Twitter winds down Periscope six years after it acquired the service

Back in 2015, Periscope revolutionised live streaming allowing users to “go live” without a computer, using just their smartphone and an app. Users can still do live streams from the Twitter app.

Twitter has shut down Periscope, its live streaming service. 

Modern social media networks are constantly expanding their feature set by developing original features, copying them from young startups -- or simply acquiring them altogether. Periscope, one such company acquired by Twitter in 2015, is finally being shut down today, although its functionality will continue to be available in the Twitter app.

The announcement of the shutdown was made by Persicope's official Twitter account, informing users that Wednesday was the last day of the app and thanking the creators and viewers on the platform. The apps will also stop working as of today and be unavailable from the Play Store or App Store, while the site will continue to host older videos for the foreseeable future.

To get started going live on Twitter: tap the Tweet composer icon then tap the camera icon and select “Live” from the bottom menu.

Stay tuned for more Twitter features for creators like Spaces, newsletters, and improvements to Live broadcasting.

— Periscope (@PeriscopeCo) March 31, 2021

Over six years ago, there were very few apps that allowed users to start streaming their surroundings to the web from a smartphone, and even fewer services allowed users to push that content to their followers in the way Periscope did. Twitter acquired the app and allowed users to log in to the app with their Twitter credentials, which worked seamlessly for the past few years.

However, as time passed, rivals like Facebook also got onto the live streaming bandwagon bringing the same feature set to a user base larger than Twitter. These features also made their way to Instagram which improved on them, recently allowing users to go live simultaneously with up to three other accounts. Periscope's own app eventually became redundant with the arrival of ‘Live' functionality in the Twitter app itself, which works independently of the Twitter app, which explains why the app is shutting down.