Washington – App reviews: Periscope, Twitter’s new live-streamer, and Dubsmash, for soundtracks.
Periscope
The live-streaming frenzy continues with this offering from Twitter that lets you share what’s going on in your life right that second. Like Meerkat and other competitors, the app lets you use your iPhone as your soapbox to the world. Viewers can send you chat messages within the app or just tap the screen to send a heart your way. Periscope has unique additional features, such as the option to save your own live-streams to your camera roll, and close Twitter integration. (You can also watch live streams on the Web.)
As with other live-stream apps, Periscope is not for private people. It will need access to your camera and microphone, of course, and also asks for access to your location information. You have the option to deny all of those permissions, but that would limit the app’s usefulness.
Free, for iOS devices.
Dubsmash – Soundtracks for your videos
In a world of endless messaging apps and platforms, it sometimes feels like there’s no novelty out there worth playing with.
Dubsmash lets you share short videos to the soundtrack of custom audio – catch-phrases from commercials, song clips, etc. – that provides a little extra whimsy.
You can upload your own sounds or pick from a library of user-submitted clips.
And Dubsmash doesn’t hold you to its platform alone. You can share over Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS. In addition, you can save videos to your camera roll to share your small creations wherever else you choose.
The app does ask you to create a Dubsmash account. This may not become an essential messaging app, but it is a fun way to add some flair to silly short videos. Free, for iOS and Android devices.
Washington Post-Bloomberg