Twitter to kill Periscope once and for all in 2021

‘Difficult decision’ comes after users desert the pioneering video-sharing platform, developers say

Twitter will kill Periscope once and for all in 2021 (Getty Images)

Twitter has announced it will discontinue Periscope as a stand-alone app next year after incorporating most of the core features into its own platform.

Periscope will be removed from all app stores by March 2021, however broadcasts shared on Twitter will continue to live on as replays.

Broadcasters will also be able to download and save all of their content from the app before it is removed.

“We have made the difficult decision to discontinue Periscope as a separate mobile app by March 2021,” Periscope wrote in a blog post.

“The truth is that the Periscope app is in an unsustainable maintenance-mode state, and has been for a while. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen declining usage and known that the cost to support the app will only continue to go up over time.”

Periscope said it would have made the decision earlier to shut down but the coronavirus pandemic forced it to focus on other issues.

The app was acquired by Twitter in March 2015, before the live-streaming service had even launched.

Just over one year after the takeover, Twitter incorporated live video into its own app as a feature labelled “powered by Periscope".

The app proved hugely popular as a livestreaming platform, though drew controversy from incidents that saw users allegedly broadcast a rape and suicides.

Its arrival heralded a new era of live-streamed content, which has since been adopted by other tech giants like Facebook and YouTube.

Periscope users will have until 30 April 2021 to cash out any tips and credits they have with the app.