Live streaming apps like Periscope have become quite popular over the past year. We’ve even seen similar functionality being incorporated right into Facebook. A new report claims that Google has been quietly building its own Periscope competitor called YouTube Connect. The app will enable users to broadcast live from their mobile phones and it’s said to be available for both iOS and Android devices.
VentureBeat reports that YouTube Connect will have the same functionality that you’d find on Periscope and Facebook Live. Users can log into the app with their Google or YouTube account and immediately start streaming from their handsets.
Chat and tagging features are said to be present alongside a news feed feature that brings up the latest clips from friends or those who have been subscribed to. Live streams will be viewable within the app itself or on the YouTube site in respective channels.
It’s also said that the app will allow users to store their previous broadcasts once they’re done, making it easy to watch the replays as and when required. YouTube Connect reportedly doesn’t have integration with Facebook or Twitter that will make it easy to share streams.
Google has not commented on this report yet and it hasn’t dropped any hints recently to suggest that it’s working on such an app. Perhaps we might see the company announce YouTube Connect at I/O 2016 but regardless of how plausible that sounds it’s just speculation right now.