Netflix Party Time: 4 great ways to watch movies with friends online

So you want to host a movie night for friends you can – or can't – experience firsthand? Fortunately enough, we live in an internet age full of options for almost every streaming platform available.

For a time, the option was to go to movies-night-with-distant-friends Rabbit, a video streaming website that allows users to broadcast their own screens or use a built-in browser to log into a single account. The app has been going great online over there (press F to pay respect), but thankfully, the winners of Rabb.it's legacy are there – albeit with various strengths and weaknesses, since none of them perform screenshare techniques similar to Rabb.it itself. Here are your options.

Netflix Party: Netflix's best viewing option

What does it support? Netflix

Does everyone need to have their own Netflix accounts? Yes

How do I use it? If you ever wanted to be watched Criminal Minds while chatting with a group of close friends about Jason Alexander's funny hair in season 4 of "The Artist," then this is your extension. Netflix Party has been appearing on TikTok and Twitter and is the easiest one to use Netflix, because after installing the Chrome extension, you can do it right in the streaming service browser. Want to watch that new furry anime (Whiskers

), goof around Spy Children, or maybe have a great movie night and finally watch An Irishman? You can do it with the Netflix Party!

After installation Chrome extension, navigate to Netflix, select what you want to pl ay, then hit the Chrome extension. You will be asked to share the link with others. There is built-in group chat, but there is no option for audio or video chat, to keep the cinema feel fresh and quiet.

Metastream: very active (free)

What does it support? YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, CrunchyRoll, SoundCloud, Twitch, Reddit and Google (?)

Does everyone need to have their own streaming channel accounts? Yes

How do I use it? This is especially great with the timeless group work of uploading YouTube and watching old music videos and Vine compilation. Once Chrome extension (or Firefox) installed, movie group people navigate through theastastream window and enter the media you want by clicking on the sidebar. It's a little wonky for Netflix, which will come out in a separate window, but everything else is added with a copy and pasted link. If you're having problems with Hulu or Crunchyroll, you'll need to adjust some Chrome extension settings (details on Metastream FAQ). The fun feature of Metastream is that you can add a line to the media, which brings the whole "watching old online videos together" experience to life.

When you start the session, click on the invitation icon to get the sharing link. From there, add media with the "add media" button to the center (or side if something is already playing). There is discussion, but no audio or video support.

TwoSeven: very strong (at a price)

What does it support? YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Vimeo, video uploaded (Hulu and Disney Plus with Patreon options)

Does everyone need to have their own streaming channel accounts? Yes

How do I use it? Maybe Netflix isn't cutting it for you and your friends. Maybe you really want to be watched Frozen 2, but only at Disney Plus. TwoSeven is the most powerful distributed streaming options – for the price. The good news, however, is that the top-tier Patreon standard ones are available $ 3 per month at this time. So for $ 3, you can add Disney Plus and Hulu to your TwoSeven experience. (This free version supports Netflix, Amazon and HBO).

To view anything other than a direct link (ie; anything other than YouTube or Vimeo), you must enter extension. You'll also have to sign in Chrome extension settings to make it work with Netflix directly. Once that is installed, you will be able to play your desired content in the second-half browser. Another thing that affects TwoSeven is that you can also upload movie files that you would like to watch; time to update your high school iMovie files, just like the music videos you made about Microeconomics (not that I have one of those floats or anything). The best bonus of TwoSeven is that in addition to regular chat, it also supports video and audio, so if you want to see a friendly face, you're perfect.

What does it support? YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, and Mixer

Does everyone need to have their own streaming channel accounts? No, but mostly because they don't really support streaming platforms.

How do I use it? If you want to listen to the next episode of your favorite podcast with friends, enjoy the same music, or just browse through the same wikipedia holes, Watch2Gether is for you. This doesn't require any interesting Chrome extensions (probably because they are so small), but they work well with simple sharing. Just start the room, upload the link, and share the room using the people icon at the bottom of the screen. The chat option is in the bottom right. You can enable your camera to get a live response.