Periscope Live Video Streaming
Description of App
Periscope lets you broadcast live video to the world. Going live will instantly notify your followers who can join, comment and send you hearts in real
time. The more hearts you get, the higher they flutter on the screen.
Other features:
[+] REPLAY: When your broadcast is over, you can make it available for replay so viewers can watch later. Viewers can replay your broadcast with comments
and hearts to relive the full experience. Replays currently last 24 hours. You can delete your replay at any time.
[+] PRIVATE: If you want to broadcast to specific people, press the lock icon before going live and choose who you want to invite to your broadcast.
[+] TWITTER: You can choose to share your Periscope broadcasts on Twitter by tapping the bird icon before you start broadcasting. When you go live, you’ll
tweet a link so that your Twitter followers can watch on the web (or in the app)
[+] MANAGE NOTIFICATIONS: Periscope will suggest people for you to follow based on your Twitter network. You can always follow new people, or unfollow
them if you don’t want to be notified when they go live. You can also adjust notification preferences in Periscope Settings (in Profile)
[+] HEARTS: Periscope keeps track of how many hearts you get from your viewers. The more hearts, the higher you get in the “Most Loved” list.
Version
Free or Paid
Apple Watch Support
Device(s) App Was Tested On
iOS Version
VoiceOver Performance
Button Labeling
Usability
Other Comments
I understand that many sighted users of this app have had various issues/bugs when using iPhone 5s/6/6 Plus, so the issues we're experiencing with VoiceOver performance may be in some way related to the larger bugs our sighted peers are experiencing.
App Store Link
Developer's Twitter Username
Developer's Website
Recommendations
2 people have recommended this app
Comments
How do you start a stream?
I got to the screen where you need to braudcast from, and typed in a title. But then when I clicked the braudcast now button nothing happens. I have tried clicking all the other buttons on this screen. What am I doing wrong? The first time I did it, I got it to work.
issues
Watching videos and following people seems quite accessible. Only problem and big one is streaming. On 5s voiceover stops speaking after activating streaming tab and the screen where you actualy stream something is also one big mess. Hope, they fix these issues in next versions, the idea of life streaming through twitter is very good for me and i vould like to try it sometimes.
Killing the stream
Was having difficulty in ending the stream, not possible to flick through items and it says 'pull down to end', know how to activate this with VO?
Which camera is activated by default?
I always get these confused, is it the one facing me, is that front facing camera or the rear camera?
The front camera faces you,
The front camera faces you, the back camera faces away from you, I.E,, you will get a picture of what you are looking at, not yourface. Hope that helps.
To stop streaming, swipe down
To stop streaming, swipe down with three fingers, then move your finger up to the top left of the screen and you'll get a button labeled something like "end stream". That works for me.
Video Replay Issue?
Is anyone else having an issue when trying to replay videos (not live) where sometimes they'll reply and sometimes they won't. For me, there seems to be no pattern to this. Sometimes, when I click on a video to replay it after it has already stopped streaming live, I will hear a "play" button and I'm able to play it fine. Other times, however, especially recently within the past day or so, I will most often only hear a VoiceOver "click" sound only where they "play" button should be and, when I double-tap there, nothing happens. The only option I'm left with in these situations is the "dismiss" button.
Is it just me who is having these issues? Is this a VoiceOver issue or is this an issue for everyone? Should we report it?
Thanks.
"Hearting" Things
Recently discovered that sighted people can "heart" (or "like") videos by tapping on the screen.
Was wondering if anyone knew if this worked with a VoiceOver double-tap?
I heard it does not. and
I heard it does not. and some times it's hit and miss even with vo off. This from other vi users of the app.
Video Stability Issues
I have been having problems keeping the video going when I'm watching one, either live or taped. Oftentimes, when I click on a video to play it, it pauses after about 5 seconds, then continues playing, then pauses again after about another 5 seconds, etc. Very often, the video pauses and won't start again at all, so I have to exit out the video and restart it.
Has anyone else been having this issue? Does anyone know if this is a VoiceOver issue or if even sighted users have been having this problem? Also, wondering if it's just my crappy home wifi.
What you are experienceing is
What you are experienceing is called buffering. This is not a voice over issue but a network issue. Blaim your wifi for now, but try it out othe rplaces and out on the road. Also contact the devs about the issue in case they are having server issues.
Sharing Feeds / Profiles
I heard somewhere that you could share feeds/profiles, at least with other Periscope users.
Is there an accessible way of doing this? If so, I am unable to find it.
Also, anyone else have this issue?
First of all, have an iPhone 5 with iOS 8.3.
When I click on the tab to go live (I've labeled it "Broadcast", because I just got tired of hearing an unlabeled tab) and when I start typing something for the title, it seems that VoiceOver, at first, just stops working completely. Then, when it apparently comes back on, all you hear is clicks and no speech (it is as if you've somehow turned speech off but left VO on). However, when I do the gesture to turn speech back on, nothing happens. When I try and exit out the app, VO still doesn't respond correctly (no speech, no clicks, no nothing). When I try sleep-moding the phone and turning it back on again, same thing.
Even when I did a hard reset to the phone and try entering the info again, it does the same thing.
One solution/work-around I have found is, when/if you encounter this problem while entering a title, just dictate the rest of your title using the Siri dictate feature on your keyboard. (You can use the same gestures to get into and out of it as you normally would, even though VO is a little off.) Just place your finger on the space bar (at the very bottom ofthe screen and move one over to the left until you hear the click. That's your "dictate" function. Then, just dictate/gesture normally from there. When you exit out of the dictate feature, VoiceOver appears to turn back on/work normally.
Did you report all of this to
Did you report all of this to the periscope team? If so what was theri response?
Recording without video?
Has anyone figured out a way to record audio only on Periscope without video? I mean, if I don't want to record video but just audio, I don't want randomly to be pointing at something (even something I may not want to be/realizing I'm pointing at).
I know there's no built-in audio-only option, but has anyone developed a "work-around" technique for doing audio-only?
What I usually do is just put a shield over my back-facing camera lens so you have a black screen. However, fro some reason, that seems to make my audio really soft/unclear/as if I'm speaking through a barrel. Not sure why this is but I'm thinking it has something to do with there being two microphones -- one for the back-facing and one for the front-facing cameras?
Switch to the front camera as
Switch to the front camera as that mic is better. but no there is no way to only record audio. If you want ot do that then envest in icast2.
Take care.
I'd like to do that, but,
I'd like to do that, but, then, there's the problem at aiming the camera at the wrong part of my face or something when I don't intend to. That could get awkward. Any way anyone's found to prevent this?
Don't worry bout it. I hold
Don't worry bout it. I hold the camera at a 45 degree angle away from my face. I've shot several successfully yet shakey video streams on the other platform and I'm getting a bit more likes and complements with a lot of practice.
I can broadcast just fine, but...
I can broadcast just fine, but ending is a bit of a royal pain for me. any pointers?
There is a swipe trick I was
There is a swipe trick I was reading about but I could not get that to work when I did it last.
Yah good luck. if you cannot
Yah good luck. if you cannot get it to work switch to meerkat. The devs are much more reseptive in my book.
Hope you get this working.
Why would a totally blind person use this kind of app?
This is a thing that puzzles me to no end. I mean i can't see what i'm filming/photographing and yet people are using this app frequently. I have also downloaded Periscope and am about to download Meerkat but have yet to get aboard the video streaming train, probably because i'm somewhat of a perfectionist, i want to know what i shoot at before i do i mean i imagine i don't get many likes or hearts or whatnot if i point the camera at a gray wall or something. Once i believed i had taken a picture of a cute cat and found i had shot at the motorway outside the apartment where i was, not fun at all hense this question and a request for hints or tricks you all use.
/Krister
I guess most of us younger
I guess most of us younger folks like to try and get in to the video things even if we are not grate at it. It goes to show that a blind person can and will do some filming even though it's not grate. I've used it when performing live with someone else doing the failing to get myself out there and you can archive the meerkats to youtube with a simple tweet. I'm straying so shall end here.
I'll look at that one
I'll look at that one as well and see if it's any better.
I really don't see why people
I really don't see why people are having so many problems ending broadcasts. Maybe it's the type of iPhone you have? I have a 5 and all I have to do is 3-finger swipe down on the screen. Then, in the upper left corner, a little thing comes up that says something like "end broadcast". I just click on that and I'm fine.
swipe trick
I believe I tried that the last tiem I used it and it never worked. the button never showed up and voice over froze like an antarctic winter. I was and still am running an oPhone 6 but it did the same thign on my 5 as well.
You're talking about when you
You're talking about when you yourself broadcast, right? Because, when you're merely listening to a feed, you have to tap the icon in the upper right of the screen that's always there and that says something like "icon X dismiss".
App Crashes When Too Many Participants?
Anyone else having an issue where, when you try to do things in a broadcast screen where there are a lot of participants, the app either gets laggy or it crashes entirely? Not sure if this happens to everyone or if this is even only a VoiceOver issue or whether it is a problem for sighted users as well.
That's a new one. If there
That's a new one. If there is contact link for these folks it looks liek it's time to send them this thread, or at least a link to it anyway.
I'd try the usual troubleshooting steps forst to see if you are running out of memmory on yoru phone which it looks like you are.
Accessing the Back-Facing Camera?
Anyone know how to access the back-facing camera? You know, the one where you can take "selfies"/focus on yourself? From what I gather, sighted people not using VoiceOver can access it simply by tapping the screen. Is that right? Anyone know if you can switch to the back-facing camera accessibly? Maybe, tap and hold? Thing is, I'm even still a little confused as to how sighted people do this. Doesn't tapping the screen also bring up the hearts? If so, how can tapping the screen do two functions at once? Or, maybe, for sighted people, swithcing to back-facing camera is a double-tap? If so, I'd have NO idea how VoiceOver users could do that! Might just have to turn it off when doing this and back on again afterward? Anyone ever tried switching to the back-facing camera using any of these methods? Any success?
Keyboard Lag
Also, (and this may be related to an issue I mentioned previously), when a broadcast has a lot of participants, I find that the on-screen keyboard gets VERY laggy. (Again, using an iPhone 5.) Anyone else have this?
I also find it is somewhat laggy normally, even when there aren't a lot of participants.
I try to remedy both of these by using the Dictate feature, but, sometimes that just screws up and often doesn't write the entirety of what I dictated.
Actually the front is for
Actually the front is for selfies. but the back should be used by default.
Take care.
Well, then, I meant the front
Well, then, I meant the front-facing one in my previous posts. Whichever one takes the selfies. Just substitute that, but my questions are still the same and I would appreciate your help.
I can't help you as I had the
I can't help you as I had the same issue when I last used the app about 2 months ago. Looks like it will not be fixed for a while, or ever. As anyone contacted the periscope devs to let them know of these issues?
update. I jus fired an email off to them, so we'll see what happens. I did nothave time to do a 3 page usage memo as I'm studying for some tests, but it will work.
I plan on it. I just ant to
I plan on it. I just ant to make sure I'm not missing anything first. If anyone else wants to step up befroe me and do this, though, I wouldn't mind.
I also don't use a lot of the features with the issues that often at present, so, t least to me, it's not so urgent an issue.
Should we just tweet them at their a11y account, or is there a better way to get in contact directly with the Twitter accessibility team?
(Just contacted them via the
(Just contacted them via the a11y Twitter link above. Also contacted the personal account of one of their A11y Team members. We'll see how this goes.)
Basically explained what this site was and directed them to this thread so they could see "reviews" from actual blind users of the product. I did mention that we have discovered several accessibility issues.
Switching Cameras: Update
All right, guys. Just discovered how to switch cameras from back to front-facing. Just three-finger-swipe down (as you would to end the strem. Then, to the upper right of the screen, there is a "controls" icon. Tap that and you'll be able to switch cameras.
That works, and is a bit
That works, and is a bit counterintuitive. it would be nuch easier if the control to do that were at the bottom of the app, but that's just my take on things.
that would be...
that would be too easy though. we can't have things make sense, you know, especially with apps like this. Lol. #sarcasm
Have Yet To Hear Back
Welp, as of yet, haven't heard anything back via Twitter from the a11y team... Anyone else had better luck with this? Do they just not care, at least about blind Periscope users? Is there a better way to get in touch with them? Should I just give them more time?
Maybe we should all contact them, be, as it were, teh squeaky wheels...
BTW, guys, at least there is
BTW, guys, at least there is an alternate method for us to access the camera control via VoiceOver. As I understand it, sighted people just double-tap to change it, and, far as I know, such can't be done with VoiceOver.
I contacted Periscope
I thought I was the only blind person having trouble with periscope. I'm so glad I'm not alone. I contacted them and they said they're going to work on it. That makes me so happy and excited We will all get through this together
Response from Periscope Help
The folks from the @a11yteam Twitter account let me know earlier that Periscope is developed by an independent team from Twitter, but the a11y person with whom I was in contact passed my comments/links to this thread on to the appropriate individuals.
The following is copied from a tweet I received from @periscopehelp:
"r team know about this."
So, it seems like there's at least some interest in making things better for us.
P.S. I am changing the "Twitter" link (which was originally @a11yteam to the @periscopehelp link, since that appears to be the best way to contact Periscope, at least via Twitter.
Figured out how to share broadcasts!
OK, that was easier than I thought...
I just figured out how to share broadcasts.
1) Three-finger-swipe from left to right. You'll then see the info for the broadcast.
2) Three-finger swipe from bottom-to-top (the typical scrolling gesture) until you find a little button that says something like "share icon".
3) Click that and, from there it's simple and a piece of cake!
Hope that helps!
App Crashes Seeem VoiceOver Related
OK, earlier today, I was on a broadcast that had a LOT of participants. When I tried to share the broadcast, I 3-finger swiped left and then tried to locate the "share icon". However, each time, before I could do this, the app just completely crashed.
I tried swiping left WITHOUT VoiceOver and it seemed to work just fine. No crashes. So, this is obviously a VoiceOver-related issue.
It crashes for me to
I was just now on a Broadcast with 100 people and when I would try to do a comment it's like voiceover would freeze And it would also crash too. I really hope they fix this with voice over
Let's continue to report these issues!
Let's all continue to report these issues both on here and directly to Periscope.
So far, I've been using the @periscopehelp Twitter handle, but, if anyone has a better way to contact them, please let us know.
The more of us who report, I think, the more seriously they'll take these issues!
(I also continue to remind them to check out this thread for updates on issues we've been having and it would be great if others could do the same in their issue reporting.)
If we see each other tweeting Periscope about these issues, it would probably also be a good idea to RT each other to show how much support there is/we have for each other in this.
Agree ,but
I agree but I hope they don't find us being a bit of a bother. I honestly think they're working on it because the response I got was they said that they're going to make it accessible and they're still working on it My fingers are crossed
Accessibility Comments
There is a "splash" screen where you have to find a "Skip" button (not sure what you're skipping). You can only find it by swping through a few times until you hear "Skip". On the initial screen where you get follow suggestions, there is no feedback when a person is selected.
Unfortunately, I have also found that the app often crashes when you want to three-finger-swipe left-to-right in order to share the broadcast/etc during live broadcasts. This seems to depend on the number of users viewing a live stream, though this has happened to me when there have been as few as 48 other users viewing the stream.
With all this in mind, I was able to do what I wanted with this app even with the accessibility issues; I was able to stream live, to read comments and to follow people and to view the streams of others. VoiceOver, though, does not automatically focus on comments which appear while you are streaming at the lower left of the screen and it does not read the hearts you receive at all. Comments appear and disappear as they come in, though they can be read if you put your finger there where they appear. It appears that you can also read them if you go the the "chat" window.
NOTE TO IPHONE 5s/6/6 PLUS USERS: Please be aware that some users of the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have reported that, when initializing video streams, VoiceOver locks up. (I tested this on the iPhone 5 and it seemed to work fine for me.)