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 TV, the CC button beside Stop TV turns them on there too, in your language, for every video TopReel plays.
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.
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.
TVs 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.
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
TopReel plays curated videos one after another. Press Next for another video. 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. Choose it at the top of Preferences; 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. Tap it again for the next video, and Auto carries on.
Preferences
Tap Preferences, the big button under the video, to choose what you watch. There is a stream for each topic: Cooking, News, GamePlay, Health, Sports, Making, Science and History, Home, Garden and Nature, Travel, Tech and Vehicles, Entertainment, and More, plus your Personal Stream. Switch on the ones you want; they take turns, one video from each.
Select From chooses which streams show in your list; only a stream's switch changes what plays. Tap a stream's name for its own settings, like which teams or games, or only the last few days.
Your Personal Stream and packages
Your Personal Stream plays only the channels you add. Packages, such as Podcasts and Live Streams, add a whole collection in one tap. Find them under the Personal Stream in Preferences; the i beside each says what is in it.
Shorts
Choose Normal, Shorts or Both in Preferences to mix YouTube Shorts into your streams. Each Short is marked Short.
Watching on your TV
Tap Pick a TV, the big button under the video, then Find my TV: TopReel finds the TVs on your Wi-Fi, Roku, Fire TV, Google TV and most smart TVs, and adds the one you pick. Give it a name, like Living room.
Tap Pick a TV, the big button under the video, 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 its Settings, then Link with TV code, and take a photo of the code or type it in. Give your TV a name, like Living room.
While it plays, that button says Playing on and your TV's name; tap it to change TV or to play on the phone. Your phone is the remote: Back, Next and Skip Ad at the bottom, and the video's chapters, which jump the TV to that part. Stop TV, beside the video's tags, stops it, and Start TV plays it again.
When you close TopReel or lock your phone, TopReel stops the video and lets go of your TV straight away, so your YouTube app is yours again.
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 Preferences.
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.
See it in action
A narrated walkthrough of the whole app, about four minutes.
