Skip to main content

Vimeo apps come to Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire

Vimeo apps come to Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire

/

Vimeo launches apps for Windows Phone, Android, and Kindle Fire, and promises updates for iOS by the end of January.

Share this story

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

vimeo
vimeo

Formerly available in app form only on iOS, Vimeo is finally coming to Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows Phone. We dropped by the Vimeo office in New York last week to check out the company's suite of new apps, available today. The apps feature the full Vimeo experience, so you'll be able to like, share, and comment as you do on the web site, in addition to the usual search and video watching.

A free download that works on any device running Gingerbread or later, Vimeo's Android offering greets you with a grid of basic options for creating, uploading, and watching video. Vimeo integrated Android's sharing options, so you'll be able to send video via any social networks for which you have an app installed. While the app doesn't require a Vimeo account, logging in gives you the full range of Vimeo features, including commenting, saving, and viewing your Watch Later list. For users of 10-inch tablets, the Android app provides a modified experience that takes advantage of the larger screen real estate to browse other videos, recommendations, collections, and more while a video plays in a separate pane. The new Kindle Fire edition ran smoothly, but doesn't feature the modified layout you'll find in larger Android tablets — it's more like an expanded version of the phone app.

Vimeo for Android, iPad, Windows Phone photos

1/18

Updates are also coming to iOS "later this month," with a full iPhone redesign and a new iPad-optimized app. The iPhone app also adapts the new grid start screen, and is much the same as the Android phone app. Also similar to the Android tablet app, the iPad version takes advantage of the larger screen for simultaneous browsing and video watching.

For Windows Phone, Vimeo went classic Metro style, and it's the most impressive app among the new lineup. Instead of tapping through menus and videos as you do on iOS and Android, simple swipes move you through search, recommendations, groups, and channels. Each screen subtly varies thumbnails, type size, and layout, so that you can recognize your place in the app's hierarchy at a glance. Like with iOS and Android, you can shoot and upload video from the Vimeo app, or upload videos that you've previously created.

While you can view your own profile on these apps, you're unable to explore other users' profiles to the extent you can on Vimeo.com. This means that if you find a user whose videos you like, you can't see what they're liking — a great way to dig past what algorithmic recommendations suggest. For now, video editing is still an iOS-only feature. The apps should be available for download today.

Update: The download for Android is available in the Marketplace and on the Amazon Appstore for Android.