Stream Interrupted: Acores9 Webcam Sideproject Ends

After the Spotazores app went down, I developed my own native iOS app for the webcams. It only worked on my phone, since I didn’t have an Apple Developer Account, and I never intended to publish it. The streams weren’t mine, and I knew it was just a temporary workaround.

A few days later, people started noticing the app and asked to use it. Since I didn’t want to go the native route—due to the requirements, and especially because I didn’t have permission to share the streams in an unofficial app—I created acores9.com, a web version that made all the webcams easily accessible to everyone. It worked great, and the project gained traction.

Yesterday, I noticed Spotazores.com was back online. After reading their terms and conditions, I reached out to them to ask if I could continue using the webcams on acores9.com and also on my other side project, geoacores.com. Their response was a simple no.

The reasons aren’t really important. Honestly, I believe acores9.com was a much better site and app than they’ll ever build—because this is what I do. I was a bit disappointed they also revoked permission for geoacores.com, since that platform wasn’t a competitor. Both projects were free, non-commercial, and meant to serve the community. But the decision is theirs, and I obviously have to respect it.

So, effective immediately, acores9.com is offline, and I’ve removed all webcam content from geoacores.com. However, geoacores.com will continue to exist and evolve—just without the webcams. I’m sorry to everyone who used these features regularly. This is out of my control. The webcams are a product of Spotazores, and if you want access to them, you’ll have to return to their platform. Hopefully, they’ll keep improving the experience—and who knows, maybe one day even upgrade the camera quality.

Over the years, many people have asked me to build something better. I could—and I’d be interested in doing it—maybe even with real-time video streams instead of periodic images, and with much higher image quality. But that never happened, for two key reasons:

• Streaming and hosting costs

• The need for infrastructure deals with telecoms and local authorities for power and 5G in remote areas.

That’s not my area. I’m just the geek—I build, code, and solve. I don’t enjoy or engage in the business side of things, and I won’t get involved in that. So unless someone comes along to handle those parts, I don’t see it happening. If you're that person, sort those issues out first before reaching out.

So, the time has come. I’m truly sorry to those who enjoyed the webcam access. I had plans to do something really cool with acores9.com, like integrating weather, tides, and surf forecasts—but that will have to wait. Maybe for another time, or another lifetime.

Cya later, alligators.