Whenever I can’t schedule a movie night with friends and family, having an online watch party is my fallback. Most people have a computer or a smartphone, at the very least, which makes it easy to organize a watch party.
3
Discord isn’t Just For Gamers
I don’t just use Discord to communicate while gaming; I also stay in touch with my family, my kids, and even use it for work. It’s a pretty nice multipurpose tool. The cool part is that it has a built-in way for you to stream your gameplay. As it so happens, you don’t have to stream gameplay—you can stream movies to your friends and family, too.
It also isn’t that difficult to get it running, though everyone will need to create a Discord account first.
- Download and install Discord. You may also run Discord from a browser.
- Along the left-hand side, click Add a Server—it’s the little plus symbol—then Create My Own > For me and my friends.
- Give the server a name and then click Create. It’ll show up along the side. Selecting it will open that server. Under Voice Channels, select General. Open a browser and log in to a streaming service.
- Along the bottom left, you’ll see a small box with a couple of icons. Click Share Your Screen and choose the browser you just opened. Make sure Also share system audio is toggled on, then select Share.
- To invite people, go into your server, then select the little arrow in the upper left corner, to the right of the server name. Select Invite People and either invite your friends directly or send them the link from the bottom of the menu.
If you’re a viewer, all you need to do to join your friend’s watch party is to click on the Discord link they sent you. You’ll become a member of the server. To view their stream, join the same voice channel as them, which is General by default.
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2
Teleparty Makes Watch Parties Effortless
Before Teleparty became Teleparty, it was Netflix Watch Party, and it was limited to just Netflix. That’s no longer the case, and it now covers most popular streaming services. I’d argue it’s the easiest way to watch movies with your friends online due to how simple its UI and setup are. If I were pitting Discord against Teleparty, I’d choose the latter.
Unlike Discord, Teleparty is a browser plugin. It’s available for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Opera, Android, and Safari. You install it in your browser, then do the following:
- Open a browser and visit a streaming service you’re subscribed to that is supported by Teleparty. I’ll be using Max.
- Find something you’d like to watch, then visit its info page.
- You’ll see that the Teleparty plugin has added a new option—Start a Teleparty. By selecting it, you’ll automatically start a watch party.
- To invite people, select Copy Link in the top-right corner of the chat box on the right. Give that link to anyone who wants to watch and is subscribed to the same streaming service.
The fun part of using Teleparty is that you can discuss the movie right there and even send little emojis (just be careful not to cover the video). With a free account, you’re limited to text only, but Teleparty Premium grants access to video and voice chat.
1
Apple SharePlay Turns FaceTime into a Watch Party
If you ever FaceTime with your friends, why not turn the next conversation into a watch party? It works very similarly to Teleparty, where everyone needs a subscription to the selected streaming service for the watch party. Like Teleparty, it also only supports certain streaming services, although most are popular ones, such as Disney+, Apple TV, Hulu, Max, and Crunchyroll (among others). Unfortunately, Netflix is not supported.
To run a watch party through FaceTime, call your buddies using the FaceTime app, then decide on a streaming service. Make sure everyone has it downloaded, then do the following:
- In FaceTime, tap the Share button along the bottom or top. If it isn’t there, tap the screen and it’ll reappear.
- Pick a supported app from the list, then find something to watch. Select Play > SharePlay.
- Everyone else in the call must also select Join SharePlay when it appears.
Everyone involved in your watch party will have control over media playback, so be considerate. However, if you enable subtitles, it’ll only work for you. Lastly, if you’re having issues with an iMac or MacBook, there are some simple ways to fix SharePlay.
Regardless of how you go about it, all three options make watching movies online with your friends easy. I tend to use Teleparty the most, but my oldest likes to use SharePlay with his mom. Discord is my last resort, usually as an alternative when a friend is short on cash and can’t subscribe to a streaming service right now.
