Twitter's Periscope Adds Landscape Mode, Facebook Shares, Space Saving -- Breaking Vertical Limits

Vertical video is no longer everything for live-streaming apps. Twitter’s Periscope updated its iOS and Android apps to allow for filming in landscape, or horizontal, mode.

For those still too lazy to turn their smartphones, not all is lost. Viewers can watch landscape videos in vertical mode. The app will simply shrink down the size. However, allowing this filming style is a big leap from a company that followed in the trend of vertical video and of livestreaming, interactive content.

"When we first launched Periscope, we only supported portrait broadcasting," Periscope’s team wrote in a blog post on Medium. "As much as we’re fans of portrait video, we know that there are times where the scene you’re trying to capture is best expressed in landscape."

To show off the new mode, Periscope created a GIF of a beach scene and a photo compilation of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. In that compilation, Periscope showed an iPhone, an Android phone and a computer monitor. Some outlets have noted that the new setting could also help support an app for Apple TV. Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that the Periscope team was developing an app for Apple’s latest streaming system.

Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) acquired Periscope in January. Yet, Periscope introduced another new feature that deepened its tie to a different social network. Now, streamers can share a link to a live broadcast or a replay of a stream to Facebook. Competitor streaming app Meerkat introduced Facebook sharing in May. Both apps have been working to diversify themselves in the growing industry of livestreaming.

Other updates from Periscope included an update to the homepage that adds who shares a broadcast, VoiceOver for iOS and a button to quickly turn off or on chat -- the setting that shows live comments and virtual hearts, “likes,” to the broadcaster.

As apps battle for storage space on smartphones, the latest version of Periscope also takes up less space. Prior, Periscope was 18.5 MB. With the latest update, Periscope is 13.8 MB. Competitor Meerkat is 38.5 MB. But Periscope's update does not significantly alleviate the amount of data the app can consume.