Periscope adds fast-forward and rewind to replays on Android and the web

While live-streaming continues to be the heart of Periscope, the Twitter-owned video app is making some new investments in the replay experience for people who missed the original broadcast. The company updated today with one of users’ top requests — the ability to fast-forward and rewind through broadcasts. On Android, long-pressing on a replay with one finger will shrink the broadcast down into miniature and show you a time-stamp; drag your finger back and forth to advance or retreat in time. If you’re on the web, you can simply click any point in the broadcast on the scrubber bar and the broadcast will skip ahead.

The feature, which has not yet come to the iOS app, is particularly helpful given some of the quirks of the platform. The first 20 seconds of a replay are typically pretty boring, for example, as the broadcaster waits for people to join in. And as a frequent broadcaster myself, I know my own broadcasts tend to drag at the end as I start answering random questions from viewers and saying goodbye.

The update has now rolled out to about half of Android users, the company said. An update to the iOS app is expected in the next week or so.

This article has been update to include new information from the company, including web broadcasts.