Twitter Gives Audio-Only Streaming Capabilities To iOS Users

Twitter (TWTR) originally launched as a microblogging platform that limited its users to 140-character bursts of text and images, but the site keeps giving users more ways to share content. On Friday, Twitter announced that all users on iOS could broadcast live audio-only streams to their followers, in an expansion of the app’s Periscope functionality.

The official company Twitter account, as well as CEO Jack Dorsey, tweeted about the new feature on Friday. Users of both the Twitter app and the Periscope app on iOS can now launch audio-only streams in the same way they would have started video Periscope streams before. After hitting the “Live” button, tapping a small microphone icon will switch the Periscope interface from video to audio.

Twitter had been beta testing this feature for some time, according to TechCrunch. As Twitter put it in the iOS app’s update notes, sometimes users might want to stream without being seen. If someone really wants to share their thoughts on the issues of the day or expose their followers to something entertaining without necessarily providing visual feedback, this feature will help them.

It could also give people a way to easily record podcasts for their Twitter followers.

Twitter has allowed users to start and embed live broadcasts within their tweets since 2015 when it bought video streaming service Periscope. Users can now stream directly from the iOS app or download a separate Periscope app, whichever they prefer. The social network reportedly paid a bit less than $100 million for Periscope.

Periscope became the primary source of video content on Twitter after the company’s other video app, Vine, shut down in 2017. Users can still record videos directly within the app, or post videos from their mobile camera rolls.

The new feature rollout ended an otherwise stressful week for the microblogging site. Twitter, along with other web platforms, testified in front of Congress this week regarding user privacy and foreign election interference. Twitter shares fell by as much as 14 percent by Thursday. As part of the same news cycle, Twitter dealt with its Alex Jones problem by permanently banning the right-wing conspiracy theorist from the site.