Twitch Now Is The Best Way To Experience Twitch.tv In Google Chrome

If you’re a gamer, chances are you really love Twitch. Twitch.tv is your one-stop spot for live gaming entertainment on the Internet. Every major gaming tournament is broadcasted on Twitch. Every major announcement in the gaming industry is streamed on Twitch. Every gamer who wants to reach the biggest and most available selection of viewers will actively stream on Twitch. It’s the place to be.

Late last year, I pushed out an article to help Windows users make their Twitch viewing experience a little more convenient. While I still stand beside those applications, I’ve come to find that there is a browser extension for Google Chrome that really achieves the best results when it comes to navigating Twitch and knowing when your favorite streamers are live. That extension is Twitch Now.

Get Twitch Now

Twitch Now is a 5-star extension in the Chrome Web Store with nearly 50,000 total users. I’ve used it for months now and it’s saved me from having the Twitch Directory as a permanent pinned tab.

As goes for all Chrome extensions, installation should take only a matter of seconds. You’ll then see that the Twitch Now button has been added to your extensions bar (to the right of your address bar in Chrome, by default).

Using Twitch Now

If you’ve already got a Twitch account, you can log in to Twitch through Twitch Now and the pop-over will immediately turn into a tool that will actively monitor which of your followed streamers are currently live.

Shown above is what the default pane of my Twitch Now extension shows after I’ve logged in. Unlike other extensions that may require you to individually follow streams through the extension itself, Twitch Now works alongside your Twitch account so that it can remain constantly synchronized. The icon also changes to show how many of your favorite streamers are ready to view, so you won’t miss anything.

The next option on the left-hand side shows a pane displaying the top games that are currently being streamed on Twitch. This is essentially the Twitch Directory in a streamlined form, which is really great to have. Clicking on any of the games will immediately replace the pane with a live display of the top streamers from whichever game you’ve selected.

Similarly, you can click the next icon on the left-most menu (the star-shaped icon) to display the streamers with the current highest overall stream counts. This is a really great way to keep up with any active tournaments or keynote broadcasts that may be going on.

Twitch Now essentially takes the entire Twitch website and crams it into a well-organized button that’s readily accessible in your browser. The extension also comes with a very nice collection of settings that you can tweak to customize and enhance the performance.

The settings will allow you to change your default tab and stream sorting method, your theme (dark and light), the way stream and chat pages are opened, and configure sound and pop-up notifications.

Benefits Of Twitch Now

Without this extension, I’d have missed many, many great streaming moments over the course of the past few months. It’s even put me on to streams of games that you’d never expect to find being streamed on Twitch. Twitch Now immediately lets you know when streamers that you want to see are live, and gives a simple, no-nonsense way of letting you browse the directory without consuming a ton of system resources or using an entire tab. Even if you only use Twitch a few times a week, this extension is very much worth looking into.