Build a video upload feature in your android app with SDKs

In 2025, over 82% of mobile video viewers say they abandon uploads or recordings that lag or fail. That’s not just a user experience issue it’s a lost opportunity.

Imagine trying to upload a full HD vlog on a 4G connection while switching between elevators, buses, and coffee shop Wi-Fi. Now imagine millions of users doing it every day. This is the reality of building a video upload experience in mobile apps and where most systems fall apart.

Whether you're launching a new short-form video app or upgrading an internal training platform, your video upload flow has to feel invisible. No lag. No crashes. No failed uploads. But building that? It’s anything but simple.

Let’s walk through what makes Android video uploads so painful and how FastPix helps you build a resilient, dev-friendly upload pipeline that scales with your app and users.

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Why android video uploads feel like they’re out to get you

You’ve tested uploads on your dev device. Everything works. But then your first real user tries uploading a 2-minute video from the subway, loses signal halfway through, reopens the app, and nothing. No progress saved. No retry. Just rage-quit.

That’s the moment your “simple upload flow” becomes a support ticket nightmare.

Uploading video on Android sounds easy. Choose a file, hit upload, done. But the moment real-world variables kick in, bad networks, OS restrictions, background limits everything breaks.

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Here’s why Android video uploads are harder than they should be:

• Files are huge, networks are flaky. Your users aren’t sitting next to fiber. They’re uploading over 4G, in elevators, on buses, or through spotty Wi-Fi at a café.

• Android kills uploads in the background. The moment a user gets a call or locks their screen, Android may throttle or kill the upload session.

• App crashes? Upload gone. Unless you’ve built in smart resumability, everything restarts. That’s frustrating for users and expensive for you.

• Security isn’t optional. You’re handling user content sometimes personal, sometimes sensitive. You can’t afford to mishandle keys or expose upload paths.

And here's the kicker: most SDKs don’t solve these problems. They give you an endpoint, not a workflow.

Because your users aren’t uploading from a lab, they’re uploading from life.

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What android developers are really looking for

Browse Stack Overflow, Reddit, or Quora, and you’ll see the same questions pop up again and again:

“How do I upload large video files on Android without it failing halfway?”

“How can I track upload progress reliably?”

“Is WorkManager actually reliable for video uploads?”

“Which SDKs support chunked or resumable uploads?”

“How do I upload securely without hardcoding cloud keys?”

These aren’t just technical questions. They’re real pain points rooted in production failures, support tickets, and user complaints.

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What developers are really asking for is:

• Reliability: So users don’t rage-quit after a failed upload

• Speed: Because uploads shouldn’t feel like they’re stuck forever

• Visibility: So developers can debug issues, and users know what’s happening

That’s exactly where FastPix steps in. It’s not just another upload endpoint, it’s a full system designed to handle the rough edges of mobile video, so your app doesn’t have to.

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What it’s like to build with FastPix on android

FastPix’s Android SDK handles video uploads the way they should work in 2025: resilient, resumable, and ready for the real world.

Instead of sending the entire file in one fragile request, FastPix uses resumable uploads breaking large videos into 16 MB chunks by default. If the network drops, the screen locks, or the app gets paused, the upload doesn’t start over. It just picks up where it left off. This chunked approach isn’t just safer it’s smarter. It improves reliability, saves bandwidth, and makes uploads work even on unstable mobile connections.

You also get full control under the hood: Set custom chunk sizes, define max upload limits, and fine-tune retry logic including how many times to retry and how long to wait between attempts. Failed chunks? Automatically retried.

For real-time visibility, the SDK gives you callbacks for progress, errors, and completion. You can even pause and resume uploads on demand. All of this adds up to one thing: a developer experience that feels like it’s built for production, not just a demo.

If your app needs video uploads that just work on any network, at any scale FastPix gives you the tools to build it right.

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Step-by-step integration of FastPix android upload SDK

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Step 1: Install the SDK

Add the FastPix Upload SDK to your project by including the following dependency in your build.gradle file:

1dependencies { 
2    implementation 'io.fastpix:upload-sdk-android:1.0.0' 
3} 

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Ensure you sync your project after adding the dependency.

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Step 2: Create an upload URL

Before uploading, you need to obtain a signed upload URL. This requires a valid Access Token and Secret Key. Here's how you can retrieve the signed URL:

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Kotlin example:

1private fun getSignedUrl() { 
2    val client = OkHttpClient() 
3    val mediaType = "application/json; charset=utf-8".toMediaType() 
4    val requestBodyJson = JSONObject().apply { 
5        put("corsOrigin", "*") 
6        put("pushMediaSettings", JSONObject().apply { 
7            put("metadata", JSONObject().apply { 
8                put("key1", "value1") 
9            }) 
10            put("accessPolicy", "public") 
11            put("maxResolution", "1080p") 
12        }) 
13    } 
14    val requestBody = requestBodyJson.toString().toRequestBody(mediaType) 
15    val credentials = "$tokenId:$secretKey" 
16    val auth = "Basic " + Base64.encodeToString(credentials.toByteArray(), Base64.NO_WRAP) 
17    val request = Request.Builder() 
18        .url("https://v1.fastpix.io/on-demand/uploads") 
19        .addHeader("Authorization", auth) 
20        .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json") 
21        .post(requestBody) 
22        .build() 
23    client.newCall(request).enqueue(object : Callback { 
24        override fun onFailure(call: Call, e: IOException) { 
25            Log.e("UPLOAD", "Failed to get signed URL", e) 
26        } 
27  
28        override fun onResponse(call: Call, response: Response) { 
29            if (response.isSuccessful) { 
30                val responseBody = response.body?.string() 
31                val jsonObject = JSONObject(responseBody) 
32                val signedUrl = jsonObject.getJSONObject("data").getString("url") 
33
34                // Use signedUrl for uploading 
35            } else { 
36                Log.e("UPLOAD", "Upload URL request failed: ${response.code}") 
37            } 
38        } 
39    }) 
40} 

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Java Example:

1private void getSignedUrl() { OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient(); JSONObject metadata = new JSONObject(); JSONObject pushMediaSettings = new JSONObject(); JSONObject requestBodyJson = new JSONObject(); 
2
3try { 
4  metadata.put("key1", "value1"); 
5    pushMediaSettings.put("metadata", metadata); 
6    pushMediaSettings.put("accessPolicy", "public"); 
7    pushMediaSettings.put("maxResolution", "1080p"); 
8 
9    requestBodyJson.put("corsOrigin", "*"); 
10    requestBodyJson.put("pushMediaSettings", pushMediaSettings); 
11} catch (JSONException e) { 
12    e.printStackTrace(); 
13    return; 
14} 
15 
16MediaType mediaType = MediaType.parse("application/json; charset=utf-8"); 
17RequestBody requestBody = RequestBody.create(requestBodyJson.toString(), mediaType); 
18String credentials = tokenId + ":" + secretKey; 
19String auth = "Basic " + Base64.encodeToString(credentials.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8), Base64.NO_WRAP); 
20Request request = new Request.Builder() 
21        .url("https://v1.fastpix.io/on-demand/uploads") 
22        .addHeader("Authorization", auth) 
23        .addHeader("Content-Type", "application/json") 
24        .post(requestBody) 
25        .build(); 
26 
27client.newCall(request).enqueue(new Callback() { 
28    @Override 
29    public void onFailure(@NonNull Call call, @NonNull IOException e) { 
30        Log.e("UPLOAD", "Failed to get signed URL", e); 
31    } 
32 
33    @Override 
34    public void onResponse(@NonNull Call call, @NonNull Response response) throws IOException { 
35        if (response.isSuccessful()) { 
36            String responseBody = response.body() != null ? response.body().string() : null; 
37            if (responseBody != null) { 
38                try { 
39                    JSONObject jsonObject = new JSONObject(responseBody); 
40                    JSONObject jsonData = jsonObject.getJSONObject("data"); 
41                    String signedUrl = jsonData.getString("url"); 
42                    String uploadId = jsonData.getString("uploadId"); 
43                    // Use signedUrl and uploadId for uploading 
44                } catch (JSONException e) { 
45                    Log.e("UPLOAD", "Failed to parse response", e); 
46                } 
47            } 
48        } else { 
49            Log.e("UPLOAD", "Upload URL request failed: " + response.code()); 
50        } 
51    } 
52}); 
53} 

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Note: Ensure that your Access Token and Secret Key are securely stored and not hardcoded in your application.

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Step 3: Start the upload

Once you have the signed URL, you can initiate the upload process using the FastPix SDK. Here's how you can do it:

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1val file = File("path/to/your/video.mp4") val upload = Upload( file = file, signedUrl = signedUrl, chunkSize = 16 * 1024 * 1024, // 16MB maxRetries = 3, retryDelay = 5000 // 5 seconds ) 
2
3upload.start(object : UploadListener { override fun onProgress(progress: Int) { // Update UI with progress } 
4
5override fun onSuccess() { 
6    // Handle success 
7} 
8 
9override fun onFailure(error: Throwable) { 
10    // Handle failure 
11} 
12 
13}) 

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Step 4: Monitor upload events

In real-world apps, providing users with live upload status is crucial for a great experience. The FastPix SDK lets you hook into upload events using callbacks:

• onProgress(progress: Int): Use this to update upload progress bars or percentages in your UI. For example, in a social media app, showing “Uploading 45%...” keeps users informed and engaged rather than guessing if the app is stuck.

• onSuccess(): Trigger actions like notifying users the upload finished, enabling the “Publish” button, or automatically starting video processing once the upload completes.

• onFailure(error: Throwable): Show error messages or retry prompts if the upload fails. This lets users understand issues (like lost connection) and try again without frustration.

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1upload.start(object : UploadListener { 
2
3    override fun onProgress(progress: Int) { 
4        progressBar.progress = progress 
5        statusText.text = "Uploading $progress%" 
6    } 
7  
8    override fun onSuccess() { 
9        Toast.makeText(context, "Upload complete!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show() 
10
11		// Proceed to next step like video preview or publish 
12    } 
13  
14    override fun onFailure(error: Throwable) { 
15        Toast.makeText(context, "Upload failed: ${error.message}", Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show() 
16        retryButton.visibility = View.VISIBLE 
17    } 
18}) 

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Step 5: Manage video uploads

Mobile users often switch networks or lose connection mid-upload. Giving them control to pause, resume, or cancel uploads greatly improves experience:

• Pause: User can pause uploads if they switch to limited data or low battery mode.
• Resume: Upload resumes from where it left off without restarting, saving time and bandwidth.
• Cancel: Abort an upload if user changes their mind or picks another file.

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1upload.pause() // Pause the upload 
2upload.resume() // Resume the upload 
3upload.cancel() // Cancel the upload 

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Step 6: Usage example

Here's a complete example of how to integrate the upload functionality:

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1val file = File("path/to/your/video.mp4") getSignedUrl { signedUrl -> val upload = Upload( file = file, signedUrl = signedUrl, chunkSize = 16 * 1024 * 1024, // 16MB maxRetries = 3, retryDelay = 5000 // 5 seconds ) 
2
3upload.start(object : UploadListener { 
4    override fun onProgress(progress: Int) { 
5        // Update UI with progress 
6    } 
7 
8    override fun onSuccess() { 
9        // Handle success 
10    } 
11 
12    override fun onFailure(error: Throwable) { 
13        // Handle failure 
14    } 
15}) 
16
17} 

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What happens after upload? FastPix makes every video playback-ready

Uploading a video is just the beginning. What comes after transcoding, metadata, playback prep is where most systems slow down or fall apart. FastPix handles that entire post-upload process automatically, so your team doesn’t need to build or babysit a custom pipeline.

Once an upload completes, FastPix kicks off a background process that does three things right away:

First, it transcodes the video into adaptive streaming formats like HLS and DASH. That means the final asset plays smoothly across devices and network conditions, whether on 3G or 5G.

Next, it generates smart metadata: poster frames, video duration, optional chapters, and more. This data is useful for search, previews, UI overlays, or even content tagging.

Finally, you get visibility. Upload events start, progress, failure, completion are streamed to your FastPix dashboard in real time. Developers can monitor the flow, debug edge cases, and understand what users are experiencing on the ground.

And it doesn’t stop there. Every upload connects directly to FastPix Video Data. You’ll see how uploads perform across devices, how often they fail on weak connections, and what regions experience the most dropouts.

Need to plug in a moderation service or trigger AI tagging post-upload? FastPix supports simple hooks, so you can scan content or start enrichment workflows with a single API call.

When all that’s done, your video is ready to play instantly. No waiting for manual steps, no token wrangling, no extra playback setup. Just a clean, secure stream via FastPix’s player SDKs.

This is what a modern post-upload pipeline looks like built in, not built by you.

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Why product teams choose FastPix

Engineering teams often use FastPix to offload the hardest parts of video infrastructure, things like resumable uploads, retry logic, and chunked transfer. Instead of rebuilding the same upload flow over and over, they plug in a system that’s already been tested at scale.

For product managers, it reduces risk. Fewer upload failures mean fewer edge cases, smoother user flows, and less time spent triaging bugs tied to poor connectivity or device limitations.

CTOs see the value in reduced complexity. Rather than maintaining separate services for uploading, processing, and playback, FastPix offers a more unified approach one that’s easier to scale and support over time.

QA teams benefit too. With upload progress tracking and event visibility baked in, debugging becomes more predictable. It’s easier to understand where and why a failure happened without chasing down intermittent issues.

Whether you're building tools for creators, broadcasters, or internal teams, FastPix helps you move faster not by skipping the hard parts, but by handling them reliably. Curious how FastPix fits into your video pipeline? Sign up free, get $25 in credits, and see what you can build.