We’ve all seen how creators can lose their communities when a platform decides they don’t like them, when malicious DMCA takedowns are filed, a platform ceases to exist, or the grass seem greener on the other side.
It doesn’t matter what platform you start your career on or where you end up, the issue creators and their community face is one of accessibility which is where Louis Rossmann and his team come in. The team have been working on what is basically a multi-platform hub where people can follow a creator and see all of their media on different platforms in one place.
If you can afford the premium access of Patreon exclusives, love the usual YouTube uploads, and watching their live streams on Twitch or but sick of switching apps or can’t quite remember where that thing you wanted to rewatch was posted then GrayJay may be the app for you.
The app features the abilities to link in to a large variety of content platforms for creators to flag the channels as belonging to them, or for their community to find them on in one convenient dashboard. If you don’t want to see someone’s updates from a certain platform you can disable that one from your list. The app even blocks ads!
If a creator live streams, the app allows you to watch live content on any supported platform and communicate with their live chat. Picture-in-picture and background play are default features in the app, rather than being premium on sites like YouTube. Your watch history can stay local, you can store offline playlists and download them or a single video to enjoy without an internet connection, if you’re at home or have an accommodating office then you can also cast the video to a big screen.
There are some issues with the platform. Firstly, it’s that add block feature, many creators make a lot of their money through ad revenue which they will be missing out on if you use the app. If you can support your favourite creators in other ways then please send them a donation, buy their merch, use referral links, or whatever else you can so they can continue to do what they love.
Secondly, and perhaps a deal breaker for some, the app is only available on Android at the moment with no plans for an iOS version in the near future. A desktop version is being considered in the future, but the focus for now is the Android app.
Thirdly, if you are a creator you will need to link your accounts across various platforms using another app called Harbor. Once linked, users subscribed to one of your channels, will see all of your linked channels. This isn’t much of an issue, but it is another account and yet another login to remember or store somewhere (remember, you should be using a password manager with unique passwords for each account).
Fourthly, when searching for creators you may see a load of fake accounts which can be hard to verify if they are the droids you were looking for if you wasn’t paying attention. Don’t let them fool you, use the force and only follow the true path (i.e. check into the profile, look at the subscriber numbers, and drop any fake accounts as soon as you realise).
By default, the app does not keep your history, if you want those algorithmic recommendations may people rely on make sure to enable them within the platform setting. I find YouTube is terrible at the moment, but it has been a good way to discover new communities and creators in the past and does occasionally recommend some gold.
If you’re interested then go check out GrayJay, it’s free for now after all! Go check out their FAQ’s if you are interested in finding out more, or head over to their Gitlab and you can inspect the code and compile your own version. I’ve just started playing with the app so it will be interesting to watch it develop.