It’s clear to see that video has dominated the internet in the past years. This happened due to users’ interest in watching the videos since it’s easy to digest and entertaining as well. Hence, people with smartphones would at least have one video sharing app in their gadget.
Through the app, people not only can share videos but also watch them. From a mere reason such as to get entertained, until trying to find information and learn something new. Thus, it’s not a startling condition when most social media platforms offer video sharing as a feature.
With that nature, marketers put a video in their top list as something they would like to work with. Yet the question is not about how to produce an eye-catching campaign or ad. But to create content that people are willing to watch from the start to finish, even with ads tagged along.
10 Best Video Sharing Apps for Android and iOS
There are numerous success stories from people across the globe by producing content videos. Not to mention, the continuous upgrade from developers on each video sharing app also creates another line of occupation. Furthermore, it’s easy to share video through the mobile gadget by the apps below:
1. YouTube
Let’s be real, who doesn’t know YouTube? This platform is the pioneer of video-sharing apps that came from nothing but precisely guessed the future. Hence, reportedly just in one day, YouTube users watch about 1 billion hours of social video accumulated.
Although building a YouTube channel takes time and effort, it’s easy to set up an account and start with video sharing. As long as following the steps, even a novice can share a video to the world right from the app on Android or iOS.
The condition is not only about you sharing your own video and putting it on the internet. But when you’re finding a funny or inspiring video on YouTube and you wish to share it with your family and friends, you can easily do that as well.
There are options for YouTube users, the basic and premium. The basic is the free account, meanwhile, the premium one is where you can watch premium content. Further, there’s also YouTube Music that is tailored especially for listening to music.
Also Read: Best Vine Editing Apps for Android or iPhone to Make a Cool Video
2. Facebook Watch
Starting as a social media platform, Facebook is also a video sharing app now. By using Facebook Watch, you can watch shows and videos about various topics from the app or TV. Although it’s less popular than YouTube, Facebook Watch garnered 4 billion video views daily with 65% of them coming from mobile users.
But the thing is, even though anyone can upload videos on Facebook, not all of them will be on Facebook Watch. To be on the Watch’s list, you have to upload the video from your Facebook Page. If you upload the video from your Facebook Profile or Facebook Group, then for sure the video wouldn’t be on the Watch’s list.
Also, just like YouTube, Facebook Watch creators can also monetize their Page. To do that, the Page should have a high engagement for Facebook to notice and put the videos on the Watch’s list. Furthermore, the videos on Facebook Watch are slightly more exclusive than on YouTube’s standard.
3. TikTok
As of today, arguably TikTok is one of the largest video sharing app that successfully draws users’ interest in the globe. Based as a social media platform, you can share and watch short videos through your mobile gadget.
Based on statista.com, there are about 1 billion active users on TikTok per month by September 2021. This number increased from the previous years by 45%. Furthermore, with the massive growth, TikTok also created a new line of occupation as a TikTok influencer.
By using TikTok, creators can easily share content videos to the masses and gather engagements. Hence, more than half of users said TikTok is authentic and can lift their mood. Further, it’s easy for users to share TikTok content on various platforms.
With its fast growth, there are several countries that have banned the use of TikTok. This is due to concern about the addictive content available there and the urge to follow the trend there.
4. Likee
Another video sharing app that is worth mentioning is Likee. Previously named Like, this app is a one-stop for making short videos and sharing them. Not only that, but users can also do live streams right away from their mobile gadget.
For some people, they often put TikTok and Likee as the par, yet the two are different. When in TikTok, you can share short videos with filters and back sound. Meanwhile, for Likee, you can edit photos and videos with various effects, filters, and stickers.
Launched back in July 2017, Likee garnered more than 150 million users just in two years since its release. This number is not so surprising, because the developer created more than 2000 unique video effects to choose from.
5. SnackVideo
One more video sharing app based as a social media platform that made the breakthrough that we shouldn’t miss from this list. SnackVideo offers various video contents with numerous categories such as comedy, animal, news, and many more. Thus, users could easily find their interest just by searching for the content.
Although this platform is also about sharing short videos, SnackVideo is slightly different from TikTok in video length terms. If TikTok can accommodate up to 60 seconds of video, SnackVideo is only available for 57 seconds in maximum.
Overall, this application is easy to use and by far stands in the new generation of social media platforms. But there’s a setback in regard to data usage. Because the application does consume a lot of data. Therefore, it’s more recommended if you’re on WiFi instead of mobile data.
Just like TikTok, SnackVideo is also banned in several countries. Aside from the dangerous influence, the origin of the app from China also came to light and resulted in the banning.
6. Twitch
Although Twitch has been around for more than a decade, this video sharing app platform is less known compared to the mentioned ones above. By far, Twitch users’ demography mostly came from the USA with 41.5 million users in 2020. From that number, it’s expected that the number of users would increase to 51.6 million in 2024.
Further, Twitch is mostly known as a video game streaming platform. Through this platform, you can watch a live broadcast about gaming. Mostly, the streamers are playing popular games and broadcasting them right there and then – live at the moment.
But now, it also spread to other areas to gain more users since there’s only a limited gamer community. Thus, now you can find other areas in Twitch such as music, TV series, talkshow, and even artwork creation. Hence, to watch one, you don’t have to log in and it’s completely free.
Aside from the app in the mobile gadgets, you can also access this platform by website, Xbox, PlayStation, Amazon TV, Roku, Google Chromecast, and NVIDIA SHIELD. With the continuous upgrade, this application has various features to support it as a social media platform.
7. Dailymotion
Back in the day, you can say that Dailymotion was YouTube’s rival for uploading and sharing videos. Although it’s far from a video sharing app that people choose because of YouTube’s supremacy, Dailymotion is still a good backup. Thus, if you have any problem with YouTube, then Dailymotion is the second best that you can choose.
Mostly, Dailymotion is just like YouTube in its navigation. What makes the two apart is that the Dailymotion community is lesser than YouTube’s. Yet this lesser number is no less than 300 unique users who logged in each month. Further, the platform is also available in 25 different languages with coverage of major languages in the world.
Even though the developer is based in Paris, there are about 43 localization representatives across the globe. Each representative tech office also localizes the content and home pages. Not to mention, this video sharing platform is safe to use for children due to the age restriction to make sure in filtering the content.
8. Vimeo
If you’re more into quality, then Vimeo is a good choice for a video sharing app to use. Because this application is stricter about the video standard compared to YouTube. Let’s say that there’s the same content uploaded on both YouTube and Vimeo, then the Vimeo one would have better quality.
Moreover, the platform is ad-free to use. Therefore, you wouldn’t get annoyed with the unwanted ad while watching the content there. Since it’s an ad-free video sharing platform, Vimeo utilizes subscription plans and offers software as a service (SaaS) to cover the revenue.
Therefore, in Vimeo, there are basic and premium plans for business and content creators. For sure, the basic one has its limitations, while the premium one has more offers. Furthermore, even with these plans, Vimeo is still popular with 170 million active users. But from those numbers, 90% of them are using the paid service ones.
Surely, this percentage number exceeds YouTube’s users. Because most YouTube users are still dominated by the free user ones instead of the premium. But then, the main revenue plans on both platforms have been different since the beginning.
9. IGTV from Instagram
Starting as a picture sharing app, Instagram also breaches its horizon to be a video sharing app with IGTV. Launched in 2018, this breakthrough step from Instagram is specially designed for phone users. Because for once, the video format would be in portrait – just like how most people use their phone.
The concept of this app is just like conventional TV. Thus, you can watch the video right away once you open the app without having to browse for channels or content. To search for what to watch, you only have to swipe up or switch the menu “For You”, “Popular”, “Following”, and “Watch More”.
But as of late 2021, Instagram got rid of the IGTV platform and rebranded it as Instagram TV. With this rebranding, the normal video feed on Instagram can turn into an Instagram TV. Thus, the maximum length of 60 minutes video that was originally only for IGTV now can be applied to the normal Instagram video feed.
Therefore, if you upload a more than 1-minute video feed on your Instagram account, there’s a chance that it will be listed on Instagram TV. Further, with more engagement, there’s a chance that it will get popular and Instagram is going to recommend it to more users.
10. Metacafe
The last in this list of video sharing app for Android and iOS is Metacafe. Originally, the platform was a web-based video sharing platform. In its early years, Metacafe was like the other video sharing platforms such as YouTube and Dailymotion. But later, this platform only accepts short-format videos.
Comparing Metacafe with YouTube and Dailymotion, then we can see several differences between the three. Because this platform is more into exclusive and original video creation for entertainment and the likes. Yet, it is still ads supportive, so brands can put their ads on the platform.
The problem is, unlike YouTube or Dailymotion, this platform has a restricted age of 13 years old and above. Thus, it’s not safe for children due to the content available there. But on the other hand, the 200 top videos on Metacafe receive 12% more views than the 200 top on YouTube.
Looking at how the world tends to lean now, sharing a video for family, friends, and acquaintances is an easy task to do. Moreover, with the COVID-19 pandemic that hit in late 2019 that hasn’t really vanished until today, video sharing is one way to communicate.
Not only for sharing your own daily video but also for sharing information by forwarding video content that you can find on the internet. Either video you’re sharing, your family can feel closer and can erase some distance that is hard to cross in reality.
Furthermore, there are many touching stories about why people start using video sharing app such as YouTube and share their daily life. For one, they can easily update their condition for family members without consuming their phone memory. Just send the link for the video, and your family can easily ‘watch’ you.
That’s what you get if you upload and share your own video, but what about sharing the content video from others for your family? In this case, the concept is still the same. When you find something interesting, it’s a natural thing that you want to share that with your loved ones.
Thus, you only need a click for the sharing button and send the link to the video that you find interesting for your family. For this matter, YouTube, Dailymotion, Facebook, and Vimeo are the top choices to run the task. Meanwhile for the others mentioned, they’re best if you targeted a vast audience.
Just like what we explained in the previous chapter, YouTube, Dailymotion, Facebook, and Vimeo would be the best choices for sharing videos, especially in private. All you need to do is to set the option on private while uploading the video in one of those video sharing app. By uploading the videos in private, you can choose who to gain the access to watch the video.
For YouTube though, there’s another option aside from setting the video as private. It’s to upload the video unlisted, thus people couldn’t find your video by chance. To access the video, you have to give the video URL to your trusted ones.
Uploading the video without listing it can also work for Dailymotion and Vimeo. But in Vimeo, you can also put a password on the video. Therefore, if someone accidentally tumbles into your video but has no password to it, then there’s no chance to watch it.
Meanwhile, if you’re opting for Facebook as your video platform, then you have to make sure that the people you want to share are on your Facebook Contact. Then, when uploading the video you have to give access for the ones that you choose.
Another additional way of sharing a private video is through Google Drive. All you need to do is upload your video into the drive and share the link with your family. Don’t forget to set the access option to make sure the ones who have to watch can watch it and keep away the ones who can’t.
Final Note
In this vast internet era, video sharing is another need that people have to fulfill in numerous ways. Just by choosing one video sharing app from the list above, you can share inspiring videos for family and friends through your mobile gadget.
Furthermore, it’s also become a new line of occupation for video creators and they can earn from there. There are many examples of influencers that primarily get their income by uploading content on YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, and many more. But to do that, what you have to remember is to create good content under the terms and conditions of the platform that you use.
I’m is an owner of Venostech.com, blogger, Android and technology enthusiast. Individual who are educated in the IT and like to write according my scope.
