Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Twitch.tv app gets a facelift and expanded search

Numerous games are in line both for PC and consoles and even more are coming as we slowly approach the gaming season. And what better way to watch other people play those games you wish you could play than through Twitch.tv. Fortunately, they have just updated their Android app to make living vicariously an even better experience.

For those who are already frequent users of the app, they might notice a subtle yet effective change in this update. Twitch has happily updated the app's design to make it match common Android stylistic conventions. Even better, the app's is now also optimized for tablets so that you won't feel like you're using a smartphone app magnified for a 7 or 10-inch screen.

But more than just the visual changes, the new functionality of the Twitch app also bears noting. Previously, you could only search for Channels. Now however, there are tabs for searching for People as well as for Games. One curious detail though, it seems that these are separated into tabs so you'll have to tab to each one in order to get the specific type of results, instead of everything being displayed in one page sorted according to the type. But once you've found that channel you want, the fun can begin. You can, for one, try to find out more about the broadcaster via the fancy new Broadcaster Profile page. And now you can even chat with people of the same feather even when the broadcaster is offline.

The updated Twitch app is up on Google Play Store and available for free. It seems that, despite these new features, some users are still clamoring for direct Chromecast support. That said, if you really want your Twitch feed up on your TV, you have other options available, like using Koush's AllCast app, which gained that feature just last May, or via Chromecast's screen mirroring feature, if it works with the Twitch app at all.