One of the things I have the hardest time with is that my immediate family is so spread out. My wife and I live in Washington State, my parents and grandparents live in Hawaii and my sister lives in California. It is so hard to get to see each other on a consistent basis, and we are hardly ever all together in the same place. This makes staying in touch so much more important, but with busy lives sometimes, we always can’t stay in touch as much as we would like to.
Kincast is one of those apps that can hopefully bridge that gap of communication just a little bit more. As much as I try to talk to my parents at least once a week so that they can see our son, they still wish they could stay in touch more. The same goes for my sister and I, and so I decided to try out Kincast to see how it could help us out.
Using Kincast
With Kincast, you basically are sharing videos with others and then interacting around it. There are two main features when it comes to using the app. The first one is recording or uploading a video to share with others. You can do this by recording something from your computer or you can upload one that maybe you shot on your mobile device.
Uploading videos to share
Once you are done uploading you can now share the video with anyone you want through their email. You just type in the addresses of the people you want to send it to and then a short message to them. Once you are done you can send it off and they can watch the video from within Kincast. They can also leave comments for you as well.
Sharing your videos with others
The second major feature is the chat functionality of the app. Let’s say there is a family member that you want to chat with. You can send them a message through email and when they get it, they will get a link to the chat and then the two of you can start messaging each other through Kincast. What is nice about this feature is that the people that you are inviting to chat with you, don’t necessarily have to sign up for a Kincast account. They can still interact within the app, which is a subtle feature, but one that can be appreciated.
Chat feature
What Is Its Purpose?
After using Kincast for a little while, that is the question that I started to think about. I wondered, how could this app be useful for people when there are other apps out there that are more social like Facebook, or still have the video and chat aspect like Skype. But then I started to realize, that Kincast isn’t necessarily meant to be super social or compete with the likes of Skype. It is a way for people to share their life with others in a simple, frictionless way and to have people interact with each other.
Think of it this way: Kincast is perfect for my 83 year old grandma, who hardly ever gets to see her great grandson, and has no clue or interest in using Skype. But, she knows how to use email and checks it all the time. Great, I record a video of my son, invite her on Kincast, then she gets the email and clicks on it and gets to watch a cute video of her great grandson. Mission accomplished! It’s a great way to share out moments of your life with people who may not use social networks, but still want to see what is going on in your life.
Final Thoughts
Kincast, in my opinion is somewhat refreshing to see and to use. It is simple and there is no clutter to get in the way. Best of all, it is private, which not many sharing sites can say now days. The only people that see your videos are the people that you invite to view them. There is no public wall with everyone’s videos, where you can comment on them and so forth. Kincast keeps the communication between you and the people you want to share with.
I personally think Kincast is a great app for families who want to stay in touch with other family members who are not as technologically savvy as other people. It is a great way to share moments of your life with the people close to you without having to worry about whether or not they are going to be able to even open the video that you share. Kincast cuts out the fluff and makes it easy that even my 83 year old grandma can do it.
The app is free to use and they even have an iPhone app that you can use that has the same basic functionalities as the web version. There are a few more features in it that I would love to see come over to the web app. If you are looking for a simple way to share life’s precious moments with your loved ones and you don’t want technology to get in the way, you have to definitely try out Kincast for yourself.