You can go live on GoCast from a phone. Open your station in the browser, tap Go Live, and you're on air with the same microphone, queue and push-to-talk as the laptop studio. For a quick show, a check-in from somewhere without a laptop, or a test before the real thing, it works well.
It works as long as the studio stays on screen. Phones are built to save battery, and they put away anything you aren't looking at, whether you want them to or not. This article covers exactly where that line is: what we do to keep you on air, what makes the broadcast stop, and what your listeners hear when it does.
The One Rule
Keep the studio in the foreground, with the screen on. As long as the tab is the thing on your screen, your phone broadcasts like a laptop does. The moment it isn't, whether you switched apps, locked the phone, or let the screen go dark, the browser pauses the page, and a paused page can't send audio.
That's not something we chose, and it isn't something a web page can get around. iOS and Android both decide what a background browser tab is allowed to do, and keeping a microphone open and streaming isn't on the list. Any service that broadcasts from a mobile browser is bound by the same rule. An app isn't, which is why we're building one. More on that at the end.
What We Do to Keep You On Air
The Screen Stays Awake
Once you're live, the studio asks your phone to keep the screen on. You can put the phone on a stand, talk for an hour without touching it, and it won't dim or lock itself halfway through a sentence. When you end the broadcast, the screen goes back to its normal timeout.
This works in current versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox and most browsers based on them. There are two cases where the phone can say no:
- Battery saver or Low Power Mode is on. Some phones refuse to keep the screen awake while saving power. The studio can't tell you it was refused; the screen just dims on its usual timer.
- An older browser. If your browser doesn't support keeping the screen on, the same thing happens.
Either way the fix is the same: turn battery saver off for the show, or set your screen timeout to “never” before you start.
It Holds On Through a Dropped Connection
If your connection drops mid-show, from a wifi dead spot or a lift or a train going through a tunnel, the studio doesn't give up. Your microphone, your queue and your place in the current track all stay exactly where they were, and the studio keeps trying to reconnect for up to two minutes. When it gets through, you land mid-sentence with nothing to set up again.
Coming Back Reconnects Straight Away
Background tabs have their timers slowed to about once a minute, so a studio waiting between reconnect attempts could sit there doing nothing long after you'd come back. It doesn't: the moment the studio is on screen again it tries immediately, and it asks for the screen to stay awake again, because the phone let go of that request when you left.
Push-to-Talk Lets Go When You Leave
If you're holding the talk button and the studio loses focus — a notification you tap, the control centre pulled down, an app switch — the microphone closes and the music comes back up. Nobody is left listening to the inside of your pocket. If you locked the mic open, it stays locked; that's what locking it is for.
Every Scenario, and What Happens
| What you do | What happens |
|---|---|
| Leave the studio open and put the phone down | Keeps broadcasting. The screen stays on. |
| Battery saver on, and the screen times out | The screen dims, then locks. Once it locks, the broadcast stops. |
| Press the power button to lock the phone | The broadcast stops. |
| Swipe home, or switch to another app | The broadcast stops. |
| Switch to another tab in the same browser | The broadcast stops. To the phone, a hidden tab is the same as a closed app. |
| Pull down notifications or the control centre, then close it | Usually carries on. Push-to-talk lets go, so hold it again. |
| Answer a phone call | The call takes the microphone, and the broadcast stops. |
| Lose signal for a moment | The studio reconnects on its own within two minutes, as long as it stays on screen. |
| Come back to the studio within two minutes | It reconnects straight away and you carry on where you left off. |
| Come back after longer than that | The broadcast has ended. Go live again; the studio offers to pick your queue up where you left it. |
On some Android phones a broadcast can keep going for a little while after you switch away. Don't count on it. It depends on the phone, the browser and how much memory is free, and the same phone can behave differently from one day to the next.
What Your Listeners Hear
When the studio stops sending audio, your listeners hear several more seconds of what was already on its way to them, and then it depends on your station:
- With AutoDJ (Pro). Your music takes over after a few seconds, and your listeners stay connected. When you come back and reconnect, you take over again. For a listener, it sounds as if you went to a song.
- Without AutoDJ. They hear silence. If you aren't back within about two and a half minutes, the station switches itself off, and you'll need to go live again to bring it back.
That's the strongest case for AutoDJ on a phone. It doesn't stop the phone pausing the studio, but it means a missed call costs you a song instead of your audience.
When the Audio Goes Quiet but You're Still Connected
There's one more case to know about, mostly on iPhones. After an interruption, such as a call, an alarm or a video playing in another app, the phone can come back with the studio's audio paused. You still look connected, but you're sending silence. The studio notices this and tells you, and the next tap anywhere in the studio switches the audio back on.
A Checklist Before You Go Live on a Phone
- Plug it in. A screen held on for an hour, with the microphone and the network busy, uses a lot of battery, and a phone that drops into battery saver halfway through can stop holding the screen on.
- Turn on Do Not Disturb. It keeps calls and notifications from pulling you out of the studio. Check that it silences calls, not only notifications.
- Turn off battery saver or Low Power Mode for the length of the show, or set your screen timeout to “never” as a backup.
- Use wifi if you can. The studio rides out short drops, but a steady connection means you won't need it to.
- Use headphones if you're playing music from the queue, so the microphone picks up your voice and not the speaker.
- Open everything you need before you start. Notes, a running order, the track list: put them on paper or on another device. Any app you check mid-show pauses the broadcast.
When to Use Something Else
A phone is fine for a short show you can give your full attention. For anything long, or anything you'll need to read or look things up during, a laptop is the safer choice. A laptop browser keeps broadcasting even when the studio isn't the window in front, as long as you don't close the tab or put the laptop to sleep. The going live from your browser guide covers the laptop side.
On Pro you can also broadcast from desktop apps like BUTT or Mixxx, which don't depend on a browser tab at all.
A GoCast App Is on the Way
Everything above is a limit on browser tabs, not on phones. An app is allowed to keep the microphone open and the audio flowing when it isn't on screen, so we're building one for iPhone and Android.
With the app you can switch to your notes mid-show, lock the screen and put the phone in your pocket, or leave it on a stand without worrying about the screen timing out. Your broadcast keeps going through all of it. It's the same station, the same microphone and queue, and the same push-to-talk, without the rule about keeping the tab on screen.
We'll announce it here when it's ready. Until then, the phone browser works for a show you can give your full attention, and the checklist above is how to get through one cleanly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I broadcast from my phone with the screen off?
No. Locking the phone pauses the browser, and a paused browser can't send audio. While you're live, the studio keeps the screen on for you so it doesn't lock on its own.
Why does my screen still dim while I'm live?
Your phone refused the request to keep the screen on, usually because battery saver or Low Power Mode is on, or because the browser is too old to support it. Turn battery saver off, or set the screen timeout to “never” for the show.
Can I check another app while I'm broadcasting?
Not without stopping the broadcast. If you're back within two minutes the studio reconnects straight away, but your listeners will have heard a gap, or your AutoDJ music if you're on Pro.
What happens if someone calls me mid-show?
The call takes the microphone and the broadcast stops. Hang up and go back to the studio within two minutes and you're back on air. Turn on Do Not Disturb before you start so calls can't come through.
Is there a GoCast app for broadcasting from my phone?
We're building one now, for iPhone and Android. It keeps broadcasting when you switch apps or lock the screen, which a browser tab can't do. Until it's out, broadcast from the browser and keep the studio on screen.
Does this work on both iPhone and Android?
Yes, with the same rule on both: keep the studio on screen. Some Android phones keep a background tab going for a little longer, but not reliably enough to plan a show around.