FIFA World Cup 2022: JioCinema asks users to ‘upgrade’ app after being flooded by Twitter with complaints

Telco Reliance Jio’s over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform, JioCinema, found itself in the middle of a large volume of user complaints after its stream of the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 faced a wide range of issues — including intermittent lags, stutters and buffering even on high bandwidth internet plans. Amid all the flak, the company asked users to “upgrade” their mobile and television apps to view the tournament.

“Dear JioCinema fans, we are continuously working to give you a great experience. Please upgrade your app to the latest version to enjoy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 [sic]. Apologies for any inconvenience,” a tweet from the platform’s official Twitter handle read.

The tweet came just as users took to the platform to complain about choppy stream quality, intermittent buffering and random disconnections on the app.

“₹600 for a Voot subscription, only for the service to de-list the tournament after showing its listings for months. Meanwhile, JioCinema has the most horrible [sic] live telecast experience ever. Am I the only one who feels cheated?,” tweeted a user.

“The JioCinema app doesn't work at all in smart TVs. The worst World Cup ever. The laptop streaming is unbearable — JioCinema, you are the worst. This is going to be a torture for the football fans,” a fellow user posted.

Even over 12 hours after the broadcasting of the first match, ‘JioCinema’ continued to trend on Twitter as the third most trending topic in India — with nearly 20,000 tweets about the topic in the past one hour at the time of publishing of this story.

It is not clear if JioCinema’s tweet alluded to a new version of the app, since none could be spotted on any platform. The service’s latest app on Android TV, the most popular smart TV platform in India, was updated on Friday, November 18. On Android, JioCinema’s latest update arrived on Saturday, November 19, while its iOS app on Apple phones and tablets was the one to be updated most recently — receiving a new version at around 4PM on Sunday, November 20.

All of the updates were released prior to the opening ceremony and first match of the 2022 FIFA World Cup — streamed in India from 8:30PM onward on November 20. As a result, it appears unlikely that the service issued any update following user complaints. A query sent to a company official did not receive any response at the time of publishing.

JioCinema is also the sole broadcasting partner for streaming the popular football tournament — ranked as the most popular sporting tournament in the world, alongside the Summer Olympics.