Twitch App

Description

Amazon subsidiary Twitch Interactive runs Twitch as the largest live streaming platform in the world. The service is focused on video game streams, but creators broadcast in a wide range of categories such as music, cooking, art, fitness, and Just Chatting – an open-ended category where streamers simply talk with their audience. Twitch has more than 140 million monthly active users and more than 8 million active streamers as of 2024.

Viewers watch streams for free and without an account. Creating a free account unlocks the ability to chat, follow channels, receive notifications and participate in community features. The Twitch app is available on iPhone, iPad, Android devices, desktop computers through web browser or dedicated apps, smart TVs, and game consoles such as PlayStation and Xbox.

LIVE CHAT

Chat accompanies every stream in real-time, providing viewers with a direct line to the streamer and to each other. Messages appear as the stream plays and streamers regularly read chat aloud and respond to viewers during broadcasts. This live back-and-forth between creator and audience is what defines the Twitch experience and separates it from pre-recorded video platforms.

Streamers and their appointed moderators are in charge of chat behavior. Moderators can mute, time out, or ban disruptive users, and automated tools can filter out specific words or patterns. Streamers can limit chat to subscribers only, to followers only, or use slow mode, which limits how often each viewer can send messages.

FOLLOWING AND DISCOVERY

Logged-in users follow channels that they want to keep up with. The Following tab displays which followed channels are currently live, and allows users to configure notifications so that they receive an alert when a favorite streamer goes online. A Discovery Feed presents streams and clips from channels that the user has not followed yet, based on viewing history and categories they browse. Streams are grouped into categories by game title or activity type, so if someone is looking for a particular game, they can browse all of the active streams playing that game simultaneously.

CLIPS

Anyone watching a stream can create a clip — a short highlight of up to 60 seconds — right inside the app with a single tap. Clips save to the creator’s channel and are shown in clip feeds. Viewers share clips to other platforms such as X, Reddit, or Discord to share moments from a stream with audiences who were not watching live. In 2025, Twitch updated the clip editor to enable in-app editing with vertical format support for sharing to TikTok or Instagram Reels, as well as automated highlight detection that suggests the best moments from a completed broadcast for clipping.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Viewers subscribe to a channel for a monthly fee, which usually starts at $4.99 per month for a Tier 1 subscription. Subscribing grants access to custom emotes unique to that channel, a subscriber badge next to the viewer’s name in chat, and ad-free viewing on that channel. Subscribers can also gift subscriptions to other viewers in the same channel. Amazon Prime members get one free channel subscription per month through Prime Gaming that they can apply to any channel they want. Streamers share subscription revenue with Twitch, with Affiliates getting around 50 percent and top Partners getting eligible for higher shares through the Plus Program.

BITS

Bits are Twitch’s virtual currency. Viewers buy Bits and spend them to Cheer in a streamer’s chat, which sends animated emotes along with a message and contributes a fraction of a cent per Bit directly to the streamer. Spending 100 Bits is equivalent to $1.00 to the streamer. Cheering also builds Cheer badges in that channel, which show visibly next to the viewer’s name to show cumulative support. Bits are non-refundable once spent, which protects streamers from reversals of payment. In 2025, Twitch made Bits and subscriptions available to most streamers from the first day they are on the platform, eliminating the waiting period that previously required streamers to build an audience before earning from these tools.

HYPE TRAIN

When several viewers subscribe or cheer in a short time frame, a Hype Train event triggers on the stream. A progress bar is displayed on screen and in chat, encouraging the community to continue contributing before the timer expires. Reaching higher levels of a Hype Train gives emotes to everyone who participated. Shared Hype Trains, introduced in 2025, let two streamers who are broadcasting together share a single Hype Train across both their communities.

CHANNEL POINTS

Viewers passively earn Channel Points simply for watching a stream — about 10 points per five minutes, with bonus points for watching multiple streams in a row, participating in raids and other activities. Streamers define a custom menu of things viewers can redeem their Channel Points for ranging from highlighting a chat message to triggering a sound effect to unlocking a specific emote. Streamers regulate the cost of rewards and how they function. Viewers can also gamble Channel Points on Predictions — community polls in which the streamer asks a question with two possible outcomes, and viewers gamble their points on which outcome they think will occur.

RAIDS

At the end of a broadcast, a streamer can raid another channel. A raid switches all of the current viewers to a different channel, sending them into that streamer’s live chat as a group. The target streamer is notified that a raid is incoming and the raiding viewers usually flood the new channel’s chat with a greeting message. Raids are a way of introducing one streamer’s audience to another creator, and the Twitch community takes them as a gesture of support and camaraderie. Viewers receive 250 Channel Points for participating in a raid.

STREAM TOGETHER and SHARED CHAT

Stream Together is Twitch’s suite of tools for collaborative broadcasts. Drop Ins allow streamers to invite another creator to join their stream on the fly without scheduling ahead of time. Shared Chat combines the chat rooms of up to six streamers who are broadcasting together, so all their audiences will communicate in one unified chat. Moderation is used in all participating channels and any user banned from one channel in the session is unable to send messages in the shared chat. Shared Viewership shows the total number of viewers for all participating streams.

VODs AND PAST BROADCASTS

Streamers can enable VODs — Videos on Demand — so their past broadcasts are still available for viewing after the live stream has ended. Subscribers and Twitch Turbo users have access to VODs on channels that store them. Free users have limited access to past broadcasts based on streamer settings. VOD availability differs by channel; some streamers remove VODs rapidly while others store them indefinitely.

Improved Broadcasting and Video Quality

Twitch Affiliates and Partners are able to stream at up to 1440p (2K) resolution via Enhanced Broadcasting, a setting that requires certain hardware and software configuration in streaming software such as OBS Studio. Most viewers watch streams at 1080p or 720p depending on their internet connection. The app automatically adjusts the quality or allows viewers to manually choose a quality level from the stream settings. Enhanced Broadcasting also supports portrait orientation for mobile-first streaming, where the app detects whether the device is held vertically or horizontally.

STREAMER TIERS

Twitch has three tiers of creators. Regular accounts can stream to the platform but have limited access to monetization. Affiliates unlock Bits, subscriptions, and Channel Points after reaching basic thresholds. Partners are the top tier and are given priority support, extra emote slots, more revenue share options and access to advanced broadcasting features. As of 2025, Twitch opened up Bits and subscriptions to most streamers on their first day, lowering the barrier to earning that previously required reaching Affiliate status.

AMAZON PRIME GAMING

Amazon Prime subscribers get Prime Gaming included with their membership for free. Prime Gaming offers one free channel subscription per month on Twitch, free in-game content for a variety of titles, and access to a rotating list of free games to claim and keep. The free monthly subscription has the same benefits as a paid Tier 1 subscription on whatever channel the viewer applies it to.