What Is Moblin? The Free IRL Streaming App Taking Over iOS
Moblin: Built for IRL Streaming from the Ground Up
Most streaming apps were designed for desk streamers and then adapted for IRL use. Moblin is different — it was built from day one for streaming live from your iPhone while you are out in the world.
It is free, open-source, and maintained by a developer (eerimoq) who is himself an IRL streamer. That means the features that get added are features IRL streamers actually need.
What Moblin Does Differently
Moblin supports SRT and SRTLA as its primary streaming protocols — not RTMP. This matters a lot for IRL streaming. SRT is designed for unstable networks and recovers from packet loss automatically. RTMP does not. When you walk through an area with patchy signal, SRT keeps your stream alive. RTMP gives up.
SRTLA takes this further by bonding multiple connections together — for example, your iPhone's cellular data and a nearby WiFi network simultaneously. IRLHost relay servers support SRTLA server-side, so the bonding works end-to-end: your phone bonds the connections, and IRLHost receives them and reassembles the stream into a single stable feed for your OBS at home.
Key Features Worth Knowing
- SRT and SRTLA support — the right protocols for mobile streaming
- Adaptive bitrate — automatically lowers bitrate when your signal is weak, then raises it again when signal improves
- Moblink bonding — pair a second Android phone running the free Moblink app as an extra internet connection, no technical setup required
- Multiple camera switching — switch between front and back camera live during your stream
- Real-time stats overlay — see bitrate, RTT, and packet loss on screen while you stream
- Chat integration — see Twitch or Kick chat on your phone screen without a second device
- Codec flexibility — supports H.264 and H.265/HEVC encoding; IRLHost is codec-agnostic and relays whatever your phone sends
How Moblin Fits Into Your IRL Setup
Moblin is the first piece of the chain. The full flow looks like this:
iPhone (Moblin) → IRLHost relay → Your OBS at home → Twitch/Kick
Moblin sends your video from your iPhone to your IRLHost relay server using SRT or SRTLA. IRLHost stabilises that connection and makes it available as a clean SRT endpoint. Your OBS at home pulls from that endpoint and streams to Twitch or Kick. Your Twitch or Kick stream key lives in OBS — not in Moblin or IRLHost.
What You Need to Get Started
- iPhone (any model from the last few years works)
- Moblin — free on the App Store
- An IRLHost relay server — irlhost.gg, €11.99/month + VAT
- A PC at home running OBS to receive the stream and send it to Twitch or Kick
- A power bank — streaming drains your battery fast
Setting Up Moblin with IRLHost
- Create your IRLHost relay at irlhost.gg and note your SRT ingest URL and stream key
- Open Moblin, go to Settings → Streams → [your stream]
- Select SRT or SRTLA as your protocol
- Enter your IRLHost relay URL and stream key
- Set latency to 2000ms to start — increase to 3000ms in poor signal areas
- Set up OBS on your home PC with a Media Source pointing to your IRLHost relay SRT URL
- Go live in Moblin, verify OBS is receiving the feed, then start streaming in OBS
Is Moblin Only for Twitch?
No — Moblin works with any SRT or SRTLA endpoint, which means it works with IRLHost regardless of what platform you stream to. Twitch, Kick, YouTube, or multiple platforms at once via OBS multistream — Moblin and IRLHost handle the relay layer, and OBS handles the platform distribution.
What About Android?
Moblin is iOS only. Android users should look at IRL Pro, which offers a similar feature set including SRT and SRTLA support. IRLHost works equally well with both.
Get Started
Download Moblin free from the App Store and get your IRLHost relay at irlhost.gg. Setup takes about five minutes from zero to live.