Not so long ago, Meerkat, a live streaming app was launched on Android. Twitter’s live-streaming app Periscope finally comes to Android like its cousin on iOS, which debuted two months ago to the day. Periscope for Android lets you watch and record broadcasts from your mobile device. The app reached 1 million users in its first 10 days, Periscope has so far proven a hit with celebrities and media personalities around the world. It has however been criticized as a major tool of piracy and also being used for acts of citizen journalism.
Periscope for Android opens to a list of current and recent broadcasts from the people you’re following. (When you first open it, Periscope will suggest you follow everyone you’re following on Twitter.) If nothing current is happening, you can swipe right to the next screen, which shows you broadcasts happening around the world.
The biggest difference between the iOS and Android versions of the app is the way you start a broadcast. On iOS it’s the central tab; on Android, it’s a big red button that appears on the broadcast screens, in accordance with Google’s Material Design principles. There are also a couple of minor, Android-specific features. Push notifications are slightly more granular, though there’s still no way to toggle notifications from individual accounts. And if you switch away from a broadcast to another app, you can return to it from a banner placed inside the notification drawer. Periscope is now available in the Google Play Store, and should work on phones running Android 4.4 (KitKat) and above.
