Why We’re Building Dedicated SimchaCam Apps

Not long after I first shared SimchaCam in a Facebook group, somebody asked me a very reasonable question:

“How is this different from using Google Meet?”

My answer at the time was that SimchaCam had been designed specifically for streaming simchas.

Guests simply tap a private link and watch. There’s no app for them to install, no account to create, no microphones to mute and no risk of somebody accidentally turning their camera on.

His response was equally reasonable:

“But Google Meet can do exactly that.”

Fair point.

I joked that we thought there was room for a product where nobody has to shout “Everyone mute themselves!” every five minutes.

But the exchange stuck with me.

Because underneath his question was a much more important one:

If SimchaCam is going to exist, what makes it worth using?

“It works” isn't enough

By that point, we'd already streamed real events with SimchaCam, and those early events had proved something important: the idea worked.

Someone could take out their phone, stream a simcha, send relatives and friends a private link, and those people could watch from wherever they were.

In fact, one of those early events was my own son's brit.

We streamed it using the original version of SimchaCam, and seeing something I'd built being used for my own family's simcha was a pretty special moment.

It did exactly what I'd originally set out to achieve. People who couldn't be there in person could still watch the event live, simply by opening a link.

But using it for something that personal also made me look at the product differently.

This wasn't a test stream anymore.

It was my son's brit.

And although the technology worked, I found myself looking at the picture and thinking:

We can do better than this.

The trade-off we had made

The original version of SimchaCam was built around extremely low latency.

What happened at the event appeared on viewers' screens almost immediately.

Technically, that's great. And for a video call, it's absolutely essential. You can't have a conversation if everyone is several seconds behind everyone else.

But that speed came with a compromise.

Under less-than-perfect conditions, video quality could suffer.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realised we'd been optimising for the wrong thing.

A SimchaCam viewer isn't trying to have a conversation with the person holding the camera.

They're watching a wedding. A bar or bat mitzvah. A brit milah. An event that might be happening hundreds or thousands of miles away — and one that isn't going to happen again because somebody's internet connection had a bad few seconds.

For that viewer, does it really matter if they're seeing the chuppah 10 or 15 seconds after it actually happens?

Probably not.

But it absolutely matters whether they can see it properly.

So we made a decision

Rather than continuing to optimise the system we already had, we decided to change the way SimchaCam streams.

And that meant building dedicated streaming apps for both iPhone and Android.

It's considerably more work.

And yes, the new approach introduces a little more delay. Viewers may be around 10–15 seconds behind what's happening at the event.

But those few seconds give us something I think is far more valuable:

Quality.

Instead of optimising for a picture arriving on someone's screen as quickly as technologically possible, we can optimise for the picture that arrives being the best one we can deliver.

That might sound like a small distinction.

For SimchaCam, I think it's a fundamental one.

I want this to be a premium product

There are already plenty of ways to put a camera on the internet.

You could use Google Meet. You could use Zoom. You could use any number of existing platforms and send everyone a link.

So if SimchaCam is simply another way of doing the same thing, that Facebook commenter was right to question why it needs to exist.

I think the answer is in the experience.

I want someone streaming a wedding with SimchaCam to feel like they're using a product built specifically for that job.

Open the app. Choose the event. Position the camera. Tap Go Live.

That's it.

And I want somebody opening the link on the other side of the world to feel like they're watching a proper livestream — not like they've joined a very large video call.

That means making deliberate choices about what we optimise for.

And increasingly, the answer isn't lowest possible latency.

It's the best possible experience.

The viewer still doesn't need an app

There's one principle we haven't changed.

The apps are for the person doing the streaming.

Viewers will never need to install anything.

They'll receive the same private SimchaCam link. They'll tap it. Their browser will open. And they'll watch.

No account.

No download.

No joining a meeting.

No mute button.

No wondering whether their own camera is on.

The complexity stays on our side.

What's coming next

Building dedicated iPhone and Android apps has taken considerably more work than simply continuing with what we already had.

But after seeing SimchaCam used for real events — including one of the most important events in my own family — I'm convinced it's the right decision.

The original SimchaCam proved the idea.

The new SimchaCam is about delivering the experience I always wanted it to have.

Better quality. A purpose-built streaming experience. And something I'd be happy to trust with the moments that matter.

We're getting very close now.

The SimchaCam apps for iPhone and Android are coming soon.

And I can't wait to show you the difference.

Watch this space.