What the Tech?: App of the Day – Tunity
CHARLOTTE – A few years ago during a big sporting event, I found myself at a sports bar that was playing the games (okay, it was the NCAA tournament). Of course, it was noisy and the TVs were muted but I really wanted to hear the announcers. It wasnโt possible.
Then I found the app โTunityโ which streams audio of whatโs playing on TV to your smartphone. Sounded cool but did it really work?
Back then I got mixed results. Recent updates have improved the app considerably. Hereโs how it works:
Opening the app youโre asked to give it permission to use the phoneโs camera. You then aim the camera at the TV youโre watching and tap the screen. โTunityโ then detects the channel thatโs playing on the TV and after a few seconds begins playing the audio through either the phoneโs speaker or earbuds or a Bluetooth speaker I guess.
I found while the audio hardly ever synced perfectly with the announcer you can fine-tune the audio to get it close enough to where you donโt hear the announcer say the shot was good before seeing the ball leave the playerโs hand.
โTunityโ works with channels showing live TV events and shows. The supported channel listings include almost all major networks. It does not work with Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, HBO Max, Apple TV+, etc. You can of course use it at home. โTunityโ is best for sports because the announcers are not always on screen and since you can hardly ever sync voice to video perfectly to enjoy TV shows where actors are speaking dialogue.
The โTunityโ app is free for iPhone and Android devices and if you find yourself frequently trying to watch a sporting event in a sports bar, gym, airport, doctorโs office, or any place with a muted TV, itโs an app youโll be glad you โheardโ about.
