App Profile: Pocket Beacon

Norr1n'sGotSk1llz

Rating: 4/5

Critical Role’s new platform, Beacon, is a great value! There is a ton of content available for a really reasonable monthly subscription. This is critical role we’re talking about, so it’s high quality content too! Really, the one thing I’d change about the mobile experience would be adding the ability to watch videos in Picture in Picture mode when I leave for another app and to have the videos keep playing while I lock my phone. Or, at the very least make it so if I watch an episode and then switch to listening instead it’ll sync my progress instead of having me start over and scrub through. Otherwise, this is a perfect app!

Seapeary7

Rating: 3/5

As far as content goes, this app has that. That was never going to be an issue for this platform. The problems I have had involve the delay in ability to stream live episodes. They release as on-demand and ad free, however they take about 6-10 minutes after the twitch streams start on the same night. As for playback features, the app suffers from the inability to fill/zoom/adjust screen size in any way, however, PiP mode works well. I have to same issue on other apps when listening at 1.5-2x speed where the playback feed will eventually lag and restart all the way back to the beginning of the playback speed initialization. This may be a software or app bug that needs an OS patch. The lack of integration with third party apps used for user verification when logging in is also suffering from poor user experience. When you are not using the app it will log you out and when you come back on it will take you to another app or browser to log in. This is tedious and not user friendly. Overall, the loading screens, while minimalistic, are rather boring and excessive. If there are going to be several loading screens between logging in, selecting content, and loading content episodes or features, maybe don’t have them take up the entire screen or page. It feels like looking at a blank screen for 45 seconds before even seeing the content you are trying to watch. Make it more interactive or interesting to look at, or even content suggestions.

TtCrookston

Rating: 3/5

Love CR, and love that they finally have their own app. The app’s interface is beautifully done, and easy to use. It’s just not reliable at this point. I am constantly getting playback and “technical errors” that require multiple restarts of the app and simply resolve. The app also does not currently support background play or Picture in Picture, so you have to keep your phone on and the app open to watch any content. I currently use the beacon website more often than the app, as it seems to be marginally more reliable for streaming (though it also doesn’t support background play). I may take a break and continue using twitch instead. Again I absolutely love the app and concept, but the frustration entailed to use it may not be worth using it in its infancy. Perhaps after another few updates I’ll give it another go!