Twitch: Live Streaming

Entertainment

7.3~~/10~~

Our score

★ 4.2 Google Play·100M+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-09-05

Screenshots

Discover feed with a live stream and a stories row above it

Following list showing live viewer counts per channel

Browse tab with categories and their current viewer numbers

Create menu offering game streaming, IRL streaming and a dashboard

Activity feed with notifications about gifted subscriptions

About Twitch: Live Streaming

Twitch is live video with a chat window attached: gaming, music, cooking and people simply talking, watched by anywhere from a hundred to hundreds of thousands at once. Viewers pay creators through subscriptions and Bits rather than through a platform fee. It is free with advertising, and the app can also start a stream from the phone in a couple of taps.

App information

DeveloperTwitch Interactive, Inc.

Version31.2.0 (Android) · 31.0.2 (iOS)

Size165 MB (Android) · 473 MB (iOS)

Price / In-appFree

Contains adsYes

In-app purchasesYes

Content rating13+

Requires (Android)Android 11+

Requires (iOS)iOS 16.4+

Offline modeNone — live streams and chat both need a connection

Interface languagesAR, BG, CS, DA, NL, EN + 22 more

Store rating (Google Play)4.2 from 5,766,003 ratings

Installs100M+

Updated by developer2026-09-04

Data checked2026-09-07

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-09-07. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

Twitch Review: Sub Tokens $5.99, Bits From $1.99

Money Goes to Creators, Not to a Subscription

There is no premium tier for viewers. Instead the app sells Sub Tokens — $5.99 for one, $9.99 for two, $29.99 for five and $59.99 for ten — each redeemable as a monthly subscription to a channel, and Bits, the tipping currency, from $1.99 for 95 up to $49.99 for 2,750. Subscriptions remove advertising on that channel and add emotes. Gifting is visible in the activity feed, where notifications show who gave a Tier 1 subscription to whom. Prices are US listings. Buying either currency through Twitch's website rather than the app avoids the app-store commission, which changes the effective price.

Live Counts Are Everywhere, and That Is the Point

Every list shows how many people are watching right now: 23,900 on one followed channel, 277,000 in the League of Legends category, 10,100 in Just Chatting. The browse tab sorts by category with those numbers attached, so choosing what to watch is a decision about crowd size as much as subject. Chat runs beside the video with emotes and moderation, and the stories row at the top carries short updates from channels you follow when they are offline. Categories with a few hundred viewers behave completely differently from those with hundreds of thousands, and the numbers let you choose deliberately.

Going Live Takes Two Taps

The create menu offers Stream Games from the device, Stream IRL from the camera, a story post, a stream manager and a creator dashboard — a full broadcasting kit on a phone rather than a companion to a desktop setup. That is what separates it from watching apps. On data, Google Play lists eight collected categories with six shared with third parties, and Apple adds that identifiers track users across other companies' apps. The ratings split: 4.7 on the App Store against 4.1 across 5.76 million Play reviews.

Pros

Live viewer counts shown on every channel and category
Streaming from the phone takes two taps
Money goes to creators through subs and Bits
Subscribing removes advertising on that channel
Rated 4.7 on the App Store across 2.8 million ratings

Cons

Sub Tokens cost $5.99 each, Bits from $1.99
Eight collected data categories, six shared with third parties
Advertising on the free tier interrupts live streams
One of the heavier installs in this catalogue

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Verdict

The default place for live video, and the viewer counts on every screen make it unusually easy to find something happening now. Watching costs nothing beyond advertising, and the money that changes hands goes to creators rather than to a platform subscription. Two caveats: buying Sub Tokens or Bits in the app costs more than on the website, and the data card lists six categories shared onward.

Core function8.5Live video with chat, category browsing and phone broadcasting all work reliably.

Ease of use8.0Viewer counts everywhere make choosing easy; the creator tools take longer to learn.

Monetisation6.5No viewer subscription, but Sub Tokens at $5.99 and Bits packs to $49.99.

Performance7.5Live playback holds up on mobile data, on a heavy install that drains battery.

Privacy & permissions5.0Eight categories collected, six shared onward, and cross-app tracking by identifiers.

7.3out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

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Frequently asked questions

Is Twitch free?

Yes. Watching, chatting and following cost nothing, funded by advertising — the Play listing carries a Contains ads badge. Money is optional and goes to creators: Sub Tokens from $5.99 for a monthly channel subscription, and Bits from $1.99 for tipping during a stream.

What does subscribing to a channel do?

It removes advertising on that channel, unlocks its custom emotes and marks you as a subscriber in chat, for a month per token. Subscriptions can also be gifted, which shows up in the activity feed — the store screenshots include notifications about gifted Tier 1 subscriptions.

How much do Bits and subs cost?

Sub Tokens are $5.99 for one, $9.99 for two, $29.99 for five and $59.99 for ten. Bits run $1.99 for 95, $4.99 for 245, $9.99 for 510, $19.99 for 1,050 and $49.99 for 2,750. Buying through the app costs more than through Twitch's website.

Can you stream from a phone?

Yes — the create menu offers streaming a game running on the device, streaming from the camera, and a stream manager with a creator dashboard. It is a complete broadcasting setup rather than a companion app, which is why so many streams now start on a phone.

What are the alternatives?

YouTube carries live streaming inside a much larger video app with a cheaper subscription. Kick offers creators a bigger revenue share with a smaller audience. This one still has the deepest culture around live chat, which is what people actually come for.