Twitter acquired the live-streaming startup Periscope in early 2015, before the app was publicly released. The move signaled that Twitter saw live mobile video as a key part of “what’s happening now,” and it positioned Periscope as an in-house competitor to other emerging livestream apps.
Twitter publicly announced the Periscope acquisition in mid-March 2015. The confirmation came as live-streaming became a breakout topic in tech culture, especially around events like SXSW, and it clarified that Periscope would launch as a separate app.
Periscope launched on iOS in late March 2015, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone to broadcast live video with real-time viewer comments and “hearts.” This helped normalize the idea of everyday people livestreaming events, not just media organizations.
Periscope expanded to Android in late May 2015. This broadened the potential audience and creator base, which mattered because live-streaming becomes more valuable as more people can watch and broadcast across devices.
By August 2015, Periscope’s founders said the app had reached 10 million registered users only a few months after launch. This milestone reflected how quickly mobile livestreaming had entered mainstream culture, especially for news, events, and celebrity broadcasts.
Apple’s App Store editors selected Periscope as the iPhone App of the Year for 2015. The award highlighted livestreaming as a defining mobile-media shift, with “live” video increasingly treated as a standard way to share and follow real-world moments.
In January 2016, Twitter began showing Periscope broadcasts directly inside the Twitter timeline, replacing simple links with playable video. This reduced friction for viewers—people could watch without leaving Twitter—and pushed livestreaming further into everyday social-media use.
In May 2016, Periscope changed a core norm: broadcasts no longer disappeared after 24 hours by default. Saving videos made livestreams more useful as a lasting record, but it also raised stakes for moderation, privacy, and how live moments could circulate long after they happened.
By December 2016, Twitter integrated Periscope-powered broadcasting so users could start a live video from the main Twitter app without downloading Periscope. This made livestreaming feel less like a separate product and more like a built-in feature of Twitter’s real-time conversation.
In February 2017, Twitter began featuring Periscope live videos in its Explore section under “Top Trends.” This was another step toward folding Periscope into Twitter’s main discovery and trend systems, even as standalone livestream apps faced growing competition.
As livestreaming spread, Periscope became a key example in public discussions about how live video blurs entertainment, news, and real life. Reporting highlighted both civic uses (like witnessing events directly) and harms (like harassment or broadcasting violence), showing why moderation became a central challenge for livestream platforms.
In December 2020, Periscope announced it would close as a standalone app by March 2021. The company cited declining usage and the cost of maintaining the service, while noting that core live-video capabilities had increasingly moved into Twitter itself.
Periscope shut down on March 31, 2021, ending one of the most influential early mobile livestreaming platforms. Its closure marked a broader shift: livestreaming had become common across major social apps, and Periscope’s role largely continued through Twitter’s integrated video features rather than a separate brand.
Periscope's rise, cultural impact, and shutdown (2015–2021)