Video
Members can post video the way they do everywhere else: pick a clip, choose its thumbnail, post. Your WordPress server never has to stream it. Each video is converted into several qualities and streamed from the Memberside video network, so a member on mobile data gets a size their connection can carry and your hosting bandwidth is not spent on it.
What members see
Section titled “What members see”Posting
Section titled “Posting”- Tap Video in the composer and pick a clip, or record one.
- Choose a thumbnail. Drag along the whole length of the video and stop on the frame that shows it best. That frame is the poster everywhere the video appears. If you skip this step, the frame at one second is used.
- Write a caption if you like — a post can be just the video — and post.
The upload shows a progress bar. A post can carry a photo or a video, not both. ForumWP is the exception: a topic or reply takes one video and photos alongside it. A chat message takes one video.
Watching
Section titled “Watching”Every video shows its thumbnail with a play button and its length. Nothing loads until a member taps it. Then the player opens and starts with sound. Starting one video pauses any other that is playing.
The player picks a quality to suit the member’s connection and changes it as the connection changes.
When a post appears
Section titled “When a post appears”By default a post with a video waits until the video is ready to play, then publishes. The author sees a Processing card at the top of their own feed while they wait, with a Cancel button. When the post goes live they get a Your post is live notification, on their phone too if you use Push.
For a one-minute clip this usually takes well under a minute. Longer videos take longer.
You can change this. See Hold or post instantly. Chat messages follow the same setting.
Editing
Section titled “Editing”Editing a post can remove its video but never add or replace one. Members who want a different video create a new post. Removing the video deletes it straight away and frees the hours it used.
If the video was the only thing in the post, removing it would leave the post empty, so the app offers to delete the post instead.
Where video works
Section titled “Where video works”| Plugin | Where | In the app | On your site | Thumbnail picker | Available |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Member – Social Activity | Wall posts, group walls | Yes | Yes | Yes | Now |
| BuddyPress | Activity, group activity | Yes | Yes | Yes | Now |
| BuddyBoss Platform | Its own video uploads | Yes | Yes | No | Now |
| Ultimate Member – User Photos | Albums | Yes | Yes, one per album | Yes | Now |
| bbPress | Topics and replies | Yes | Yes, on bbPress’s own forms | Yes | Now |
| ForumWP | Topics and replies | Yes | Yes, in its pop-up composer | Yes | Now |
| Ultimate Member – Private Messages | Messages | Yes | Yes, a Video button beside Send | Yes | Now |
| BuddyPress | Private messages | Yes | Plays videos sent from the app | App only | Now |
| Better Messages | Messages | Yes | Plays videos sent from the app | App only | Now |
A few exceptions are worth knowing:
- BuddyBoss keeps its own composer. Videos members upload through it are streamed and played by us, but its composer has no thumbnail picker, so the frame at one second is used.
- Albums publish at once. Creating an album with videos never waits: the album and its photos appear straight away, and with Hold until ready each video joins the album when it can play. Until then its author sees it as a Processing tile with Cancel, and is notified when it is in. In the app an album takes several videos; the album form on your site takes one.
- Album videos cannot be added later. Editing an album can delete a video but not add one — members create a new album for it. Videos count toward your Ultimate Member photo limits, one item each.
- Forum posts take one video each. A topic or a reply carries at most one video. In ForumWP, photos can go alongside it. With Hold until ready the topic or reply is not created until the video can play: its author sees it in the topic list, or at the foot of the replies, marked Processing… with Cancel, and is notified when it is published. The notification opens the topic.
- Forum videos cannot be added later. Editing a topic or reply can remove its video but not add one — members post a new topic or reply for it.
- bbPress on your site gets the Video button on bbPress’s own topic and reply forms. A theme that replaces those forms with its own may not show it. ForumWP on your site gets it in ForumWP’s pop-up composer.
- Chat messages follow Hold until ready or Post instantly. With Post instantly a message with a video is sent straight away and plays the file from your site until the stream is ready. With Hold until ready it is not sent until the video can play: its sender sees it at the end of the conversation as Processing your video… with Cancel, the others get it with the usual notification when it is sent, and the sender is notified; the notification opens the conversation.
- Chat video links expire after an hour, the link to the file on your site included, so a video cannot be shared outside the conversation. The app fetches a fresh link when an old one stops working; members do nothing.
- Chat videos cannot be added later. A sent message cannot have a video added or replaced — members send a new message for it.
- Ultimate Member – Private Messages on your site gets the Video button beside Send, and the message follows the same setting.
- BuddyPress and Better Messages on your site play videos but take none. Videos sent from the app play in their conversations on the web. BuddyPress’s own composer has no Video button, and Better Messages keeps its own file attachments for uploads made on the website; those are not streamed.
On your site, Video adds a small script only to the pages where a plugin you switched on is shown. Every other page is unchanged.
Setting it up
Section titled “Setting it up”1. Connect the service
Section titled “1. Connect the service”On your site, go to Memberside → Services, switch Video on, and choose Authorize this site. You approve the domain on memberside.app and land back in WordPress connected.
The first connection sets up your site’s video library. That usually takes a minute or two. The panel says Setting up until it is ready, and video uploads stay off until then.
2. Choose where members can post video
Section titled “2. Choose where members can post video”The panel lists the plugins on your site that support video. Switch on the ones you want. You can also choose which roles may upload video, and how many videos or minutes a member may upload a day.
3. Rebuild your app
Section titled “3. Rebuild your app”The Video button needs a build made after this release. Once a member has that build, the button follows your settings on the site, so turning a plugin on or off later needs no rebuild.
Hold or post instantly
Section titled “Hold or post instantly”| Setting | What happens |
|---|---|
| Hold until ready (default) | The post is published once the video can play, and the author is told. Nobody else sees it before then. |
| Post instantly | The post appears straight away and plays the original file from your site. It switches to streaming once the video is ready. |
Post instantly is quicker for the author, but the first plays come from your own server at full size. While the original file plays, the video shows no Processing label: to members it is just a video.
Chat messages follow this setting too. A conversation is private, so with Post instantly its file plays through a signed link that lasts an hour, never the file’s public address on your site.
Remove the file from your server
Section titled “Remove the file from your server”Off by default. When it is on, the uploaded file is deleted from your WordPress server a day after its video is ready to stream. That keeps your hosting disk small.
Keep originals
Section titled “Keep originals”We normally store only the streaming versions of each video, which is what members watch. Keep originals also stores the file exactly as it was uploaded, so it can be downloaded again later.
It is a paid add-on on every tier, because originals are often larger than all the streaming versions together. It applies to videos uploaded after you switch it on. Switch it on or off from Video → Plans on memberside.app.
Plans and limits
Section titled “Plans and limits”Video is measured in two ways, and each tier covers both:
- Hours stored — the length of every video you currently have. Deleting a post gives its hours back straight away.
- Streaming — how much video members watched this month. It resets on the 1st.
| Included with Pro and Unlimited | Starter — $19/month | Growth — $59/month | Scale — $149/month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours stored | 2 | 50 | 200 | 500 |
| Streaming a month | 25 GB | 500 GB | 2 TB | 6 TB |
| Highest quality | 720p | 720p | 1080p | 1080p |
| Longest video | 5 minutes | 15 minutes | 30 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Largest upload | 500 MB | 1 GB | 2 GB | 5 GB |
| Domains | 3 | 5 | 25 | 100 |
| Keep originals | — | +$9/month | +$29/month | +$69/month |
Both allowances are shared across every site you connect. A tier you buy replaces the included allowance rather than adding to it. Free does not include Video.
Reaching a limit
Section titled “Reaching a limit”You are never charged for going over.
- Storage full. New video uploads pause. Members see Video uploads are paused on this site. Every video already posted keeps playing. Deleting old videos or moving up a tier frees room straight away.
- Streaming used up. Shortly after, videos stop playing until your allowance resets on the 1st. Moving up a tier restores playback straight away.
We email you at 80% of either.
Privacy
Section titled “Privacy”A video in a private group, on a private wall or in a direct message can only be watched by people who could already see the post or the conversation. Each time someone presses play, your site checks they are allowed to, and the link it returns stops working after a while — after an hour for a video in a conversation. A copied link does not keep working for somebody else. The app fetches a fresh link when an old one stops working, so members never have to.
In the app stores
Section titled “In the app stores”Once members can post video, the videos and the sound in them are data your app collects, and both stores ask you to say so:
- App Store Connect → App Privacy: declare Photos or Videos and Audio Data as collected User Content, linked to the member, used for App Functionality, not used for tracking.
- Play Console → App content → Data safety: declare Photos and videos → Videos as collected and required for app functionality.
The camera and microphone prompts in the app already say they are used only to record a video a member chooses to post. The readiness check reminds you of both forms when Video is connected to the site your app reads from.
If you cancel
Section titled “If you cancel”New uploads stop at the end of the period you paid for. Videos already posted keep playing for 30 days, and we email you at the start, after 20 days and two days before anything is deleted. Choosing any Video plan again within those 30 days keeps everything as it is.
After 30 days the videos are deleted from the Memberside video network and cannot be recovered. Posts whose original file is still on your server play that file instead.
When it does not work
Section titled “When it does not work”| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No Video button in the app | The app was built before this release, or the plugin is switched off for video | Rebuild; check the plugin is on in the Video panel |
| No Video button on your site’s bbPress forms | Your theme replaces bbPress’s own topic and reply forms | Use bbPress’s default forms, or post from the app |
| No Video button in BuddyPress or Better Messages conversations on your site | On the web those plugins keep their own composers | Send videos from the app; they play on the site |
| A chat message with a video has not arrived | With Hold until ready it is sent only once the video can play | Wait for it to finish processing; the sender sees Processing your video… until then. Or switch to Post instantly |
| The panel says Setting up for a long time | The library could not be finished | Press Refresh; if it stays, the panel shows the reason |
| A post stays on Processing | The video is long, or could not be converted | Wait a few minutes; a video that cannot be converted shows a message and the author is told |
| Uploads fail on a site behind a login wall or bot protection | The video network could not fetch the file from your site | Nothing to do: it falls back to uploading the file directly, which takes longer |
| The thumbnail picker is skipped on the web | The browser cannot decode the file (often an iPhone .mov in Chrome on Windows) | The frame at one second is used instead |
| Video uploads are paused | Storage is full | Delete old videos or move up a tier |
| Videos will not start | This month’s streaming is used up | Move up a tier, or wait for the 1st |