Livestream, a major website for the broadcasting of real-time video, has updated its iOS app to allow GoPro users to live stream from their cameras, allowing viewers to get right into the action of whatever the GoPro camera is capturing.
GoPro cameras have been used by extreme sports enthusiasts to record their feats of cliff jumping, sky diving and surfing. Livestream has updated its app to allow viewers to experience the thrill of these adventures as they happen.
"For the first time ever, you can share your GoPro video live with millions of people worldwide. All you need is your GoPro camera and the Livestream app for iOS!" wrote Livestream on its official blog.
A live-streaming feature for the GoPro has been in constant demand, and Livestream is making it happen with its added iOS app functionality.
"We've received hundreds of requests to add this kind of capability. People try to hack it and live-stream GoPro to a computer, but obviously a computer is not an appropriate thing to carry in an action sport," said Livestream CEO Max Haot in an interview.
The newly-developed GoPro feature of the Livestream app for the iOS makes a connection between the Wi-Fi network of the GoPro camera and the broadcaster's iPhone. A tap on a button within the app locks the iPhone's touchscreen and starts the feed from the connected GoPro camera, automatically live streaming the video through the website.
No matter where the user and the devices go, as long as the iPhone remains within the range of the Wi-Fi signal of the connected GoPro camera and a 4G network, the live streaming continues.
The feature works with any model of the GoPro camera, with pending confirmation that the app will also work with the newly unveiled GoPro Hero4.
The updated Livestream app also includes support for live video filters, allows the posting of snapshots to the video feed, and incorporates a chat function with the live stream viewers at any point while the stream is active.
Live streaming has become massively popular within the Internet community. Supporting this increase in popularity are the improvements in the audio-video capabilities of modern devices, along with the widening accessibility of high-speed mobile networks.
These factors have led to a 70 percent increase in the number of live broadcasts over Livestream per month compared to the previous year. Both large and small, personal events have utilized live streaming to great effect, and the addition of GoPro cameras as another option for broadcasts shown through Livestream opens up many opportunities for live broadcasting.
