For decades, going to the cinema meant choosing between a great night out and the access you needed. Accessible screenings were rare, scheduled at awkward times, and often required special equipment the venue had to buy, maintain and remember to switch on. Companion apps change that equation.
What a companion app actually does
Instead of routing accessibility through the projector, a companion app delivers it to the device already in your pocket. You press play, the app instantly recognises exactly where in the film the screening is, and then plays your chosen track — Audio Description, Closed Captions or Sign Language — in perfect time.
Why sync is the hard part
Accessibility is only useful if it's on time. A caption that lags by even a second, or a description that talks over the dialogue, breaks the film. The hard part is keeping everything on time for the whole two hours, so your track never slips out of step with what's on screen.
What to look for
- Sync that stays perfectly in time for the whole film
- All three tracks — AD, CC and SL — not just one
- Personalisation: description volume, caption size, signer position
- Offline downloads for venues with weak signal
- Privacy: everything handled on your device, with nothing about your screening stored
The result is quietly radical: the same showing, the same seat, the same moment of laughter — shared with everyone else in the room. That's the bar KinoSync is built to meet.