Periscope offers a way to share and watch live video broadcasts from the mobile phone. The iOS app is available today.

The idea came about through the desire to watch the world through someone else’s eyes, for example seeing a live protest in Ukraine or the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia. Coming as close as possible to teleportation was the goal. While there are many ways to discover events and places, they realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video.

For broadcasters, Periscope lets you share an experience with others with the press of a button, instantly notifying followers. Broadcasters on Periscope are directly connected to their audience.

The founders of Periscope imagined their app would provide a visual pulse of what’s happening right now. They decided to work with Twitter toward the manifestation of this vision. Periscope will continue to be built as a separate product, with a small team based in San Francisco.