Periscope Updated With Landscape Viewing And Broadcasting
Live streaming app Periscope no longer forces users to broadcast or watch video in portrait orientation. An update for both iOS and Android has just been released that lets users rotate their device to stream and watch broadcasts in landscape. Even better is that those watching from the web on the desktop will automatically see video the way it's being filmed. As one would expect, users just need to rotate their device to make their streams full-screen.
Periscope's blog post announcing the update points out the obvious benefits: that there are times when a wider field of view better captures the scene. Users have technically been able to stream in landscape, but since it wasn't officially supported by the app it meant viewers had to watch sideways.
This is a very timely update, as only yesterday the news came out that Periscope is developing a native app for the new Apple TV. The new landscape feature will mean users can better enjoy broadcasts on their widescreen TVs. The update also comes shortly after Periscope owner Twitter added landscape support to their own app.
Also new in the update is an indication of which user has shared a video that appears in the home feed, and on Android private broadcasts will show a list of mutual followers, allow a "more natural selection of people" who users are likely to stream with. Periscope says this feature will be coming soon to iOS, while today's update is available now for both platforms.