Air PlayIt: The Ultimate Video Streaming App for iPhone and iPad

In the past, we’ve reviewed some really innovative streaming apps including AirMusic, AirView, AirPlayer and others. Joining that list is Air PlayIt – an app for iPhone and iPad that is capable of streaming and playing 320 different video & audio formats on your devices via WiFi and 3G/4G network.

I usually prefer watching videos on my iPad and iPhone rather than playing them on my computer. It lets me roam around the place without missing any action. However, I  consider it a hassle to transfer the video from computer to iPad/iPhone via iTunes. Therefore, I must confess that I have a bit of an addiction for streaming apps and servers.

Upon installation, the app prompts you to download the Air PlayIt server. I downloaded and installed the Windows Air PlayIt server (16.4 MB). The app detected the server as soon as it was up on my Windows PC.

The Air PlayIt app has a really simple and intuitive interface. On the main screen, it lists the local servers, remote servers and provides links to downloaded video and music. Though the app did a fairly good job of detecting my Air PlayIt server, it provides a manual option as well.

You can edit a server by clicking on the arrow sign next to it. It allows you to modify the server name, IP Address, Port, Anonymity, PIN and Connection Type. Once you connect to a server, the app lists the media content that can be streamed as shown below.

You can then select any video and then choose to stream it from the server, download it to the device, edit its Playback Settings or add it as an offline conversation to a task.

I played around with the server often stopping it and killing it manually. In almost all cases, the app instantaneously detected that the connection to server isn’t available. The app does a good job of playing video on device without any noticeable delay and the live conversion is pretty smooth.

I really liked the fact that Air PlayIt automatically generates a playlist of my recent played videos and music, and it remembers the last play point for each video. The built-in HTTP server is a major convenience and it lets me access media files via any web browser on another computer.

The only major flaw of Air PlayIt – there’s no way you can put the app in background and do anything else on your iPhone/ iPad at that time. Other than that, it’s a near perfect video streaming app for the iPhone and the iPad. Go grab Air PlayIt while it’s free on the App Store.