens when someone plays your broadcast aloud next to the microphone and the sound would build up into a squeal. Move that device away or lower its volume, and the warning goes. The guard is an option of the Broadcast settings.

Shown for broadcasts with the camera. The button says whether the camera is on or off at the moment. With the camera off, viewers see a black picture and the sound goes on.

Shown only for Camera + audio. The button says whether the microphone is on or off at the moment. With it off, viewers see the picture without sound.

Opens a list of every camera the phone offers, not only the front and the back one; tap a camera to switch at once. The choice is remembered for the next broadcast.

Where the camera can keep working in the background, and for sound only, the button stops keeping the screen awake, so the display sleeps after the usual time. In editions where the camera works only while the app is visible, the button is called Blank screen: it covers the app with a black screen and a dim clock while the display stays on. Tap the black screen or press Back to return. It is not shown for file and screen broadcasts.

Shown only when the camera on air has a flash and is switched on; a front camera usually has none. The button says whether the flashlight is on or off.

A white border over the edges of the screen, with the brightness of this window raised - useful when you film yourself in the dark. The preview, the buttons and the QR code stay usable under it. Only the brightness of this window rises, never the brightness setting of the phone. The frame goes out when the broadcast ends or the camera stops. Shown for broadcasts with the camera of the phone.

Shown on air, when the watch companion is switched on and the phone supports it. It sends the broadcast to the watch and opens it there. A message tells you when the watch is not reachable or does not answer.

Shown on air, while the broadcast travels through your exchange server (see My devices). The button opens the list Play on with your devices that can play it, each marked online or offline; tick one or more and press Cast to my devices. Each device receives a request it can accept or decline, and a message tells you which one is playing or why it refused.

The listeners are disconnected, the camera and the microphone are released, and the screen returns to the state before the start, with the settings card back. The notification of the broadcast has its own Stop button.

The other device scans it to add the broadcast: in Streams, open the menu and choose Import stream (QR / file). Tap the code to show it across the full screen, so that it can be scanned from across the room; tap again or press Back to return. When the mode changes on air, the code is replaced, also when it is open. The code never carries the password.

The text can be selected. The address works for devices that can reach your phone over the network. Copy link (27) copies it, and Send (29) passes on a link that opens the broadcast in the app, built from the same data as the QR code.

Shown only for a protected broadcast. Neither the link, the file nor the QR code carries it, so you give it to the person separately, by voice or in another message.

Use it when the password has reached someone who should not have it. A message reminds you to tell the new password separately from the link.

A message confirms the copy. A protected broadcast is copied as the full link instead of the bare address, so that the other device knows a password is needed and asks for it.

The system asks where to save it. Someone who receives the file adds the broadcast with Import stream (QR / file) in Streams. A message tells you whether the file was saved.

Opens the system list of apps and contacts. The link opens the broadcast in FastMediaSorter on the other device; where the app is not installed, it opens a page on the site instead.

Shown only for a protected broadcast announced through the exchange server by a member account. The dialog Give the broadcast to a guest takes the guest's login (3 to 64 letters, digits, dots, dashes or underscores) with Give, and lists everyone who has it with the answer of the server - waiting, given or refused. Withdraw takes the broadcast from one guest alone.

The page explains how to watch with the link, the QR code or the file. It opens in the browser and needs the internet.

A page on the site, opened in the browser. It needs the internet and changes nothing in the app.