Twitch Desktop App will be retired in late April

Photo credit: Caspar Camille Rubin / Unsplash

Thursday, March 31, 2022 9:48 AM UTC

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Twitch has started informing users and creators that the Twitch Desktop App will be closing in a month. And it appears that low user count may have been one of the reasons it is being retired.

Several users reported on Wednesday that they received an email from Twitch telling them about the imminent shutdown of the Twitch Desktop App. This was later confirmed by the company by adding a note on a support page (via Digital Trends) on how to uninstall the app.

“We‘ve made the difficult decision to say goodbye to the Twitch Desktop App on April 30th,” Twitch said. “This decision was not made lightly and came from a combination of usage and user feedback.”

It appears that the number of regular users of the Twitch Desktop App was not high enough to keep it running. There are varying reactions on Twitter about the announcement. Some users say they liked the app because they prefer navigating through Twitch on a dedicated app instead of having other browser tabs. Others, however, are fine with its retirement, saying they do not use the app that often.

Meanwhile, it does not look like the streaming platform is going to release any sort of alternative app on desktop devices. Twitch says retiring the desktop app will allow the company to divert its resources to “enhancing and adding new ways to engage with the creators and communities you care about.” But for people who liked the app and will be inconvenienced by this change, Twitch recommends them to bookmark the Twitch.tv website on their preferred browser.

The Twitch Desktop App officially launched in August 2017 on Windows and Mac. “Our fully armed and operational app gives you access to all the Twitch you know and love, plus a ton of exclusive tools,” the company said at the time. Some of the app’s highlighted feature at the time of its release was the Dark Mode and a direct access to CurseForge, which benefitted gaming fans who are fond of using mods and add-ons to their favorite games like “Minecraft,” “Skyrim,” and “World of Warcraft.”

Photo by Caspar Camille Rubin on Unsplash