Not to be outdone by Snapchat and now Facebook, Periscope has added a live-sketching feature to its iOS app.

With this new feature, which Twitter-owned Periscope began testing in early April and has only recently launched for all users of its iOS app, you can now slide your fingers across your screen to doodle on live streams. Anything you sketch will disappear after a few seconds, though viewers can still screengrab your broadcast and keep your doodle forever.

Snapchat doesn't let users broadcast in real-time, but it does let them post pictures and videos as well as doodle on said pictures and videos, which anyone in the world can view once they've been posted to a story. Facebook, on the other hand, does offer a live-broadcasting tool, and it recently launched a sketching feature so users can doodle on streams.

If you don't care about Snapchat nor Facebook and would rather take a closer look at Periscope and how you can use it to get all artsy and creative in real-time on broadcasts, we've explained what you need to know.

Pericope: How to start a broadcast

  • Download the Periscope app for iOS or Android
  • Once you have created an account, in the iOS app tap the Camera icon at the bottom center, or in the Android app, tap the red Camera icon on the bottom right
  • Enter a title that describes your broadcast
  • Using the three icons above the Start Broadcast button, manage your settings for whether you want to share your location, set your broadcast to private, limit your chat, or tweet the live stream
  • Tap Start Broadcast
  • To end a broadcast, swipe the screen down and tap Stop Broadcast

Periscope: How to sketch on broadcasts

  • Open the Periscope app for iOS (the sketching feature is iOS-only for now)
  • Start a broadcast/live stream (see above)
  • Tap the screen like you normally would to flip the camera or hide the chat but instead select the new Sketch option
  • You can then use your finger to gesture on the screen and create doodles
  • Your sketch will appear to you and your viewers for a few seconds before disappearing

Apart from the new sketching feature, Periscope also recently added viewer graphs for iOS, allowing you to see how many people watched your live streams as well as how many people replayed them after the stream ended.