Twitter pulls the plug on live-streaming app Periscope six years after acquiring it

Periscope, the app that made live streaming possible from a smartphone, is shut down. On Wednesday, 31 March, Periscope said it was the last day the app was going to be available. "We leave you with our gratitude for all the creators and viewers who brighten the Periscope community. We hope to see you all live on Twitter," it said on Twitter. According to a report on The Verge, the service is no longer available on app stores and most of its features will not be accessible from Wednesday. The live streaming feature on Twitter has been powered by periscope since its acquisition and launch. The micro-blogging site has now integrated the feature in its main app.[caption id="attachment_9489621" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Twitter, in December, had made its decision public to close the app because its usage had been on a decline. Image: Periscope[/caption]

 Additionally, Twitter, in December, had made its decision public to close the app because its usage had been on a decline and it was in an “unsustainable maintenance-mode state” for a while. The app's website, however, will stay and contain an archive of public broadcasts. The users of Periscope can still download their data through Twitter.Interestingly, before Periscope made live-streaming a sensation in 2015, another app called Meerkat was, in many ways, the market leader that introduced the people to the feature first. But with the might of Twitter and its huge userbase, Periscope quickly pushed Meerkat from the top position.In a blog post in December, Twitter announced its decision to discontinue Periscope as a separate mobile app. "Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen declining usage and know that the cost to support the app will only continue to go up over time," Twitter said.The company feels shutting down Periscope as a separate service will also allow it to better focus on further building the live streaming function. Interestingly, four years ago, Twitter had shut down Vine, a short-form video hosting service where users could share six-second-long, looping video clips.