With this whole COVID-19 pandemic going on, we all have to socially isolate ourselves in our homes in order to flatten the curve of cases, and this is likely to continue for some time.
I’ve looked into ways to watch Netflix with friends online, and after trying several different “solutions”, I found one which works quite well: Netflix Party
In order to use Netflix Party, each person will need a desktop or laptop running the Google Chrome web browser. If you don’t have Chrome installed, ask your child to install it on your computer for you. If you don’t have any children, text your neighbor’s kid for installation instructions.
To install Netflix Party click “Install Netflix Party” from the Netflix Party website. This will take you to the plugin page on the Chrome Web Store. Click the “Add to Chrome” button to install it.
You’ll be prompted to install the extension in Chrome. Do that.
After installing the extension, you’ll see a button with the letter “NP” greyed out in the upper right hand corner of your browser. You’ll eventually click that button but not yet! Calm down. We’ll be watching Netflix together soon.
Now that the extension was installed, hop on over to the Netflix website, log in, and start watching whatever you want. You will notice the Netflix Party icon turn red:
At this point, you are now ready to party.
Click the “NP” button, and a popup will appear to let you start the party. Once you click the “Start the party” button, a chat window will be displayed, along with another popup showing the URL of the party. Click “Copy URL” to copy the URL into your clipboard. Then paste that URL into Facebook Messenger or whatever you use to chat with your friends.
PROTIP: That URL is actually the same URL of whatever it is you’re watching on Netflix. So you can just copy the URL from the address bar instead if you prefer.
When your friend or friends click that link, they’ll be taken to Netflix and the video will start playing, however–this part is important–the party doesn’t start yet. The final step is that your friends ALSO need to click the “NP” button in the upper right of their browser.
NOTE: If your friend’s default browser is NOT Chrome, they will have to copy and paste that link into Chrome instead.
You’ll know your friend is successful when an icon for them shows up in the chatroom . They’ll know they were successful when they see the chatroom. It should look something like this:
And that’s about all there is to it! This pandemic really sucks, but at least we can watch Netflix with our friends.
Got any comments? Feel free to share them below.
Are you running any watch parties? Please invite me over Telegram, I’m lonely. 🙁