TikTok appears to have launched its own streaming software

TikTok has become the go-to app for the world’s youth, joining social media sites like Instagram and Twitter at the top of the globe’s most downloaded applications. Capitalizing on its massive popularity, the company that owns TikTok⏤ByteDance⏤is branching out after recently launching its own streaming software called TikTok Live Studio.

The software’s launch wasn’t widely publicized, instead quietly appearing as an option for users of the app. Its launch was announced by several prominent Twitter users including Miguel Lozada, the senior partnerships manager at consumer technology products brand Elgato, and Zach Bussey, the owner of Creator Hype.

Bussey announced the news in a straightforward tweet on Dec. 15.

“Tiktok has quietly launched its own streaming software called TikTok Live Studio,” he wrote, before expanding into a description of the software’s current capabilities. “It’s super basic in its current state. Has both Landscape and Portrait Scenes. Sources include Game Capture, Mobile Capture, Video Capture, Program Capture, and some text/images. No browser sources, or alerts. Emojis are limited to the stock ones.”

Lozada’s tweet was similarly straightforward. Instead of sharing screenshots of the app’s included features, however, he shared images of the setup process. This included an image of his Xbox home page, which he was able to stream using TikTok Live Studio. His images also showed some of the adjustments users can make to their stream, like enhancing the video and audio quality.

The TikTok Live Studio website welcomes users to “the LIVE studio,” where they can “easily create content and share magical moments with the streaming software designed specifically for the TikTok LIVE experience.”

TikTok Live Studio looks like it will function largely like any other streaming software, allowing viewers to interact with streamers in real time, share emojis and reactions to in-stream moments, and—importantly—allow users to share their favorite clips directly to TikTok.

The software appears to currently be in its very earliest, and most rudimentary, stages. If it gathers the kind of momentum it could, as a cousin to one of the world’s fastest-growing apps, TikTok Live Studio could be the new streaming software to beat.