Periscope announced on Tuesday that the live streaming video app would be discontinued by March 2021 as a separate mobile app due to the high costs of maintenance and a decline in its usage.
"Today, we’re sharing that we have made the difficult decision to discontinue Periscope as a separate mobile app by March 2021", Periscope said in a statement. "We’re planning to remove Periscope from the app stores by March 2021, but no one will be able to create a new account in-app starting with the next release".
Most of the core capabilities of Periscope, the statement outlined, have been brought into Twitter, the company that acquired the video app before its public launch.
Some personal news: the Periscope app will be going away next year. We’re here to say goodbye. 👋
— Periscope (@PeriscopeCo) December 15, 2020
We appreciate all the support, learnings, and broadcasts from our vibrant creator community. More on our difficult decision to discontinue the app: https://t.co/jZWjDlsRHk (1/2) pic.twitter.com/Kfgvocq31O
According to the statement, users will be able to download or archive Periscope broadcasts and data before the app is shut down and streams that were shared on Twitter will remain there. The Periscope team also pointed at Twitter Live and Media Studio as alternatives to the outgoing app.
Netizens felt like the upcoming Periscope shutdown was "an end of an era" and took to Twitter to share nostalgic memories of the livestreaming app.
The amount of time I spent sitting outside trying to find a blurry ass periscope stream. And loved every minute of it. The end of an era
— Felicia- MERRY 开MAS (@godsof94) December 15, 2020
Anyone who used Twitter back in the day knows how lit periscope used to be, end of an era RIP
— ĸɇmP (@ESPNKemp) December 15, 2020
Oh wow, this is the end of an era. I know it'll essentially continue on via the Twitter live video function (which so far I've never messed with), but Periscope was how we broadcast live to the world at a time when we really needed to be able to do that. https://t.co/P3PGiPGW1n
— Hong Kong Hermit (@HongKongHermit) December 15, 2020
The death of Periscope feels like the end of an era on the internet when new consumer social products released all the time. And people got excited about them.
— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) December 15, 2020
Sad to see Periscope come to an end even though the rationale makes sense. I still remember the day it launched when I was at Twitter. We were all mesmerized with its ability to transport you instantly. https://t.co/W5XzZ7nWcS
— Jenna Golden (@jigolden) December 15, 2020
— Gijs Van Winkelhof (@GijsVWinkelhof) December 15, 2020
A livestreaming video app, Periscope was developed by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein in 2015 and acquired by Twitter before the app was publicly launched. Later in August 2015, the app had already surpassed 10 million registered accounts - only four months after its launch.
