Introduced in August of 2017, Twitch extensions started as strictly for desktop users. Today, even mobile streamers can get in on all the customizable offerings that match their creative vision.
Twitch extensions let you do everything from adding leaderboards and running polls to letting viewers control your game. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to use Twitch extensions, you’re in luck. We’ve selected some of the best extensions to help you engage with your audience, grow your channel, and interact with your viewers.
What are Twitch Extensions?
Twitch extensions allow Twitch and third-party companies to add interactive elements directly into your Twitch video player on desktop and mobile, which ultimately work as tools that help creators make money on Twitch. These extensions are broken up by Twitch into the following categories.
- Schedule and Countdowns
- Stats and Trackers
- Extensions for Games
- Viewer Engagement
- Loyalty and Recognition
- Games in Extensions
- Streamer Tools
- Polling and Voting
Each category is self-explanatory but provides a simple understanding of everything extensions can help do. Whether you want to enhance the gaming experience for fans or just track which countries your fans are coming from, extensions are the way to go.
Every extension covered on this list can be added to your Twitch using the Twitch dashboard. Simply click the install button found on the linked page to get started. Here are some of our favorite extensions for Twitch.
Best Twitch Audience Control Extension: Crowd Control
Advertising has promised to “put you in the game” a hundred times over the years, but “Crowd Control” finally lets you put viewers in your game. This incredible Twitch extension lets your viewers interact with your game as you play it. Featuring over 100 mega-hits like “Skyrim,” “Stardew Valley,” “Minecraft,” and “The Sims,” these are already top performers on Twitch. According to CrowdControl, they’ve found users get a 1.8x income boost when using the “Crowd Control” feature.
Best of all it’s free. However, if you want even more customization options for your games and viewers, a pro version is also available. The Pro version costs $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. The only downside is your viewers doing stuff like this.
Best Twitch Extension For Accessibility: Stream Closed Captioner
Live streaming offers incredible interaction for most users, but that doesn’t mean it’s automatically accessible. “Stream Closed Captioner” helps even the playing field by adding closed captioning for your viewers. All you need to do is install the extension, enable the Video Overlay or Panel, and log into the Companion website to start closed captioning.
Viewers can set the size of captions for themselves and move them around the screen so they don’t block the content. You can also choose to add a text box or panel to make it easier for viewers to find.
Best Twitch Extension for Easy Scheduling: Schedule With Google Calendar
One of the hardest parts of creating across platforms is managing all of the different places you work. That’s why we love the Schedule with Google Calendar extension for Twitch. This simple yet powerful extension lets you handle your Twitch schedule directly from Google Calendar.
Your viewers will be able to see your schedule on a handy widget that appears on your page. Just make sure you don’t include your personal calendar. You don’t want fans showing up when you’re at the dentist.
Best Twitch Extension for Feedback: Suggestion Box v2
Getting feedback from your chat stream, even with mods, can be difficult. That’s particularly true if you have a very busy chat. The “Suggestion Box v2” extension brings order to the chaos, creating a customizable suggestion box.
Let your viewers vote on suggestions, keep track of their ideas, and while earning you money. That’s right money; “Suggestion Box” uses “Twitch Bits” (virtual currency). This helps keep the bots at bay, while also giving you a little bit of reward for engagement.
Best Twitch Extension For Overlays: Overlay Expert
“Overlay Expert” is a godsend for new creators who don’t have a powerful PC or are streaming from console or mobile. These creators will no longer need to set up their overlay whenever they stream. The feature gives you a dynamic overlay for your broadcast without broadcasting software. You can add your overlay directly in the Twitch app using this incredible extension. You may not get every feature offered by more traditional broadcasting software, but this is still a great equalizer for new creators without a PC.
Best Twitch Extension for Adding GIFs: GIPHY
We all love GIFs, particularly millennials. So let your viewers enjoy the fun of dropping GIFs into your chat with the GIPHY extension. Why limit your comments section to emojis and words? Let people speak with the only voice that truly matters: a GIF of Peter Griffen holding his knee and wincing.
Best Twitch Extension To Quickly Add Interaction To Live Shows: Viewer Attack
Outside of a Renaissance Festival, it’s been a long time since audiences felt emboldened to throw fruit at performers. It simply isn’t safe; humiliation is one thing, but actual pain is another. Thankfully, the “Viewer Attack” extension has finally made it safe and fun to humiliate your favorite performer. This extension lets you empower your viewers to throw things (digitally) at you during your streams.
It’s a quick way to gamify your feed for interaction. After all, some viewers might have fun arguing in the chat, but throwing tomatoes is fun for everyone. This might be the most questionably useful extension on Twitch. But in a world where so many people long to interact with creators in a negative way, best to let them throw fake tomatoes instead of real ones.
Extension We Thought We’d Like That Didn’t Work: Twitch Adblock Extension
Just for personal use, sometimes Twitch ads can sometimes be oppressive. That’s why we were excited to try the Twitch Adblock Extension. Sadly, it never worked in our testing. When you’re watching Twitch, you’ll have to deal with ads. Thankfully, it’ll go to help Twitch payout creators like yourself someday.
How do you use extensions? Let us know on let Passionfruit know on Twitter how you’re using Twitch extensions on your channel.
