Just six years after its launch, Twitter has shut down the Periscope app, which made live broadcasts from smartphones popular, the service has been removed from app stores, and most features will no longer be accessible. And the live broadcast continues within the Twitter platform, which has owned the Periscope application since March 2015, that is, only weeks before the launch of the service, as the development of the application began in 2014 and Twitter acquired it before it was launched to the public.
Twitter announced the impending shutdown in December, saying that usage was declining, and the app had been in an unsustainable state of maintenance for a while. Leaving the app was not good for the current and former Periscope community or for Twitter itself.
The Periscope website remains connected to the public broadcast archive, but it hasn't allowed a new account to be created since last year, and app users are still able to download their data via Twitter. Live broadcasts became an overnight phenomenon in March 2015 with the debut of Periscope and another app called Meerkat.
Although Meerkat came out first, Periscope quickly got rid of it with the support of Twitter and became a pioneer in live broadcasts. However, the phenomenon appeared to be easing just as quickly, as Facebook pushed hard for live broadcasts via its own service, and no platform has developed a dominant community around the feature.
In December 2016, Twitter added the ability to broadcast directly from its app, removing much of the need for Periscope as a standalone service. And with the Periscope app gone, people can broadcast using Twitter Live by clicking on the camera option within the app, and brands, publishers and creatives can broadcast live using Media Studio.
Today is the last day the Periscope app is available, the app said, and we go with our gratitude to all the creators and viewers who have helped bring joy across the Periscope community, and we hope to see you all directly on Twitter.