Twitch announced today that it is testing a new “Rewind the Stream” feature over the coming month that might potentially be added to the platform in the near future.
The new tool, when tapped, will take you two minutes back into the broadcast, with the ability to scroll through the stream history and play it at various speeds.
You’ll still be able to see what’s happening in the live stream if you press the rewind button, thanks to a picture-in-picture window that will automatically appear above the chat bar. However, it’s worth noting that you won’t be able to use the rewind feature if the streamer you’re watching doesn’t have VODs (video on demand) enabled.
While the feature is useful for the viewers, some streamers are already looking to disable the feature, quoting security and privacy concerns.
Can we have the option to disable this? For safety purposes of IRL streams. Thanks!
— Jake’n’Bake @ NYC 🇺🇸 (@jakenbakeLIVE) October 20, 2021
Further, Twitch is also testing out a “Remind Me” button that will alert you of an upcoming live stream and a “Watch Trailer” button to see a channel’s intro video. According to Engadget while the test features won’t be available to everyone, “about a quarter of viewers should see the rewind test.”
Source: Twitch