Just because you're practicing social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t watch movies with your friends.
As we creep up on week two of Coronavirus quarantine, you extroverts may find yourself in dire need of some human interaction. A group of tech entrepreneurs has created a Google Chrome extension that allows you to watch movies with your friends on Netflix. Netflix Party is a free extension, not officially endorsed by Netflix, and only works on laptops and desktop computers.
Before you get too excited, we have to tell you it does not have a video interface. The extension has a chat bar where everyone who is logged in can share comments and make an avatar for themselves. The group that created it actually has a Patreon account where they are asking for donations to add more functionality like emojis, voice, and the ability to use it on other devices.
Courtesy Netflix Party
So how does it actually work?
First, you have to download the extension from the Google Chrome Store. Next, log into Netflix and find a movie or show and press play. After the content is playing, you can go into the Netflix Party extension and click “start party”. The extension will create a unique URL that you can send out to all of your friends. Your friends must also have the extension installed to participate.
Netflix Party has been getting a mix of really good and bad reviews. Most of the bad reviews are from users who have trouble downloading and installing the extension. The company servers have also been getting overloaded by an influx of people trying to use it during the quarantine, so just be patient! Netflix Party says they are putting more servers online to handle the volume.