How can we help?

First-time setup

• Enable YouTube Live on your channel

  Go to youtube.com/features in a browser and turn on Live Streaming. YouTube can take up to 24 hours to approve a new channel for live, and may require phone verification.

• Sign in with the right Google account

  BenchStream uses Google sign-in with the YouTube permission needed to read and manage your live broadcasts. If you stream on a YouTube brand account (a separate channel from your personal one), choose that account at the sign-in prompt — not your personal Google account.

• Grant camera and microphone permission

  On first launch BenchStream asks for camera and microphone access. If you skipped these, enable them in Settings → BenchStream (iOS) or Settings → Apps → BenchStream → Permissions (Android).

Common fixes

• Stream won't start

  Confirm Live Streaming is enabled at youtube.com/features. Make sure BenchStream has camera and microphone permission. Try switching between Wi-Fi and cellular — rink and arena Wi-Fi is often the cause.

• Stream keeps disconnecting

  On Android, disable battery optimisation for BenchStream: Settings → Apps → BenchStream → Battery → Unrestricted. On iOS, keep the screen on and the app in the foreground; if you must switch apps, BenchStream's audio will continue but extended backgrounding can drop the connection. Try 4G/5G if Wi-Fi is shaky.

• Audio sounds wrong

  Run mic calibration before your stream. Tap Calibrate to this room in mic settings. In a loud arena, start with the level lower than you think — you can always increase it. If you are using a Bluetooth or USB microphone, select it explicitly in the mic settings panel before going live.

• "The destination rejected this stream key"

  For YouTube, prefer a scheduled broadcast rather than a manual key — BenchStream picks up the right key automatically. For a manual destination, double-check that the RTMP, HLS, or SRT details available in your app version match what your provider gave you. Keys are case-sensitive. Where SRT is enabled on Android, leave the passphrase empty because encrypted SRT is not currently interoperable with standard libsrt servers; use streamid authentication or network-layer encryption instead.

• YouTube shows "Stream not live yet"

  That message comes from YouTube. It means YouTube is receiving your stream but the broadcast has not yet been transitioned to live. BenchStream handles the transition automatically once ingest is stable; give it a few seconds.

• Phone gets hot

  Live encoding is intensive. Keep the phone out of direct sun, give it airflow if you have a mount, plug it into external power if you have a long game, and consider turning the screen off (audio and the broadcast continue).

Account and data

• Sign out

  In the app, go to Settings → Account → Sign out. This clears your Google tokens from the device.

  Signing out does not cancel Google Play Pro or App Store Pro. Cancel recurring billing through the store where you subscribed.

• Delete your data

  In the app, go to Settings → Account → Sign out to clear your Google tokens from the device. To fully revoke BenchStream's access to your YouTube account, also visit myaccount.google.com/permissions and remove BenchStream. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its data in your phone's app settings, removes anything that remains locally.

  Revoking access, changing a channel or Brand Account, clearing local data, and uninstalling do not cancel a store subscription or erase the store's transaction record.

  BenchStream does not run a product database or central BenchStream account. App settings and credentials live on your device. Broadcasts created on YouTube remain in your YouTube account until you remove them in YouTube Studio. On Android, our purchase-verification provider RevenueCat creates an app-user and entitlement record when you choose to open a billing surface showing subscription prices or trial terms, so that record can exist even if you decide not to subscribe. Merely starting a broadcast does not contact RevenueCat. If you do subscribe, Google Play and RevenueCat also hold the resulting transaction and subscription records. See sections 7 and 10 of the privacy policy.

• Data protection requests

  For access, rectification, deletion, restriction, objection, portability, or automated-decision requests under UK or EU data-protection law, email [email protected]. We aim to reply within one month.

  We retain support correspondence and attachments for up to 12 months after a request is resolved, unless we need to keep them longer for security, legal, accounting, or dispute-resolution reasons.

Subscriptions and billing

• Android and iOS purchases are separate

  Google Play Pro works on Android only. App Store Pro works on iOS only. Subscriptions do not transfer, so Pro on both platforms requires a separate subscription from each store.

• Your billing account can differ from YouTube

  Subscription ownership follows the Google Play or Apple account used for purchase. It is independent of the Google/YouTube account, channel, or Brand Account selected in BenchStream. Changing your streaming identity does not move, restore, or cancel the subscription.

• Manage or cancel Google Play Pro

  Open Google Play → your profile → Payments and subscriptions → Subscriptions → BenchStream, or use Google Play subscriptions. Cancelling stops the next renewal; Pro remains active until the paid period ends.

• Manage or cancel App Store Pro

  Open Settings → your name → Subscriptions → BenchStream. Apple also provides subscription management guidance. Cancelling stops the next renewal; Pro remains active until the paid period ends.

• Restore a purchase, where available

  In an app version where Pro purchasing and Restore Purchases are enabled, use that control on the same platform and with the same store account used to buy Pro. Google Play purchases cannot be restored on iOS, and App Store purchases cannot be restored on Android.

• Free trial

  Where offered, eligible new subscribers can receive a 14-day introductory trial when the store displays it for their account. Nothing is charged during that period. It converts to the selected paid subscription unless cancelled by the deadline the store shows. The store confirms when Pro access ends.

• Change your plan

  Where the app offers it, you can move between the monthly and annual plans without cancelling first. On Google Play the change applies immediately in both directions, and only the timing of the money differs.

  Monthly to annual charges the full annual price straight away. Whatever was left of your month is added onto the end of your new annual billing period. No money is refunded or credited, so if you were expecting a partial refund for the days you had not used, you will not see one: you receive that value as extra time instead.

  Annual to monthly charges nothing on the day you switch. Monthly billing starts on the date your annual subscription would otherwise have renewed, so you keep every day you have already paid for.

  Google shows the amount and the date before you confirm, and what it shows is what happens. Where the iOS app offers plan changes, Apple's own rules decide when the change and the charge take effect.

• Refunds

  Start with the originating store's refund process: use Google Play's refund flow or Apple's Report a Problem service. If you still need help, email [email protected]. Store processes do not limit statutory rights you may have against BenchStream as the supplier.

• Paid, but Pro is not unlocked

  This applies only in an app version where Pro purchasing and Restore Purchases are enabled. Confirm you are on the platform where you bought Pro and signed in to the same store account, then check your network and use Restore Purchases. If Pro still does not appear, email us with the platform and purchase date.

• Signing out or uninstalling

  Signing out, revoking YouTube, changing a channel or Brand Account, clearing app data, and uninstalling do not cancel billing. Use the originating store instructions above to cancel.

Reporting a concern

BenchStream is a streaming client — we do not host or moderate streams. If you have a concern about content broadcast through YouTube, please use YouTube's reporting flow, which is where moderation decisions are made.

For concerns about BenchStream itself — misuse, safety, abuse, or anything that needs our attention — email [email protected].

Contact

Found a bug? Have a feature request? Need help with something that isn't covered above? Send us an email. Please include your phone model, the OS version, the BenchStream version (Settings → About), and a short description of what happened — it makes the back-and-forth much faster.

Please do not send stream keys, passwords, or unnecessary screenshots of other people's personal data. If we need logs or screenshots to diagnose a problem, we will use them only for support, security, legal, or service-maintenance purposes.