Twitch will redesign its mobile app for the first time since 2019

Twitch is redesigning its mobile app for the first time since 2019. The company’s CEO Dan Clancy wrote in open letter on Wednesday that the discovery feed will be the app’s new landing page. The update, expected later this year, will also make it easier to share quick updates, including uploading short video stories from the mobile app.

“We’re redesigning the mobile app (the first major update of 2019) to give you a more modern, immersive viewing experience by making the discovery feed available to all Twitch users as the new in-app landing experience,” Clancy wrote . The discovery feed, currently only available as an “experiment” on the mobile app, shows real-time updates, mixing streams of people you follow with recommended content.

Clancy says the mobile app will also add new features that encourage quick updates for your followers, including the ability to create and upload short video stories from your phone. Other additions will include pinch-to-zoom photos (better late than never?) and the ability to share portrait videos to stories.

Twitch moderators with iPhones have a lot to look forward to, as the mobile app will include mod tools for the first time. Previously desktop-only, the mobile tools will be “flexible, easy to use and move with you,” according to Clancy. The company says fashion tools will be released on iOS later this year; hasn’t looked into Android availability yet.

Looking beyond the mobile app, other Twitch updates for 2024 will include updated community guidelines. Clancy says the new rules include “clearer, updated definitions of harm and tougher penalties for certain types of harassment.” The platform also plans to roll out tools to help users better identify harassment, including some that Clancy claims will “block more harassment before it shows up in your chat.”

Finally, Twitch’s video editor (which reportedly helped enable child exploitation on the platform) will soon make it easier to share content. Clancy says the feature will make it easier for creators and viewers to share clips on social channels, including an option to export directly to Instagram. In addition, a major update to the mobile app will add the video editor when it arrives later this year.