Twitter is ending 2020 by once and for all shutting down the Periscope app. Actually, we can all be forgiven that our initial reaction upon hearing this latest news is, “Wait, Periscope is still alive?” The live broadcast service acquired by Twitter was probably ahead of its time and was a novelty when it first came out. However, it failed to catch up when all the other social media services started doing built-in livestreaming features. Now we will officially say goodbye to the standalone app by March 2021.
Twitter explains that Periscope has been in an “unsustainable maintenance-mode state” for some time now as they have seen its usage drastically decline the past two years. Keeping it as it is not only costs money but they said it’s also a “disservice” to the former and still existing community that used the service. They admitted they would have done it sooner but because of the pandemic and other things that happened in 2020, it got deprioritized.
Now they’re sharing the plans for the discontinuation of the app. Users will not be able to create a new account starting with the next release of Periscope. If you’ve shared any of your broadcasts on Twitter, they will still be there as replays. Users will also be able to download and archive their broadcasts and data starting today until when the app is finally removed from the Google Play Store and App Store by March 2021.
If you prefer doing live broadcast on Twitter, then of course you can still use the Twitter Live functionality within the app. If you didn’t know how to do it yet, just tap the compose button and select the in-app camera icon to start going live. Brands, publishers, and creators can also use the Media Studio. You can also still create broadcasts through the Periscope public API which will be integrated to the Twitter API by 2021.
So for those that are still using the standalone Periscope app, you just have a few months left before you’ll have to go and join the rest of the world in other livestreaming options built in to most of the apps we use. So goodbye Periscope and thank you for the memories.
