Skip to main content

Movl SwipeIt streams content from iOS and Android to Samsung Smart TVs, but is it an official Samsung app?

Movl SwipeIt streams content from iOS and Android to Samsung Smart TVs, but is it an official Samsung app?

/

An app called Samsung SwipeIt is making waves today based on a rumor that it's an official Samsung competitor to AirPlay, but things may not be all that they seem.

Share this story

swipeit
swipeit

There's been some noise today about an app called Movl SwipeIt that lets you stream content from an iOS or Android device to 2011 Samsung Smart TVs running the SwipeIt app. It's actually pretty neat — you "throw" content to the TV by swiping up on your smartphone screen — but the reason it's making waves is a rumor that Samsung will "announce" the app at CES 2012 as part of a broader strategy to compete with Apple's Airplay.

That's strange enough, seeing as the app's been out for a week now and Samsung's DLNA-based AllShare system already competes with AirPlay, but a little more digging reveals that the rumor all seems to have started with a single blog post that claims Samsung is "pushing" the SwipeIt app to all 2011 Smart TVs. It's further fueled by Movl's liberal use of the Samsung name and logo, but nothing's verified yet — Movl told us they "worked closely" with Samsung on the app but wouldn't confirm anything beyond that. The company did tweet earlier tonight that it's working to add server capacity to deal with demand for SwipeIt, so it doesn't seem like it was especially prepared for Samsung to promote it — not exactly what you'd expect on the eve of a major announcement.

Movl actually has an interesting history: its WeDraw app won first place and $200,000 in Samsung's Smart TV apps competition last year, and Movl followed up with something called the Movl Connect Platform to speed up development of other Samsung TV apps. Samsung liked it so much that it partnered with Movl to use the Connect Platform in this year's TV apps challenge — we'd guess that tight relationship is how Movl ended up with permission to use Samsung's name and logo on the SwipeIt app. Movl also says that iOS versions of the SwipeIt app are submitted and pending App Store approval, so we'll see where that goes — right now it certainly seems like Samsung is just offering resources, promotion, and support to developers who are working on their TV platform, but we'll see if something bigger is in the works.