Skip to main content

Getting too many notifications of Periscope broadcasts? New ‘mute’ feature limits the noise

periscope android update fast forward rewind
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Periscope’s been out for four months now, so chances are, if you’re an avid user of the live-streaming app, you’ve found a few other users whose broadcasts you enjoy.

In its relatively short lifetime, the mobile software has come on leaps and bounds in terms of usability and features, with the latest update, rolled out on Monday, addressing a particular issue that’s evidently been bugging a number of users.

You’ll know about it if you’ve enabled push notifications for the app and follow someone who’s a particularly enthusiastic streamer. In this case, every time they crank up the app to start a new live stream, you’ll receive an alert on your phone, a situation that could become a little annoying depending on just how often they launch a new broadcast.

Turn off notifications and you stop hearing from all the people you follow on the app, yes, even those whose streaming frequency has never been an issue. With this week’s update, the problem’s sorted.

Mute

Initially for iOS but coming very soon to Android, “mute” lets you block notifications on a user-by-user basis.

Team Periscope elaborates: “When you mute someone, their broadcasts still appear in your feed, but you won’t receive push notifications when they go live. Push notifications are a powerful communication channel, but they also have the potential of creating a frustrating degree of noise for users. We think it’s important to respect this power, and give users granular control over the notifications they receive while still providing the flexibility of seeing more content on Periscope.”

Related: DT’s quick guide to Persicope

This should be a great feature for managing Periscopers whose streams you enjoy but whose constant notifications cause mild irritation (or extreme distress, in which case you should simply stop following them).

Besides the new mute function, the update also brings an improved global feed for discovering live streams around the world and, for broadcasters, stream stats that remain viewable instead of disappearing soon after finishing a broadcast.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
I need this iOS concept feature on my iPhone right now
An iOS concept showing a Smart Stack of widgets below the app dock.

It's always fun to imagine and speculate what new smartphone operating systems will bring. With Apple's iOS 18 update launching later this year — and reported to be a big one — there's a lot of anticipation over what Apple's next iPhone update will bring to the table.

We don't know much about what the next iOS update will offer, but there is one feature that I now need it to have. Product designer Gavin Nelson recently shared an iOS concept feature on X (formerly Twitter) and Threads, and it looks incredible.

Read more
The iPhone’s new Journal app is worse than I thought
Apple Journal app on an iPhone 15 Pro.

One of Apple’s recent focuses on iOS and watchOS is mental health and wellness. In the most recent watchOS 10 and iOS 17 updates, Apple added Mindfulness capture, which lets you log your mood for the day or how you feel at a particular moment. Similarly, it also launched a new Journal app.

Though Apple announced the Journal app in June’s WWDC23 keynote, Journal was absent from the initial iOS 17 release. With iOS 17.2, Apple finally released Journal to the public as another tool for better mental health and wellbeing.

Read more
The 10 best apps for your 2024 New Year’s resolutions
An app folder on an iPhone titled "New Year's Apps."

Now that the holidays have come and gone, it’s time to look forward to the new year. And you know what that means — 2024 New Year’s resolutions!

I know that we all try to make some resolutions each year, but it’s hard to stay on top of it. Whether it’s trying to eat healthier and exercise more, managing your budget better, or even just trying to form better overall habits and break bad ones, there are apps to help you stay on track.

Read more