The guest who needs translation should not have to visit an app store at the door. With MulingStream they do not: the translation opens in the browser of the phone they already carry, with no account, no email address and no password. Here is what joining looks like.
It is the first question a church asks us, and nearly always the second question a guest asks the church: do I have to download something?
The worry behind it is real. A guest who has just walked into a building where everybody else speaks another language is already doing something brave. If the next step is "find this app in your store, wait for it to download, create an account, confirm your email", many of them will smile, say thank you, and sit through the whole service without it. Not because they do not want to understand, but because the cost of asking for help in a new place is already high enough.
So the answer is no. Listeners do not need an app.
Every smartphone already has a web browser. Safari on an iPhone, Chrome or the built in browser on an Android phone. MulingStream runs in that browser. There is nothing to install, nothing to update, no space to free up on the phone, and nothing left behind when the service is over.
There is also no account. A listener does not give us an email address, does not choose a password and does not sign anything. The listener never pays either: the church or the organiser running the room covers it, and the guest simply follows.
Here is what joining looks like for a guest during our early access:
The church puts two things where guests can see them: the web address and the room's passcode. A slide before the service, a line on the notice sheet, or a person at the door who can say it. The guest opens the page, taps the button to join as a listener, types the number, and is in.
Inside the room they see the languages the church has switched on for that service and pick theirs. From then on the speaker's words arrive as text in their own language, line by line, while the speaker talks. Many languages can also be heard as a voice: the guest puts in an earphone and presses play, and the translation is read aloud to them. Reading and listening both work, and the guest decides which suits them.
It is worth saying plainly, because it is the whole point:
No app store. Nothing to search for, nothing to download, no storage needed. No account. No email address, no password, no confirmation mail to wait for. No payment. Listeners never pay anything. No new phone. The browser they already have is enough. No special equipment. No headset to collect at a desk and give back afterwards. Their own earphones work, and so does reading.
If the page is reloaded by accident, the guest stays in the room. If they want another language halfway through, they change it in the settings and the next line arrives in the new one.
The guest should spend the first minute of the service listening, not installing.
We could have built an app. Apps have their advantages for the people who make them. But we kept thinking about the guest at the door, and about who that guest usually is: somebody new in the country, somebody visiting family, an older person with a phone full of photos and very little space, a teenager whose phone is already out of storage. For every one of them an app is a small wall, and a small wall is enough to stop somebody who is already unsure.
A web page has no wall. It opens the way any page opens, and it closes when they are done.
It also makes life easier for the church. Nobody on the welcome team needs to help a stranger through an installation in a language they do not share. They point to the slide, and the guest does the rest.
Yes. There will be a MulingStream app on Google Play and the App Store, and each listener chooses: install the app, or simply follow in the browser.
When we started, we asked ourselves whether listeners should need an app, or simply follow in their browser. The browser won. It is much faster to join and easier for everyone, so we built MulingStream for the browser and put our work into making it stable there.
The app is for the listeners who use MulingStream week after week. It will keep their settings and make it quicker to join the room they always join. Installing it will always be their choice: the browser stays open to every guest, and nobody's first visit has to start with a download.
For the church the setup is equally light: switch on the languages you expect for the service, start the translation when the service begins, and share the address and the passcode. That is all there is. See how it works for leaders for the speaker's side.
From 25 October 2025 every room has its own invitation link and its own QR code. A guest no longer types a number: they point the phone camera at the code on the screen or the sheet, tap the link that appears, and the room opens in the browser. A church can also send the link ahead of time in a group chat, so guests arrive already joined. Still no app, still no account. The full story is in joining with a QR code.
From 26 January 2026 listeners can make the text larger or smaller, set the volume of the voice, and see whether the room is live, all in the same browser page.
With church passes, from 2 September 2026 every church room has its own web address that always leads straight into the room and never changes, so it can be printed once and left on the wall. And a guest is no longer limited to the languages switched on in advance: they look for their own language in the full list of 200+ languages on their phone, and in many rooms the room starts carrying it for them. See all languages.
From 17 October 2026 the first thing a guest sees after scanning is a simple question: which language do you want to hear? They choose it, and they are in. If the speaker has not started yet, they can join anyway, and their language will be ready when the service begins.
The quickest way to understand it is to be the guest for a minute. Read more on how it works for listeners and on what listeners get.
We show you the whole thing live, in about fifteen minutes, on your own phone. Nothing is decided on the call and nothing follows it: you see it, and then you are the judge.