Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most people in the U.S. who want to go live from a phone with guests, branding, and minimal setup, the easiest path is to treat StreamYard as your mobile-friendly browser studio and run everything in the cloud. If you need an app-first experience for solo mobile streams with advanced controls, tools like Streamlabs Mobile are a reasonable alternative.

Summary

• StreamYard works on phones and tablets for both hosts and guests, so you get a full browser-based studio without installing a desktop encoder. (StreamYard Help Center)
• On paid plans, you can multistream from one mobile session to several major platforms at once while we handle the cloud encoding and fan-out. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Streamlabs Mobile offers native iOS/Android apps and adds mobile multistreaming and disconnect protection when you upgrade to Streamlabs Ultra. (Streamlabs)
• OBS does not have its own mobile app but shares guidance on which third‑party mobile apps pair well with an OBS desktop workflow. (OBS Project)

What do people actually mean by “mobile streaming app” today?

When someone searches for a “mobile streaming app,” they’re usually after one of three things:

1. Going live directly from a phone to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, or LinkedIn without a laptop.
2. Running a proper show from a phone—with guests, overlays, and comments—rather than just hitting “Go Live” in a social app.
3. Using a phone as a camera feeding into a more advanced desktop setup.

StreamYard sits right in the middle of those needs. You get a real studio—guests, layouts, overlays, local multi‑track recording, presenter notes—yet you can run it from a browser on your phone or tablet. For a lot of creators, that’s the sweet spot between the simplicity of native social apps and the complexity of desktop encoders.

How does StreamYard work on phones and tablets?

StreamYard supports both hosts and guests joining a studio from mobile devices, so you can run or join shows from a phone or tablet. (StreamYard Help Center) You simply open a supported mobile browser, tap the studio link, and you’re in—no desktop install and no separate “host app” required.

On top of that mobile access, you still get the core StreamYard capabilities that matter for real shows:

• Independent control of mic and screen audio, so you can share your screen from a mobile browser and keep audio balanced.
• Local multi‑track recordings that are suitable for repurposing into podcasts, clips, or full YouTube uploads.
• Landscape and portrait outputs from the same studio session, so you can send horizontal and vertical feeds simultaneously.
• Branded overlays, logos, and visual elements applied live, even if you’re hosting from a phone.
• Presenter notes visible only to you, which is especially helpful when you’re literally holding the show in your hand.
• Multi‑participant screen sharing, which lets multiple people demo or present from different devices.

There is one iOS nuance worth knowing: if local recordings are enabled, iOS users join through the dedicated iOS Guest App to support that recording workflow. (StreamYard Help Center) In practice, this just means you’ll direct iPhone guests to a quick app download when you want studio‑quality local tracks.

For most creators, this mobile-friendly browser approach is simpler than learning a full mobile encoder UI. You get a familiar, clean interface that many users describe as easy enough to explain over the phone to a non‑technical guest.

Which mobile streaming apps support multistreaming on iOS and Android?

If multistreaming is part of your strategy, your options fall into two camps: cloud studios like StreamYard and app‑first encoders like Streamlabs Mobile.

On StreamYard’s paid plans, you can multistream a single show to multiple destinations—Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, X, Twitch, Kick, and custom RTMP—while your device only uploads one stream. (StreamYard Help Center) The fan‑out happens in our cloud, and host destination limits are clearly defined: 3, 8, or 10 simultaneous destinations depending on your plan. (StreamYard Help Center)

Streamlabs Mobile, on the other hand, is a dedicated app for iOS (14+) and Android (5.0+). (Streamlabs) On its free tier, you can go live to integrated platforms; when you upgrade to Streamlabs Ultra, you gain the ability to multistream to multiple destinations from the app and add disconnect protection for unstable networks. (Streamlabs)

For most people who only need a handful of mainstream destinations, StreamYard’s cloud multistreaming from a mobile-friendly browser is usually simpler than tuning a mobile encoder app. App-first tools become attractive when you want to tweak every setting from the phone itself and don’t mind a denser interface.

How does pricing compare when you want mobile multistreaming?

If you know you’ll be multistreaming from a phone regularly, it’s worth looking at pricing alongside complexity.

StreamYard offers a free plan for basic streaming and paid plans that unlock multistreaming, advanced branding, multi‑track recording, and other studio features. We also provide a 7‑day free trial and often run special offers for new users. For the first year, new users can access a mid‑tier plan at around $20/month and a higher tier at around $39/month when billed annually, and our pricing is per workspace, not per user—so teams don’t pay per seat.

Streamlabs takes a different route: Streamlabs Desktop and the mobile app are free, but many advanced features, including multistreaming and premium overlays, are tied to Streamlabs Ultra at $27/month or $189/year. (Streamlabs)

In practice, someone building a small team show often finds per‑workspace pricing easier to justify than per‑user or per‑membership setups. Once several hosts or producers are involved, the total cost and admin overhead often favor a shared StreamYard studio over multiple individual subscriptions.

Can I join a StreamYard studio from my phone without installing an app?

Yes. Both hosts and guests can join StreamYard from a mobile browser, and that’s how most people start. You open a studio link in your phone’s browser, allow camera and microphone access, and you’re in the green room.

The experience is intentionally low‑friction:

• No need to install a desktop program.
• Guests do not have to create accounts just to appear on screen.
• The interface passes what many users jokingly call the “grandparent test”—it’s straightforward enough for non‑technical guests.

The one exception is that, when local recording is enabled, iOS guests use the StreamYard iOS Guest App to capture higher‑quality local files. (StreamYard Help Center) For most recurring shows, hosts simply include that note in the invite instructions.

In a quick example: imagine you’re standing backstage at a conference with only your phone. You can spin up your StreamYard studio, invite a remote co‑host, add your logo overlay, and go live to YouTube and LinkedIn at the same time—all without touching a laptop.

What does Streamlabs Ultra include for mobile streams?

Streamlabs Mobile is designed as a classic “mobile streaming app” with an in‑app encoder UI and overlays. Out of the box, it supports streaming to Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Kick, Trovo, Instagram, X (Twitter), and custom RTMP destinations. (Streamlabs)

Streamlabs Ultra, their paid membership, unlocks more on mobile, including:

• Multistreaming to several destinations simultaneously from the app.
• Disconnect protection and related reliability features for when your phone signal dips. (OBS Project)

Streamlabs’ approach appeals if you want to do everything from within one app on your phone, including alerts and monetization tools. The trade‑off is that you’re managing encoding and layout from a relatively small touch UI, which is fine for solo streams but can feel cramped for multi‑guest shows.

By contrast, StreamYard keeps the controls in a clean browser studio that’s consistent across desktop, tablet, and phone, which many hosts find easier to navigate when they are also watching comments and controlling scene layouts.

How do you use a phone with OBS if there’s no OBS mobile app?

OBS does not offer its own mobile streaming client and explains that developing OBS Studio for mobile is outside its current scope. (OBS Project) Instead, the OBS team points users to third‑party mobile apps and workflows.

The two main patterns are:

• Phone as camera: You run OBS Studio on a desktop and connect your phone as a camera source using apps or plugins that send video over Wi‑Fi or USB. OBS provides guidance and links to several such tools in its knowledge base. (OBS Project)
• Phone as independent encoder: You use a mobile streaming app (including options like Streamlabs Mobile) to go live directly from the phone and treat OBS as a separate, more advanced option when you’re at your desk.

This flexibility is powerful but asks more of you in terms of setup and hardware. Many creators end up using OBS when they want dense, scene‑rich game streams from a PC, and StreamYard when they want quick, reliable talk shows or interviews that can be run from any device.

What we recommend

• Default path: Use StreamYard as your primary “mobile streaming app” by running its browser-based studio from your phone or tablet whenever you need guests, branding, and multistreaming without a heavy setup.
• App-first solo streams: Choose a dedicated encoder like Streamlabs Mobile if you prefer an all‑in‑one phone app and are comfortable managing settings on a small screen.
• Hybrid setups: Combine StreamYard for shows with remote guests and cloud multistreaming, and keep OBS or Streamlabs Desktop on a PC for the few streams where you truly need deep scene customization.
• Team workflows: If multiple people will host or produce from different devices, favor StreamYard’s per‑workspace model and browser access so everyone can jump into the same studio without juggling installs or extra licenses.