“It’s such a sadness that you think you’ve seen a film on your f–king telephone,” David Lynch once said, reacting to rise of video on the iPhone. But he didn’t see what was coming. Showyou launched a totally rebuilt iPhone app on Wednesday that proves we should ignore Lynch’s curmudgeonly guidance.
Showyou aids in that most 21st-century of leisure pursuits: the finding, watching and sharing of online video. Between its tablet, Web and iPhone versions, it’s possible to see and manage all the videos you could ever want to watch. You just log in to whichever networks you want Showyou to scour for videos, and the app will show them to you.
The big-screen versions show a sweeping grid that lets you casually browse for things to watch. But the new iPhone version has a different feed. It synthesizes the greatest hits, the videos you’re most likely to want to watch, organized as a feed of shares from your friends.
Videos you share directly on social networks will be pulled in, but you can also share directly in Showyou, sending other users a notification. You can thank friends for videos shared on Showyou, and you can send the videos via nicely formatted emails, tweets or Facebook posts right from the feed.
But the key question about this app is why you’d want to do this from your phone. The answer is that Showyou has figured out an experience that makes this process of discovery, viewing and sharing more intimate.
The app is darkened like a movie theater, getting you in the mood to watch. The back-and-forth of sharing and thanking creates a virtuous cycle of finding great videos, which you can also save to a list that syncs to the big-screen Showyou apps.
The iPhone version is like a remote control for Web video in your hand. If you have an Apple TV, you can AirPlay the video right over to the TV from your phone or iPod Touch. You can also watch them on your telephone, if you aren’t David Lynch.
Showyou is free on the iTunes App Store.
