Squrl for iOS social, watch-later video service (screenshots)

Squrl lets you bookmark and access content from Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, YouTube, Vimeo, and more, acting like a DVR for online videos.

Joshua Goldman

June 20, 2011 10:47 a.m. PT

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Provider support

Whether you use it from your computer's browser or through the iOS app (an Android app is in development), Squrl gives you a starting point for discovering video on several services. Simply click on a site and you can start looking for stuff to watch immediately or save for later.

If you're in a Web browser, clicking on these provider links will take you to the site. When using the app, though, you can browse from within it, making it a more seamless experience.

Your account can be linked to sync your favorite YouTube clips as well as your Netfilx Watch Instantly queue. Facebook and Twitter accounts can be linked, too, for sharing videos through those services.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

YouTube and Squrl

Squrl works very well with YouTube. Sign in to your YouTube account and you'll see all your existing playlists and subscriptions. Plus, all videos have a small acorn on them; just click it and the video saves to your Squrl queue. With other sites you can just use the acorn icon on the top nav bar to save content for later. Similarly, a Squrl It button is available for your Web browser. You just drag and drop it on your browser, and when you find something to store, you click it. Videos can also be saved to your queue by e-mail or tweets.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Galleries

If you're not sure where to start, there are galleries you can check out for each provider created by other members, who are called curators on the service. Within these galleries are individual collections for more granular viewing. So say you're a fan of The Daily Show and it has been covering a specific news story over several episodes, you might find a Daily Show gallery with a collection of episodes with that news story. You can easily save a gallery to your queue or, if you're on an iPad, you can also tap "play all" to watch the entire gallery like a playlist. If you have an Apple TV, video can be pushed to your TV via AirPlay for large-screen viewing.

You can build your own galleries and collections, too, but the site and app don't explain anything, so you're pretty much left on your own to figure everything out.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Squrl queue

Once you've found some stuff to watch, head back to your queue and you'll see all the videos you've saved from all of the providers in one place.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Queue sort

For easier browsing you can quickly sort your videos. The Default sort is by provider.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Info

Not sure what something is? A long press brings up video info as well as other users who have viewed it recently.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Community

Of course there's a big social aspect to the service, letting you follow other members as well as share stuff you've found.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Real-time updates

You can also get a quick real-time look at what other curators are watching, liking, and saving.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Viewing

Most content is viewed from within Squrl--in the app or on your computer. Netflix seems to be the only one that switches to playing through the Netflix site or app.

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Screenshot by Joshua Goldman/CNET

Minimize

Those who want to keep browsing or work on something else while viewing a video on an iPad can minimize what's playing to a tiny box at the lower right of the screen.