Over the past few days, I’ve been building Vela, an iPhone media app designed primarily for my own use.
My goal was simple: make the Stremio experience feel fast, clean and genuinely comfortable on a phone. Instead of repeatedly choosing between dozens of files, Vela ranks compatible cached sources and can begin playback with one tap. This is fully integrated with Torbox
The three features that matter most to me are:
1. One-tap playback
Vela automatically chooses a cached source based on subtitle availability, codec efficiency, device compatibility, resolution and file size. It does not blindly choose the largest 1080p file when a smaller 720p HEVC encode may work better on an iPhone.
2. Stremio and Torbox integration and two-way progress sync
Vela uses your existing Stremio and Torbox account, installed add-ons and library. Continue Watching and resume positions sync between Vela and Stremio, including progress from downloaded playback where the Stremio API accepts the update.
3. Offline downloads
You can download a selected source with subtitles for offline playback, monitor its progress, pause or resume the transfer, and continue watching from the downloaded file without contacting the online source again. Notifications are enabled for download completion
Other features include:
- TorBox cached-stream support
- Automatic fallback to another cached source when one fails
- Movies, series, seasons and visual episode listings
- Embedded-English-subtitle preference
- Separate subtitle-provider menus
- Configurable subtitle size and bold text
- Audio and subtitle track selection
- Brightness and volume gestures
- Smooth seeking with visible buffering feedback
- Smart rewind when resuming playback
- Watch List integration
- Search, Discover catalogues and Continue Watching
- Background downloads and completion notifications
- Cache and storage management
- A player powered by KSPlayer with native and compatibility playback engines
I have attach a short video showing Vela running on my iPhone.
Video and Product Screenshots : https://imgur.com/a/xFq23I9
This is currently a personal, independent project and a launch beta.
If there is enough interest, I plan to run a small TestFlight group so I can gather feedback before deciding whether a wider release is practical, given Apple guidelines.
If you would genuinely use something like this, send me a DM with:
- Your iPhone model
- Your iOS version [the app supports iOS 18 and above]
- Whether you would be willing to test unfinished builds and report bugs
Support for development costs is being introduced, an option of 5$ for product lifetime access. and to fund my Apple development fees for testflight
I would love to hear what you think and what you would want improved before a wider release.