Periscope App Lands on Google Play with Android-exclusive Features

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 27 May 2015

Late this March, Twitter introduced Periscope, a new app that lets you broadcast videos and watch live video broadcasts. At launch, the app was available for iOS only. Well, not anymore.

The Android version that’s been in the works since March, just landed on Google Play. Go get Periscope if you have a mobile device powered by Android 4.4 KitKat or newer (download link at the bottom).

These are the main features that you can expect to get from Twitter’s Periscope app.
  • Broadcast & replay – let your followers see what you see by broadcasting live videos. When the broadcast is over, you can make it available for replay (replays last for 24 hours at this time).
  • Watch & influence – when a broadcaster goes live, you’ll be notified to join and watch the video. While you’re watching, you can influence the broadcaster by sending messages or by tapping the screen to send hearts.
  • Privacy – you don’t have to broadcast to everyone. Tap on the lock icon before going live and invite certain people to watch your live video.
  • Share – tap the bird icon before going live and share your Periscope broadcasts on Twitter. A link will be tweeted when you go live; your followers can use it to watch your live video.
  • Hearts – as mentioned above, you can tap the screen to send hearts to a broadcaster. Twitter keeps track of them and puts the broadcasters with the most hearts on a “Most Loved” list.

And these are the Periscope features that are unique to Android:
  • Material design – the app comes with a Material-inspired design that Android users will find familiar and easy to use.
  • Notification controls – Android users have more control over notifications from Periscope. Or as Twitter put it, Android users have granular controls over additional Push Notification settings. They can receive an alert when someone they follow broadcasts for the first time and when someone they follow shares a Periscope stream.
  • Resume notification – when you’re interrupted by a call or a message for example, you can continue watching from where you left off.
  • Save replays – save replays without having to upload a video file.

“When we started Periscope, we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation — by providing users with the best way to start or watch a live video broadcast. As a small startup, our initial launch was limited to just iOS, but we’ve been working really hard to craft an experience that feels special on Android, yet still unmistakably Periscope,” said the team that built Periscope.

Get Periscope for iOS from Apple’s App Store.
Get Periscope for Android from Google Play.



Latest News


Sony's 'Attack of the Blockbusters Sale' Slashes Prices in Half for a Ton of PS4 Games

17 Aug 2017

How Samsung's New T5 Compares to the Old T3 Portable SSD (Infographic)

17 Aug 2017

See all