[iOS App] Bomb Cyclone, a Giant Bomb video app for iPhone and iPad, is now available!

Bomb Cyclone is a Giant Bomb video player for iOS and iPadOS. Features include:

• Browse featured videos and shows.
• Watch video archives and site livestreams.
• Push notifications for new videos, livestreams and show episodes.
• Watch on your TV using Airplay or Chromecast.
• Add videos to your personal watchlist.
• Search for videos by name, show, date range and more.
• Download videos for offline viewing.
• In-app mini player.
• Picture in Picture support.
• Splitscreen multitasking support on iPad.
• Mark videos as watched.
• Continue Watching and Live & Upcoming widgets on iOS 14.

If you’d like to check it out, it's available on the App Store!

What does it look like?

Here's how it looks on iPhone:

Gallery

And here's how it looks on iPad:

Gallery

There are also a handful of widgets you can add to your home screen:

I already use Video Buddy/GBTV/Burger, why would I switch to Bomb Cyclone?

Those apps are great and if you like one of them you should absolutely keep using it. With Bomb Cyclone, I wanted to do something a little different with the UI and implement some functionality — like push notifications — that isn’t otherwise widely available. If any of that sounds appealing, you should give it a try!

Why doesn't it do (x)?

Probably because I haven't though of it! If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the beta and gave feedback. There’s still a bunch of stuff I want to add, but right now I'm concentrating on the mini player and iPad support which I'm hoping to have ready by the time iOS 13 drops.

Thanks for the app. I hope you have the opportunity to bring back downloads. Do you know why other apps are allowed to have downloads when yours doesn’t?

I'm not sure. I didn't bring up the other apps to the review board in case they got pulled, but my guess is they just slipped by unnoticed. The App Store guidelines are sometimes capriciously applied so it's not uncommon for one app to be flagged while another sails through.

The Chromecast button isn’t showing up for me at all. I’m on the iOS 13 beta, but other apps (like Video Buddy) are working fine, so I’m not sure if that’s it.

@espiox said:

Hmm, that's strange. I haven't done much testing with iOS 13 so I don't know for sure, but it's possible some of the privacy changes are affecting device discovery. Video Buddy is using a much older version of the Cast SDK so it may not be impacted in the same way.

If you have the Twitch app installed, can you see if the cast button shows up there? That should be using approximately the same SDK version as Bomb Cyclone.

@conmulligan: Yeah, looks like it’s not working in Twitch either.

GB explicitly granting the app permission to download video it’ll have to remain disabled for now. In its place, I’ve added the ability to “favourite” videos, so you can build a kind of local playlist.

Chromecast is working again now in iOS 13 beta 4!

This looks great. Cant wait for ipad support.

Hey all, version 1.0.3 is now available. Here's what's changed:

• Casting video now uses the selected quality level. Note: if you experience stuttering while casting, you might want to drop the quality level down a notch.
• Increased the tab bar icon contrast.
• Fixed some bugs and tweaked the UI.

Just wanted to say that this is a great app only held back by not having downloads. Have you talked to anyone at Giant Bomb about getting permissions? I know it would be a pain in the ass dealing with that and the App Store review team, but it would be so worth it. Quite frankly, CBS Interactive should buy your app/source code and make it official. It's that good.

@dallen33: Thanks, I'm glad you like it! I've been in touch with Will who sent me on some documentation, so I'm hoping to submit an update that re-enables downloads in time for the iOS 13 launch. That should hopefully happen in the 2-3 weeks.

Great app! Can I suggest having videos automatically going full screen when putting the phone in landscape mode?

Those screenshots look really good. I'll definitely check the app out when it has iPad support.

Hey is this still in development? iPad still coming?

@reflex said:

Definitely still in development! There should be an iOS 13 update rolling out shortly in fact. I'm still working on iPad support, but it's getting there. Right now it looks like I should be done by early November.

Good news! Version 1.1 is now available and downloads are back! Huge thanks for @wcarle for his help with this.

Also in 1.1:

• The app’s been updated for iOS 13.
• Notifications now include images and will open the associated video when selected.
• Improved Google Cast integration.
• Miscellaneous bug fixes.

Hey all, 1.1.1 is now available. This version resolves a bunch of issues, especially when it comes to downloading videos, so if you've been having trouble hopefully this fixes things for you!

• Updated the registration UI to better match the rest of the app.
• Reduced disk usage by periodically cleaning up temporary and unused files.
• Updated toast appearance.
• Resolved a visual glitch when presenting the Google Cast device chooser on iOS 13.
• Fixed an issue where selecting a video while already casting wouldn’t play the new video.
• Improved stability on iOS 12.
• Miscellaneous bug fixes.

Hey just a heads up I can’t seem to watch any of the “random PC game” shows since the app can’t display HD, High, or Low For them.

@reflex: Thanks for the heads up! There seems to be an issue with the API where some search results are missing the video URL fields. I've filed a bug report and I'll try to include a workaround in the next update, but in the meantime if you can navigate to the videos without using the search bar you should be able to play them in the app.

@conmulligan: Any ETA on an iPad version? any possibility of an AppleTV version too? Pretty please? :D

Experiencing a few bugs in regards to chrome casting. When I chromecast a video, if I lock my phone and then open my phone again, the video will always start over from the beginning automatically. I also can’t skim the video during chromecast successfully. If I minimize the video on my phone, it disappears below the bottom of my screen with no way to pull it up again.

Edit: I’m on iOS 13.1.3

@seram: Seeing those exact same bugs (iPhone 11 on iOS 13.1.3). Having the video constantly start over (and being unable to skip back to where I was) is a deal breaker for me. Looking forward to updates!

@theadmin: The iPad version should be ready soon! I'm hoping to have a beta up on TestFlight by the end of the month with an eye to releasing it a week or two later. Apple TV is a trickier proposition. It's definitely something I'd like to do, but many of Bomb Cyclone's core features — like push notifications, downloads and Chromecast support — wouldn't make sense on an Apple TV and Giant Bomb's official Apple TV app already does a good job covering the rest. I'll look into it a bit more once I have the iPad version out the door, though.

@pythagosaurus, @seram: Thanks for the info! I'll go though each point one by one:

When I chromecast a video, if I lock my phone and then open my phone again, the video will always start over from the beginning automatically.

I think I know the issue here and should have a fix ready by the time the iPad version goes up.

I also can’t skim the video during chromecast successfully.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to reproduce this. Can you describe the scrubber behaviour in more detail? Does it not respond to dragging at all or is it bouncing around after you lift your finger? Also, if you could let me know what Chromecast devices you're using that may help narrow it down!

If I minimize the video on my phone, it disappears below the bottom of my screen with no way to pull it up again.

This is a limitation of how the app is currently designed, but I'm planning to introduce a mini player that will allow you to dismiss and restore the video screen without losing the video session. This won't make it in for the iPad release, but should hopefully be in the following update.

@conmulligan: In regards to the video scrubbing issue, I haven’t been able to reproduce it either since posting that and it only happened once, so not sure, it may have just been a funky issue with Chromecast itself in the moment. I’ll post again if it ever happens again. But basically I scrubbed on my phone but the chromecast video on the TV kept playing without reflecting my scrubbing. But so far so good on that front now.

And in regards to my chromecast model, it’s a Chromecast Ultra.

Thanks and looking forward to the updates! Definitely enjoying the app.

Edit: Forgot to also mention if I pick a video that is under “Continue Watching” and I’m connected to chromecast, the video will start from the beginning and not from where it left off.

I’m having an issue with the app remembering my progress on downloaded videos. Right now, it starts them from the beginning whenever I go back to them. Is this a known thing, or maybe something I’m doing wrong?

Hey folks, the iPad beta is now live! If you'd like to participate, you can opt-in here. It’s very much a beta build, so expect bugs and some occasionally funky UI behaviour. If you do come across anything that looks like it needs attention, even if it’s very minor, let me know and I’ll hopefully sort it before release.

This version also includes some changes for iPhone, so if you don’t have an iPad but still want to kick the tires you’re more than welcome to join the beta.

Here’s the full changelog:

• Updated UI to support iPad.
• Added support for iPad multitasking with Split View, Slide Over and Picture in Picture.
• Landscape orientation is now supported on iPhone.
• The show screen now includes grid mode and ordering.
• The search results screen now includes grid mode.
• Improved animations.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check this out. When you're watching downloaded videos do you normally do so without an active internet connection?

As of maybe a day or two ago, I can't seem to play any videos (premium or not) from the app. I've tried delinking my account and it's still not working. Any ideas?

@zero_ said:

It sounds like this might be the same issue other users have reported here. Are you seeing similar behaviour in any other apps?

@conmulligan said:

Just wanted to say I’m loving the iPad app, just hope there is a work around or a possible fix for this since ive come across a few videos which leads to dead ends.

@reflex: I haven't heard anything back on the bug report but I'd try to include a workaround in the next build.

@conmulligan: Normally online, but I do occasional offline viewing as well. I'm mostly using the downloaded videos to ensure I can watch them when I have low bandwidth, and as a way of having a "to watch" playlist.

Hi! I started using this about a month ago when I switched back to iOS. I like the app a lot, but I’m experiencing a major bug: occasionally, without rhyme or reason, I’ll open the app and all my downloads will be gone. I confirmed in Storage that the app isn’t using that space, so they really are gone. If regularly use the app without an internet connection, like on a plane, and I also get the issue where video progress resets, but downloads disappearing is the biggest issue for me.

@okinopolytrans: Yikes, that's a nasty one! I'll look into this ASAP. Would you mind checking a few things to help me narrow it down?

• When the downloads disappear, are they removed from the "Downloads" tab in the app or are just the files removed?
• Is your phone low on space?
• What iOS version are you running?

Thanks!

@conmulligan: I’m on a brand new iPhone 11 with the latest os; this also happened to me on the last version. Nowhere near out of space. The downloads are gone from the tab in the app, so I looked at Storage to see if the files were present but the metadata went bad. Since the app is now showing storage in the mbs instead of gbs, I figure the files are gone.

I’m trying to think of anything that could help, but I got nuthin. This time, it happened when I booted up the app upon arriving at my destination after a plane ride; the videos were there on the plane. I did sign into southwest wifi, and didn’t pay, so it would have detected a network but not internet. But this happened to me before, when I wasn’t traveling. “Happened” means that the downloads were suddenly gone. A mix of premium and non premium videos.

Hey folks,

There’s a fresh build up on TestFlight with a bunch of changes. Barring any major problems, I’m hoping to push this to the store by the end of this week, so if you comes across any severe issues let me know and I’ll try to sort them before then.

@seram@pythagosaurus: The issue causing cast videos to restart when waking the app should be resolved in the latest beta version.

@reflex: I still haven’t heard back from anyone at GB regarding the root issue, but I’ve added a workaround so the app shouldn’t be affected anymore.

@okinopolytrans: Thanks for the info! Unfortunately I haven’t had any joy reproducing this. My best guess is that a background task designed to clean up partial download files is inadvertently removing complete files, but even if this were the case it shouldn’t remove them from the list of downloads. In any case, I’ve disabled this task for now, so if you fancy being a guinea pig you can grab the latest TestFlight build and see if that improves things for you. There are also a couple of other things you might know that could help narrow it down:

• Were there any common videos in your download list each time it was wiped?
• When your download list was wiped were you also signed out of the app?

If anyone else is experiencing this issue I’d love to hear from you because at the moment I don’t have much to go on.

@conmulligan: Hey I’m loving the update. Just come across 2 bugs.

When im playing a video and close it the audio keeps running in the background and if I start playing another video the audio overlaps each other.

And on the continue row, i cant quite remember if this is a feature or a bug but the most recent thing you’ve watched doesn’t jump to the top of the queue but rather the bottom

@conmulligan: understood. I unfortunately don’t remember what videos were downloaded when they disappeared. I’ve been monitoring it since my last message and haven’t seen any problems. I was not signed out when they disappeared, either accidentally or intentionally. How can I get into the beta on TestFlight?

@okinopolytrans: here you go: https://testflight.apple.com/join/gkC8SfAg

Version 1.2 is now up on the store! Thanks to everyone who helped test the beta build.

I'll probably have another smaller update before the end of the year that addresses some lingering issues, and then next year my plan is to redesign the home screen and video playback screen to include things like featured videos, upcoming videos and the mini player.

@reflex: The audio issue should be fixed in the version that's up on the store! The other's a bit more complicated because, for the time being, the app isn't storing playback progress locally so it needs to sync to the server and back before the "Continue Watching" section is updated. I'm hoping to make this smarter in a future version, though.

Hi, first of all, thanks for making the iPad support, it seems to work well overall. I’ve noticed a problem though: when I put a video into picture in picture, close the page for that video, then press the button to go full screen again, the app crashes. This can suck if I want to browse other videos while I watch, but then say something funny happens and I want to full screen the video to watch that moment.

It also seems that when you reopen the page for a picture in picture video, the app will let you play another instance of the video that will then play at the same time as the PiP one, instead of showing the “this video is playing in PiP” screen.

@4gateftw: Yeah, this is currently the app’s biggest limitation. At the moment, all video playback logic is contained in the video sheet, so when that sheet is dismissed the app no longer has any knowledge of playback state, including picture-in-picture. Fortunately, this will be solved by adding the mini player, which is my next priority. Implementing the mini player will move all the playback logic out of the video sheet and into an app-wide container, so you’ll be able to dismiss the video sheet and continue playback, regardless of whether or PiP is active.

I’m hoping to knock out the mini player some time over the holidays so hopefully it’ll be ready by early January! In the meantime, you'll need to keep the video sheet open when playing video, even when using PiP.

Love this app, really impressive presentation!

Can the app add landscape viewing as default like in video buddy?

This app is a blessing! I came to complain about the how buggy the main site is on my iPad but now I don't really care because this solves every issue.

Please please please please add the ability to add individual videos to a watch list. That would be the best!

This app is great, thanks for your work on it!

My feature request would be a watch list.