Google reportedly working on new live-streaming app YouTube Connect

YouTube Connect is said to pretty much offer the same functionality as do the apps that it seeks to take on, most notably Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook Live (the eponymous social network’s aptly named live-streaming service).

“You can log into the app using your Google or YouTube account and immediately begin streaming from your mobile phone,” VentureBeat notes. “There are chat and tagging features, and a ‘news feed’ that features the latest clips from your friends or those that you’ve subscribed to on YouTube.”

The site adds that videos broadcast from YouTube Connect will be available for viewing on the YouTube website itself as well as within the app. Saving of broadcasts will also be supported to allow watching of replays.

As it stands, YouTube Connect is said to lack integrations with Facebook and Twitter for easy sharing of live streams on those popular social networks. The omission, though, may be indicative more of the app’s nascent stage than a deliberate dissociation from the makers of its prospective competitors.

To be sure, Google already offers a YouTube-branded live-streaming app in the form of YouTube Gaming. But that app, which rivals Twitch, is geared toward broadcasting gameplay sessions.

YouTube Connect, then, is aimed at connecting with a wider audience as well as a wider set of broadcasters and creators.

No word yet on when YouTube Connect is expected to come out. But the app is said to be available on both iOS and Android.