During this lockdown, you must be spending most of your time bringing on your favorite movies and shows. But still, you must be feeling a little lonely because you’ve lost that social connection with your friends. As you use to discuss over every episode you watched and your expectations and prediction about the next. Although you can even text your friends on social networking sites while watching the show but it lacks the feel and disrupts your viewing experience. Now you can easily chat or video calls your friends with various applications available to do a virtual watch party. Thanks to technology. By the use of these applications, you can watch movies online, you can conduct exciting movie parties with your friend where you can chat, gossip, and have the best time while watching some of your favorite shows.
For getting access to these apps you need to avail of its subscription. And even to share this viewing experience with your friends, they even have to own the subscription for the same. As these platforms don’t provide non-subscribers with the free viewing experience.
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Let’s discuss about some of these apps to find out how to watch movies online .
Watch TV Shows and Movies Together with Friends Online
1. METASTREAM
Meta stream facilitates streaming with your friends with the option of live chat. This is available for platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube. In the case of Netflix, it will open in another window. For good viewing experience with friends, it is advised to watch it with Firefox for smooth functioning.
How to launch it:
- Download the MetaStream extension.
- Type a display name and then click on “Get Started.”
- There is a next screen with the option “Start Session” click on that.
- Click on the “Invite” button to get a link. Click on “Copy” to send the link to any friends with whom you would want to start a movie party.
- Once your friends start clicking on the link, they’ll become a part of the participant’s list. A box will appear to the left side of your screen with every member’s name. You just need to click on the green dots to allow them to be a part of this party.
- Click on the three dots appearing on the top right and then click on “Chat”. A rectangular chat box will appear on the screen where you can start chatting.
- To watch videos, you have the option of pasting URL in the bar and then click on “Add to Session.” You’ll get the video you want.
2. NETFLIX PARTY
Netflix Party option is only available with Netflix, where you can synchronize your streams with your other friends. It comes with the feature of live chat which is present at on side of the screen. This enables chatting with your friends at the time when your show is streaming.
How to launch it:
- Download the Netflix Party extension.
- Open your Netflix app and start playing any of your favorite shows.
- Now the Netflix Party extension icon next to the address bar should turn from grey to red, Click on it.
- A pop-up window appears on your screen that can “Create Netflix Party.” You can either take total control over the streaming or can leave it open for everyone to join. And afterward, click on “Start the Party”.
- This time there is another pop-up window on your screen with a link in it. Click on the option “Copy URL” and share it with your family and friends. If you lost the link, you could find it again by clicking on the Netflix Party extension icon.
- Netflix party provides you with an icon where you can go and change your nickname.
You can join the ongoing Netflix Party just by clicking on the link provided by the initiator and then click on the Netflix Party icon. With this, you’ll be a part of the existing Netflix Party.
3. SCENER
Scener comes up with the option of video chatting and text chatting while watching Netflix. Currently, this option is available for Netflix only but they are planning to extend its reach. In Scener you are provided with a virtual remote control which you can pass around to your friends. It has the same functionality that a normal remote has, you can pause, rewind, and play. The one who has the remote has the remote button on his/her screen can only pass it to any other friend he wishes to.
How to launch it:
- Download Scener’s Chrome extension. The extension will ask permission to read and change your data on Netflix and Scener too.
- Open the app and enter your name and email address to create your Scener account.
- Then open your Netflix account and create a private theatre.
- Scener will ask for your permission to enable camera access. Click on “Yes”.
- You can either share the link or code to your friends to join the party. The link can be sent to friends who don’t have the Scener app already downloaded on their devices. And code to the ones who already have the app pre-downloaded. Once they open the link, they’ll get an app downloading option. They just need to download the app to join in. With this, they’ll get added to the theatre.
- To send code to somebody, you need to click on the button at the top of the sidebar, the one that looks like a person with a plus sign on top.
- Select a show or a movie and click on the play button to start watching.
4. TWOSEVEN
Like Scener, TwoSeven also has the video chatting option, but it supports more platforms other than just Netflix. this app supports Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now, YouTube, and Vimeo. On paying a subscription fee, you can even get access to apps like Hulu and Disney Plus. The subscription price usually is between the range of $5 to $20 a month, but due to the situation of COVID-19, they have reduced it to $3 per month.
How to launch it:
- Download the TwoSeven extension. The extension will ask to grant it permission to show notification and read and change data on the website.
- Now create an account by clicking on the extension icon and do the entries like name and email address as asked.
- Click on the icon with the name TwoSeven on the address bar and then click on “Go to twoseven.xyz”
- Click on “get started”. Select “Account” to have access to your profile settings.
- Click on “Start Watching”. Afterward, a pop-up window will appear on the screen to create a private room. You can either allow everyone the access to control the mic and webcam or let only the admins have access to it.
- Click on the sign with two people and a plus sign. Then click on “Copy Link” and now you can share the link with your friends. Once you do so the watch session will start adding members.
- To enable video and audio, click on the camera and microphone icon on the right side of the screen.
- The chats will appear on the bottom of the screen.
- Click on the button for the chosen video source at the top of the screen. While watching videos on YouTube, you’ll have to paste the URLs.
