YouTube has announced that smartphone users will soon be able to start a new live stream directly from the camera app of their smartphones. In coming months, YouTube plans to roll out a dedicated live stream feature within the camera app in select mobile devices from Asus, LG, Motorola, Nokia, and Samsung. This will be expanded to more devices throughout the year - thanks to the release of the YouTube Mobile Live deep link that is available for third-party developers to integrate YouTube's live stream feature within their Android apps. The latest announcement comes weeks after YouTube added a bunch of new features to make live streaming a better experience for creators and viewers.
The arrival of the direct camera app integration for YouTube live stream will make it easy for smartphone users to host their videos live on the leading video streaming site. Also, it will make the competition tougher for Facebook Live and Twitter's Periscope, which are popular for hosting livestream videos for most social media users.
It is important to note that Sony introduced a live stream feature for the Xperia Z3 users back in 2014 to let them stream live videos through YouTube. Likewise, Samsung added a live broadcast feature for its Galaxy Note 5 in 2015.
YouTube is aiming to expand live streaming through mobile devices by releasing the YouTube Mobile Live deep link. This enables developers to allow their Android apps to initiate a YouTube live stream with a single-tap action. Moreover, it basically uses the Mobile Live flow via the Android Intent mechanism to provide a live video streaming experience on devices running Android Marshmallow (API 23) or higher.
Alongside mobile users, YouTube is making it easier for desktop users to live stream their moments. Instead of the original way that requires an encoder and involves few steps, the YouTube team has created a webpage youtube.com/webcam that starts a stream instantly. Also, there is a Go live button right in the YouTube header to enable live streaming, without requiring any additional software or hardware set up. The new addition is initially available on Chrome, though it will be expanding to more browsers in the coming days.
Late last month, YouTube added automatic captions, live chat replay, and location tags to expand YouTube live stream. The video streaming site also included a Super Chat feature for creators to highlight and pin paid chat messages to monetise live streams.
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