Fourcast Review

Video sharing is far from new. How about sharing four videos at once, though? That's the thinking behind suitably named Fourcast. It's an app that allows users to take brief videos of things, then organize them in a collage of four, before uploading them to share elsewhere. It's a neat idea for those times when one wants to capture a lot, although its current community could do with growing.

As is typical of such a system, Fourcast doesn't take long to set up. A clearly laid out tutorial gets things started and demonstrates a fairly imaginative way of using the app. Getting started simply requires tapping one of the four boxes before hitting the record button. Fourcast can record up to 16 seconds at a time so it's best for brief snippets of one's life.

The options are fairly numerous. I found it handy for taking a few shots of attractive landscapes or just for taking an overview of one's favorite hobbies. Fortunately, for those times when one changes their mind it's immediately possible to delete a creation after uploading it. However there's no way of saving the individual or combined videos to one's camera roll, which is a shame. There are extensive options for sharing to other social networks though, such as Twitter and Facebook.

Elsewhere, it's possible to browse other people's creations. A latest feed highlights the pick of the bunch and it's fun to see what other people are using the app for. While it's possible to share such videos, one can't comment on them or follow other users, which is another missed opportunity.

That's the major issue with Fourcast. It's a great idea but one that's still clearly under construction, as indicated by a section of the app explaining it's in beta. It has the basic features worked out and I'm very grateful to be able to delete content (something that isn't always possible at this early stage), but it needs more work. Privacy settings and commenting are the most crucial for growing a community. As it stands, Fourcast is a neat idea but in need of some growth.