One of the appeals of Twitch is watching things unfold live, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve wished I could scrub back to see something again or a moment I might have missed. Soon, though, Twitch may have a solution to that problem, as it’s currently testing a new Rewind the Stream button with some users.
When you hit the button, you’ll be rewinded two minutes back in the stream, Twitch tells The Verge. From there, you can scrub through what’s been streamed so far and even watch what you missed at different speeds, like you would with any other Twitch VOD (video on demand).
If you hit the rewind button, you’ll still be able to see what’s happening in the live stream, thanks to a picture-in-picture window that will appear above the chat. However, if a streamer doesn’t have VODs enabled, you won’t be able to use the rewind button. The rewind button test will be expanded to about a quarter of viewers in the coming days, according to Twitch.
Over the next month, some viewers may see up to 3 new buttons on live channels pages: Rewind the Stream, Remind Me, & Watch Trailer. This experiment will inform future features only and the buttons will be removed once it’s complete.
For feedback: https://t.co/52L43BAJsz
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) October 20, 2021
Twitch is also testing two other buttons. The Remind Me button will let you get a reminder for an upcoming scheduled stream, the company says. The Watch Trailer button will let you watch a channel trailer for a streamer (if they have one).
Twitch will be testing these buttons “over the next month.” Once the test is over, the buttons will be removed.