Periscope

Live from anywhere, until the money ran out

Shut down
19902026

Periscope made live streaming from a phone mainstream, acquired by Twitter for a reported ~$100 million before it even launched in March 2015. It won Apple's App of the Year, seeded a generation of live creators, then was absorbed into Twitter itself and shut down on 31 March 2021.

Timeline [edit]

  1. 2015
  2. 13 March 2015 Acquisition
    Twitter buys Periscope pre-launch

    A reported ~$100M deal to outflank rival Meerkat.

  3. 26 March 2015 Launch
    Periscope launches

    One-tap live streaming with floating hearts.

  4. 9 December 2015 Peak
    Apple's iPhone App of the Year

    The defining app of the live-video moment.

  5. 2016
  6. December 2016 Feature
    Live video folds into Twitter

    Native integration makes the standalone app redundant.

  7. 2020
  8. 15 December 2020 Shutdown announced
    Retirement announced

    "An unsustainable maintenance-mode state."

  9. 2021
  10. 31 March 2021 Shutdown
    Periscope shuts down

    Twitter Live carries on inside the main app.

The site through time

Browse periscope.tv as it was, via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine:

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Full archive →

Ownership [edit]

Periscope (startup) 2014–2015 Founded Acquired pre-launch
Twitter 2015–2021 Acquisition, reported ~$100M Absorbed into Twitter Live, app retired 2021

Why it shut down [edit]

Official line: Twitter said Periscope had been in "an unsustainable maintenance-mode state" with declining usage and rising costs, and retired the app at the end of March 2021.

Our analysis: Twitter bought the future of live video and then built it into the timeline, which made the standalone app redundant. Once native Twitter Live existed, Periscope was a cost centre with a fanbase.

History [edit]

Everyone's broadcast tower

Twitter bought Periscope in early 2015, reportedly for around $100 million, before the app had publicly launched: a defensive move against rival Meerkat. When it arrived on 26 March 2015, it stuck: tap once and the world watches through your camera, with hearts and comments floating up the screen. Apple named it the iPhone App of the Year for 2015. Breaking news, protests, storm chasers and an entire subculture of live creators ran on Periscope.

Twitter integrated the streams natively into the timeline, and that success became the app's death warrant: if live video played inside Twitter, launched from the Twitter compose box, what was the separate app for?

Maintenance mode

By Twitter's own admission Periscope spent its last years in "an unsustainable maintenance-mode state", usage declining, costs rising. On 15 December 2020 Twitter announced the app would go by March; it shut on 31 March 2021. The technology lived on as Twitter Live and the "go Live" button, and Beykpour had risen to run Twitter's consumer product. The purple periscope icon itself, one of the defining apps of 2015, disappeared from the stores.

Similar projects

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Sources [edit]

  1. Periscope will shut down by March, Twitter confirms TechCrunch 15 December 2020 [archived]
  2. Farewell, Periscope Periscope (Twitter) 15 December 2020 [archived]

Last verified: 11 August 2026. Spotted an error? Suggest an edit (corrections with sources are reviewed and applied).