How to Use a Streaming Multi View App

A streaming multi view app lets you watch several live streams from different platforms—like YouTube, Twitch, and Kick—all at the same time in one browser tab. Instead of juggling multiple windows or tabs that drain your computer's resources, you can arrange all your desired video feeds into a single, manageable grid. This is especially useful for following live events from multiple perspectives or keeping up with several of your favorite creators at once.

ViewGrid is a free tool designed for this purpose. It works directly in your web browser, so there's nothing to install to get started.

Common Problems a Multi-View App Solves

If you follow live content, you've likely run into a few common frustrations when a big event happens or multiple streamers you like go live simultaneously.

Browser Tab Overload: Opening five or six browser tabs for different streams can slow your computer down. Each tab consumes memory and processing power, and finding the one you're looking for can be a hassle.
Competing Audio: Trying to manage audio from multiple tabs is chaotic. You might have commentary from one stream playing over game sounds from another, forcing you to constantly find and mute the right tabs.
* Fragmented Viewing: When you're tracking a news story or an esports match, you often want to see the main broadcast, a specific player's point of view, and a commentator's analysis. A multi-view app brings all these sources together on one screen.

A dedicated tool organizes this experience by putting all the video players into one efficient layout, with a simple way to control which audio source is active.

How to Set Up Your First Multi-View Grid

Creating a layout is straightforward. You don't need an account to build and watch a grid; you only need a free account if you want to save your layouts for later.

Here is the basic process using the ViewGrid multi-stream viewer.

1. Find your streams. Go to YouTube, Twitch, Kick, or Rumble and find the live streams or videos you want to watch.
2. Copy the link. Copy the URL from your browser's address bar for the first stream. A channel URL (like twitch.tv/channelname) or a direct video link both work.
3. Paste the link into ViewGrid. On the ViewGrid page, paste the link into the input box and press Enter. The stream will appear in the grid.
4. Add more streams. Repeat the process. As you add more streams, the grid will automatically adjust to fit them on the screen.
5. Choose a layout. Use the layout buttons in the toolbar to arrange the streams. You can choose from simple side-by-side views to larger, more complex grids. On a desktop computer, you can display up to 20 streams at once. On a phone, layouts are available for up to 6 streams to better fit the smaller screen size.

You can also add streams by searching for a channel name directly in the input box or by using the built-in search tool for live YouTube content.

Managing Audio, Chat, and Focus

Once your grid is set up, you need to be able to interact with it. A good streaming multi view app gives you simple controls for the most common actions.

Switching Audio

By default, all streams in your grid start muted. This prevents a wall of noise when you first load the page. To hear a stream, just click the speaker icon on that video player. The audio will switch to that stream, and any previously active audio will be muted. You can hop between audio sources with a single click.

Viewing Live Chat

For streams from Twitch, YouTube, or Kick, you can open the platform's native chat. Clicking the chat icon in the toolbar opens a side panel next to your video grid. The panel will show the chat for whichever stream is currently selected (indicated by a colored border). This lets you follow the conversation for your main stream without cluttering the video area.

Focusing on a Single Stream

If you want to temporarily make one stream bigger, just click on the video itself. This will bring it into "focus view," making it the largest window while the others become small thumbnails. Click it again to return to the grid. You can also take any single stream full-screen, just as you would on its original platform.

Sharing and Using Pre-Made Layouts

One of the most practical features is the ability to share a complete layout with a single link. The entire configuration of your grid—which streams are included and how they are arranged—is stored in the page's URL.

If you've set up a perfect grid of watch-along and analysis streams for a race weekend, you can just copy the URL from your address bar and send it to a friend. When they open the link, they will see the exact same layout you created.

For major public events, you can often find pre-made grids. The Events calendar on ViewGrid, for example, offers curated layouts for things like esports tournaments, political debates, and space launches. This saves you the time of having to find and add all the relevant stream links yourself.

Important Things to Keep in Mind

While a multi-view app simplifies watching multiple streams, there are a few practical limits to consider.

Internet Connection: Every stream in your grid is a separate video feed. Watching four, eight, or more streams at once requires a stable and reasonably fast internet connection. If you experience buffering, try reducing the number of streams or lowering the quality on individual video players.
Computer Performance: ViewGrid is designed to be more efficient than opening multiple browser tabs, but playing many videos at once still requires processing power. Older computers may struggle with very large grids of high-definition streams.
* Watching on a TV: ViewGrid doesn't have a built-in "cast" button. To watch a grid on a television, most people use one of three methods: opening viewgrid.tv in the smart TV's built-in web browser, connecting a laptop to the TV with an HDMI cable, or using their computer or phone's native screen mirroring feature.

If you're interested in how different tools handle these features, our sibling article "Using a Multi Stream Viewer for Twitch, Kick & YouTube" provides a broader look at the options available. This guide, however, focuses on giving you a practical starting point for building your own viewing dashboard.