A bunch of Googlers made this iPhone app for watching videos with friends
Last year, Google confirmed that it was launching Area 120, an internal incubator program for the company’s employees to build businesses around products borne out of their ’20 percent’ side projects.
One of the first apps to come out of the initiative is Uptime, an iPhone app for watching YouTube videos with friends. Currently available only in the US to people with an invite (hint: use the code PIZZA), it lets you see who else is watching the same video as you in real-time, and you can also add comments and reactions.
Tap a video and you’ll spot your avatar moving along a progress bar, as well as other viewers’ icons. You can also share clips from YouTube within the app, and follow people to see what they’re watching.
There’s not a whole lot else to the app right now and you may not spot friends on Uptime just yet, but it’s still fun to play around with. I’d like to see some of these features integrated into the default YouTube app – given how much time I spend on the platform these days and often beam clips over to friends via messaging apps, it’d be great to be able to interact with them over clips without switching screens.
You can try Uptime for yourself by grabbing it from the App Store.
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