How to Live Stream on Twitter

This article explains how to live stream on Twitter using the iOS and Android versions of the Twitter app.

How to Begin a Broadcast on Twitter

You can start a live broadcast from within the official Twitter app for iOS and Android devices. A cellular or Wi-Fi signal is required and your account must be public. If your Twitter account is set to protected, you will not be able to live stream.

Your followers and the general public can see your broadcast while it's in progress and after via an on-demand Twitter video. Similar to live streaming on Instagram, Twitter users can interact with live streams via typing a message in the chat or by using a heart emoji.

1. Open the Twitter app on your iOS or Android device and tap compose (the quill and plus sign).

2. Tap the camera icon, then tap Live.

   You will need to grant Twitter access to use your device's camera and microphone to continue.

3. Tap Add location and choose your preferred location for the Twitter live stream.

   This location information is used to make your broadcast more discoverable by users in the Twitter and Periscope apps.

4. Tap What's happening? and type the text you want to go along with your live stream. This could be the title of your broadcast or a casual message to your followers encouraging them to tune in.

   Adding keywords and hashtags to your description will help your tweet show up in Twitter searches.

5. Tap Go Live to immediately begin your Twitter live stream.

   While streaming on Twitter, you can use the three buttons in the upper-right corner to turn your flash on or off, change cameras, and mute or unmute your microphone, respectively. You can also tap the icons in the lower-right corner to see who your viewers are.

6. When you're ready to finish your live stream on Twitter, tap Stop in the upper-left corner.

7. A confirmation option will pop up. Tap Stop Broadcast to confirm the end of your live stream or Cancel to continue streaming.

What Happens to Past Twitter Live Streams?

When you finish broadcasting with the Twitter app, a recording of your live stream saves to Twitter and becomes available to rewatch on-demand from within the initial stream's tweet.

You can edit a recorded live stream by tapping the video within the tweet and then tapping Edit Broadcast. From here, you can change the title of your stream and even edit the start and end points by selecting specific points on the video timeline.

Once you've made all of your adjustments, tap Save Changes to lock them in. Changes made to a recorded Twitter live stream can take around 15 minutes to propagate across the social network.

How Are Twitter and Periscope Connected?

The Twitter live stream feature is powered by Periscope, a separate service that's dedicated purely to broadcasting video. While the Periscope live video service is what makes streaming on Twitter possible, the Periscope app isn't needed to begin a broadcast from Twitter, so it does not need to be downloaded onto your smart device. All of this connectivity happens behind the scenes and is not something the average user needs to worry about.

Periscope accounts are identical to Twitter accounts despite the different app name; following a user on one will follow them on the other. Periscope live streams will also broadcast on Twitter and vice versa.