Twitch officially shutting down desktop app to focus on creators

Twitch has announced that they are ending support for its desktop app to allow the company to focus on enhancing and adding new ways to interact with creators and their communities.

On March 16, 2017, the Amazon-owned platform released the Twitch app beta for Windows and Mac OS that provided viewers from all over the world a way to watch streams and interact with their favorite creators.

It also provided a way for users to access their library of Prime Rewards games, much like Steam and the Epic Store.

Now, Twitch has revealed that they are ending support for the app after five years on April 30, 2022, and are calling for users to begin using the website as the date gets closer.

Twitch ends support for desktop app

Created to give users a way to view their favorite streams outside of the browser, the Twitch app has a design that is almost identical to the website. On top of being able to watch streams, the app also provides a 24-hour connection to the channel’s chat — effectively meaning it allowed communities to never ‘turn off.’

However, they have now revealed that they are ending support for the desktop app five years after its release to “invest more heavily in enhancing and adding new ways to engage with the creators and communities you care about.”

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On their support page, it says: “It’s true: the Twitch Desktop App will be shut down on April 30th. We‘ve made the difficult decision to say goodbye to the Twitch Desktop App on April 30th. This decision was not made lightly and came from a combination of usage and user feedback.

“This move allows us to invest more heavily in enhancing and adding new ways to engage with the creators and communities you care about. If you’re used to using the Twitch Desktop App, we recommend bookmarking Twitch.tv in your browser of choice for easy access.”

How to uninstall Twitch desktop app

With Twitch ending support for the app on April 30, you probably want to remove it from your computer. Here’s a rundown on how to do just that.

Windows

• Open the start menu and search ‘add or remove programs’ – click on the result when it pops up.
• In the search bar type ‘Twitch,’ click on the result, and the uninstall button will appear.
  
• Click uninstall, and follow the prompts.

Mac OS

For Mac OS, there are two options to remove the app from your computer.

Option 1:

• Open your applications folder and drop the Twitch icon into your trash.
• Empty your trash can.

Option 2:

• Go into your Finder – Hit  +  +  and in the search box type in: ~/Library.
• Find and delete any folders associated with Curse or Twitch.

That’s all we know about the upcoming end of support for Twitch’s desktop app. With the company saying that they want to focus more on ways to engage with creators and communities — it’ll be exciting to see what they have up their sleeve.