Twitter account no longer compulsory for signing up

Twitter’s iOS-only livestreaming app, Periscope, released a new update yesterday making it possible for new and existing users to be able to broadcast videos through the service from their smartphones without a Twitter account.

Although Twitter still recommends that you sign up via a Twitter account, new users can now sign up using their phone number instead.

The update also makes it easier for users to reply comments on live broadcasts, changes the app to show when a streamer blocks a viewer in the broadcast chatroom and allows both streamers and viewers to change their profile pictures.

The update is detailed in a medium post by the Periscope team and comes six weeks after Twitter first released the app into the market, and two months after Twitter acquired Periscope for an undisclosed amount.