A slow drift of up and coming videos from smaller channels, with partner spots mixed in. It grows when a television is playing and shrinks when the phone is. Touch it to hold it still.
Captions
Words on screen for every video on this phone, in English where the video has them, from one video to the next. The CC button under the video turns them on and off too. On a television, captions are the TV's own YouTube setting: in the YouTube app on the TV, open Settings, then Captions, and turn them on once. They then stay on for everything TopReel plays there.
Auto advance
Sends the next video when this one should be over, unless you have tapped something in the last 30 seconds.
TopReel plays on your television when one is set up. This is where you choose which, or bring the video back to the phone.
On a computer, these are demo TVs. To watch on your own TV, connect it from TopReel on your phone. TV connections are made on the phone only.
TV on this Wi-Fi
TV still showing TopReel's videos? Press Back on the TV remote. YouTube may ask which account to use: pick yours, and it is back to its usual screen.
Sound comes from
One of them at a time, never both, so there is no echo. Choosing this phone is the way to listen on headphones while the room watches the television.
Television volume
60
Lining the sound up
matched
The phone is checked against the television every ten seconds and moved if it drifts. If it still sounds a shade early or late, nudge it here once and it will stay put.
Add a TV
Adding a TV needs a TopReel account, so the TV stays connected to you on every phone you sign in on.
On the television, open the YouTube app.
Go to Settings, then Link with TV code.
The television shows a 12 digit number. That number is all you need from it.
Take a photo of the screen below, or type the number, here in TopReel. Give the television a name, and tap Add this TV.
Ignore the words on the TV screen. YouTube's screen says to open the YouTube app on your phone. You do not need to: TopReel does that part. Take a photo of the screen below, or copy the number into the box.
Shorts play on this phone
New lane
Say it however you like. A subject, a mood, a decade, a kind of channel.
Edit lane
Remote
Volume
60
Playback
Power and menus
Your account
Shown only to you, on your own screen.
Closing your account
Removes the account and everything on it. This cannot be undone.
Sign in or create your account
Type your email and we send you a link. Tap the link and you are signed in. There is no password. Your account keeps your stream, your steering, your blocked channels and your plan on every phone and computer you use.
Leave it empty if nobody sent you. It only counts when the account is new.
How TopReel works
Watching
Press Next for another video, or turn on Auto in Customize and TopReel moves on by itself. Your videos come from curated streams, one for each topic. TopReel keeps track of what you have watched and puts videos you have not seen first.
Manual or Auto
On Manual a video plays until you press Next. On Auto each one plays for the time you choose, then the next one starts by itself. You choose it once at the top of Customize, and it works the same on the phone and on the TV.
On Auto, the Next button counts down the time left. Tap it once to watch that video in full: it turns white and says watching in full. Tap it again for the next video, and Auto carries on.
Your streams
Tap Customize to choose what you watch. There is a stream for each topic: Cooking, News, Sports, GamePlay, Health, Making, Science and History, Home, Garden and Nature, Travel, Tech and Vehicles, Entertainment, and More, plus your Personal Stream of only the channels you add. They all start switched on and take turns, one video from each. Switch off any you don't want.
Select From chooses which streams show on your page. Showing a stream does not change what plays; only its switch does. Tap a stream's name for its settings, like a window of only the last few days, or which teams.
Packages
Packages are whole collections you add to your Personal Stream in one tap, such as Podcasts and Live Streams. Find them under the Personal Stream in Customize; the i beside each says what is in it.
Shorts, with their links
TopReel can mix YouTube Shorts into your streams, from the same channels. Choose Normal, Shorts or Both in Customize. Each Short is marked Short. On YouTube a Short has no links you can tap; on TopReel the links from its description are on your phone.
Watching on a television
Tap Pick a TV to link a television with YouTube on it: Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, and smart TVs with the YouTube app. On the TV, open YouTube, go to Settings, then Link with TV code, and take a photo of the code or type it in.
Your phone is then the remote, with big Next, Back and Skip Ad buttons. Up next shows the next three videos: skip to one, or take one out. Below are the creator's website, the chapters and the links from the description: a chapter jumps the TV to it, and a link opens on your phone. Stop TV stops it, Start TV starts it again, and if you put your phone away the TV carries on for up to 15 minutes.
Skip Ad
Skips the ad at the start of a video, once YouTube lets it be skipped.
Español and हिन्दी
TopReel also comes in Spanish and Hindi, with videos in those languages. Choose your language at the top of Customize.
Free, with just your email
TopReel is free: no card, nothing to pay. All you need is your email. We send you a link, you tap it, and you are in. There is no password.
iPhone: open topreelapp.com/app in Safari, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
Android: open topreelapp.com/app in Chrome, tap the menu (the three dots), then Install app.
