Twitter’s live-streaming software, Periscope, was released in the App Store a week ago and today the app has received its first feature update. Periscope 1.0.1 fixes issues with chat not working sometimes and addresses performance concerns when watching broadcasts with many users.
Now people you follow who are live-broadcasting appear at the top of your feed, allowing you to jump into the action with just a tap. Video streaming and in-app maps showing broadcaster’s location have been enhanced as well.
“We’re completely blown away by the reception Periscope has had,” noted developers. “You’ve inspired us to keep building and improving.”
Indeed, it seems Meerkat’s two-week run in the App Store is coming to an abrupt halt as Periscope takes over. As noted by Dan Fommer, Meerkat’s fall from more than 35,000 tweets per day to 20,000 tweets per day coincides with Periscope’s App Store debut.
First day. pic.twitter.com/Mcu5SjT0Yg
— Dan Frommer (@fromedome) March 27, 2015
Second day. pic.twitter.com/jGTPvEsHYq
— Dan Frommer (@fromedome) March 28, 2015
Third day. pic.twitter.com/xnBd27zTvC
— Dan Frommer (@fromedome) March 29, 2015
Periscope 1.0.1 highlights:
- Major performance improvements – (watching broadcasts with tons of users was.. well, slow, sometimes).
- We improved the ordering for LIVE broadcasts; if people you follow are live, they’ll be at the top.
- Fixed lots of issues where Chat wasn’t working (especially when kajillions of people are watching).
- We zoomed out the map showing broadcaster’s location.
- Clarified the error message that some users received when trying to Tweet their broadcast. If you see this error, you should check your iPhone settings -> Twitter to make sure your Twitter account is properly logged in.
- Lots of crash fixes and video streaming improvements.
Periscope, for those not in the know, allows anyone with an iPhone to record, share and watch live video broadcasts from their device.
The 14.8-megabyte app requires an iPhone with iOS 7.1 or later.