Founded in 2023, Cardinal Apps Inc. is a 100% independent Canadian organization whose mission is to empower the self-hoster.

### People

**Founder, developer:** Brian - [Forums](https://cardinal.discourse.group/u/briiian/summary) / [GitHub](https://github.com/briiian) / [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/briiian.dev) / [Reddit](https://reddit.com/user/somebeaver) / [Discord](https://discord.gg/WWXngggPp4)

The Media Server is the heart of the Cardinal ecosystem, and powers all of your self-hosted apps.

Features

Get all Cardinal apps for free with Cardinal Media Server. Comes with a dashboard and everything needed to run your apps. No sign up required.

For audiophiles and casuals alike, with a set of features that long time music collectors will love.

Collect, curate, and rediscover your music every day with Cardinal Music's modern interface and powerful audio playback features.

Made to handle the era of camera ubiquity, and the lifetime of photographs that comes with it.

Archive a lifetime of photographs, and keep them safe from prying eyes. Only you can be trusted as the keeper of your photos and videos.

Embrace your inner projectionist and never worry about your favourite show leaving again.

Take back the future of movie and TV streaming in your home, and get that familiar online streaming experience for your own media.

Cardinal Accounts (also called "cloud accounts") are the social bridge between Media Server's, and the gateway to all of Cardinal's cloud services. Accounts are free to create and use, and optional [paid subscriptions](https://cardinalapps.io/pricing) are available that unlock capabilities in your self-hosted apps, and grant you access to Cardinal's other cloud services.

Using a Cardinal Account is entirely optional, and you can use local accounts instead. However, users that use a free or paid cloud account will benefit from these fundamental improvements to their apps:

### Stronger Authentication for Your Apps

Using a Cardinal Account enables stronger authentication security for your apps. The cloud authentication paradigm means that your Media Server is relieved of credential management duties, so that you don't have to worry about how passwords are stored or how your users will get their password reset emails.

You'll also have the full power of Cardinal's cloud security infrastructure on your side, enabling multiple extra security layers designed to detect and block bad users. There is a lot that happens when a user clicks the Login with Cardinal button, and it's all designed to keep your data safe.

### Social Gateway

(The features described in this section are currently in development).

You can use a single Cardinal Account across all of the Media Server's that you are invited to, allowing you to build a cross-server identity. Whether you're streaming from your server or theirs, your Watch Together chat messages will look exactly the same.

### Secure Sharing

(The features described in this section are currently in development).

Sharing your content from your self-hosted applications has traditionally been challenging, requiring configuring firewalls, forwarding ports, and configuring whitelists. When you use a Cardinal Account, you can take advantage of Cardinal's cloud services to securely share your media using trusted relay servers.

Information on how Cloud Accounts integrate with your Media Server.

Use a Cardinal Account

Secure authentication, and cloud gateway for your self-hosted Cardinal apps.

About Cardinal Apps Inc.

People