The COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to get together and watch content with your friends. So developers released watch-party services to solve that problem.
Using these features, you can watch streaming content with your friends wherever you are, whether you’re locked up in your home or living really far apart.
One of the most popular services to emerge with this trend is Netflix Party, which later added more services and changed its name to Teleparty.
What Is Teleparty (Formerly Netflix Party)?
Teleparty (formerly Netflix Party) is a Chrome Extension for desktops and laptops that lets you watch Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO with other people over the internet.
The extension syncs your playback to ensure you’re watching the content at the same time as each other, even if somebody presses pause. No more counting down from three and pressing play, you’ll be watching simultaneously.
Teleparty also shows a group chat next to the viewer, so you can have a conversation while you’re watching the content. This group chat is text-based rather than a video call.
You access Teleparty by clicking on the Chrome Extension from the toolbar in Chrome while you’re in the viewer for a show or movie on one of the supported streaming sites. We have a tutorial on how to use Netflix Party if you get stuck.
Everything is taken care of by the extension, so you can just press play and start watching straight away.
Can You Get Teleparty on an iPhone?
The short answer: no. You can’t get Teleparty on an iPhone or iPad, and you couldn’t use the earlier Netflix Party on an iPhone or iPad either.
Since Teleparty is a Chrome Extension, it requires the Chrome browser to operate. And while you can download the Chrome app for iPhone, it doesn’t support extensions.
You can only use Teleparty on a computer.
Alternatives to Teleparty
There are a few other apps and extensions that let you stream Netflix with friends far away that we’ve covered, but these also mainly focus on using your computer for viewing. That’s not much help if you want to use your iPhone.
So here are some iPhone-focused Teleparty alternatives to use instead.
Download and Use Rave
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for (var i = 0; i Rave is an app that does let you use your iPhone to stream with your friends. Once you’ve downloaded the app and made an account, you’ll need to add your friends (so they’ll need accounts too).
You can then choose what you want to watch, sign-in to your streaming account, and start watching in sync with each other. Similarly, you can use the group chat feature or a voice chat feature to chat with your friends while you’re watching simultaneously.
Rave works for Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, and Vimeo.
Download: Rave (Free)
Start a Group Video Call
There is always the solution of just using a simple group video call to watch together using your iPhone. Whether you use FaceTime, WhatsApp, Signal, Messenger, or whatever, you can jump on a call with each other to watch a show together.
Granted, you’ll have to count down from three and try to press play together, and all pressing pause at the same time for a bathroom break may be a struggle. But that’s all part of the fun.
Pop your iPhone on a tripod if you have one, or just hold it. You can all watch something together and talk about it at the same time. Plus you get to see a close-up of your friends’ faces if you’re watching a horror film, which is always guaranteed entertainment.
You can even point one camera at the screen to help out a friend without an account, and that’s something no app or extension can do.
The Future of Streaming With Friends
It’s unlikely that Teleparty will be able to work on iPhones in the future, so you’ll have to use an alternative to stream with friends from your iPhone.
Streaming with an app like Teleparty isn’t as useful when you’re allowed to go to a friend’s house and hang out in person. But these apps are still likely to come in handy from time to time when that isn’t possible.