Meerkat
Meerkat became the breakout app of SXSW by making phone livestreaming effortless, then Twitter cut off its growth channel and launched a rival.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A formally released mobile livestreaming app created by Life On Air.
Users could begin a broadcast with one tap and distribute it through Twitter, creating an unusually immediate form of mobile live video.
Existence timeline
Meerkat begins one-tap livestreaming through Twitter identity and sharing.
The app attracts rapid attention and a large early audience.
Twitter limits Meerkat's social-graph integration and launches Periscope.
Life On Air moves its team toward the private group-video app Houseparty.
The formally released livestreaming service is withdrawn.
Why it ended
After Twitter restricted social-graph access and Periscope took the platform advantage, Life On Air pivoted to Houseparty and shut Meerkat in 2016.
Last confirmed trace
App packages, broadcast recordings, screenshots and contemporary reporting preserve the short-lived service.
What it left behind
Its explosive rise demonstrated demand for social livestreaming even though the standalone pioneer disappeared within two years.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.