There's an entire saga behind Meerkat's presumed release on the Android platform. After making its debut on iOS a while ago, the application was rumored to arrive on Android, but at the same time news about Twitter trying to get rid of Meerkat for good emerged about two weeks ago.

Well, it looks like Twitter didn't have its way, as Meerkat teased its upcoming arrival on the Android platform on April 16, and today the company has launched the first beta version of its application.

Those who want to test Meerkat before the final build gets released will be able to do so by downloading the beta version from Google Play Store.

For those out of the loop, the app allows users to live stream video from their smartphones directly to Twitter followers at once. This is one of the reasons Twitter did not want to see Meerkat on Android in the first place.

Meerkat also allows users who have the application installed the possibility to be pushed notified with their live stream, to watch, comment and interact with it.

Keep in mind that all your followers can watch your videos being stream

If you decide to try it out, then you should know that everything that happens on Meerkat happens on Twitter as well, and that streams will be pushed to followers in real time via push notifications.

It's also worth mentioning that people can only watch these streamed videos live, so there won't be any reruns.

The good news is that developers made it possible for Meerkat users to save their streams to their phones. However, Meerkat will never keep them.

Last but not least, those who watch streamed videos will be able to retweet any stream to their followers in real time.

You can now download Meerkat for Android Beta for free via Google Play Store. The application should be fully compatible with all devices powered by Android 4.2 and up.