Apple’s SharePlay: Watch movies and TV shows, listen to music with up to 33 people

With SharePlay in the FaceTime app in iPadOS 15.1, you can bring movies, TV shows, and music into your FaceTime calls. Enjoy a real-time connection with everyone on the call— with synced playback and shared controls, you all see and hear the same moments at the same time. You can also share your screen to show apps, webpages, and more during the conversation.

Daniel Howley for Yahoo Finance:

SharePlay is… a slick option that makes it a lot easier to watch and listen with the people you love, without having to jump through hoops or installing a bunch of different browser extensions.

The one major caveat here is that you both need to subscribe to the service you’re trying to share.

Right now, Apple says the feature works with Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Fitness+, Paramount+, the NBA app, TikTok, the game Heads Up!, the real estate app Redfin, Hulu, and more. The company says that Spotify and a number of other app developers are also working to add SharePlay support in the near future. There’s no word on whether Netflix will get on board.

Anyone in the stream can also use the video and music controls, which lets you control playback for the entire stream. So if you are watching, say, “Ted Lasso,” with a bunch of people and need to run and grab a drink, you can pause the movie and it’ll pause for everyone. You can also scrub forward or backward.

But there’s also a more functional feature that lets you share your screen with your friends or family… the feature lets you use SharePlay to troubleshoot things on another user’s phone by using yours as an example… With screen sharing via SharePlay, I can show my dad exactly what he needs to do to get online or unlock his account using my own screen as an example. What’s more, my FaceTime video will appear in the top corner of the screen while I’m sharing, so he can see me while I explain the settings or features he needs to change.

MacDailyNews Take: Using SharePlay is easy:

1. Start a Group FaceTime call.

2. Go to the Home Screen, then open a video streaming app that supports SharePlay (for example, the Apple TV app).

3. Select a show or movie you want to watch, tap the Play button, then select Play for Everyone (if it appears) to begin watching with everyone on the call. (Others on the call may have to tap Join SharePlay to see the video.)

Note: Some apps that support SharePlay require a subscription. If you watch a purchased movie or TV show, all SharePlay participants must also have purchased the item in order to watch it together. Some movies and TV shows may not be available to SharePlay across different countries or regions. FaceTime, some FaceTime features, and other Apple services may not be available in all countries or regions.

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