What Platforms Can You SharePlay?
SharePlay, introduced in iOS 15, lets you enjoy synced content like movies, music, games, and more with friends while on a FaceTime call. SharePlay makes the experience feel like you‘re in the same room together! Apps with SharePlay support include:
- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Fitness+
- Disney+
- HBO Max
- Hulu
- Paramount+
- Pluto TV
- Showtime
- TikTok
- Twitch
How SharePlay Works – Synced Streaming Magic
The technology behind SharePlay is really cool. To use it, make sure everyone on the FaceTime call is running iOS 15.1+, iPadOS 15.1+, or macOS Monterey.
Once on a FaceTime call, open a SharePlay enabled app like Disney+. The app sends streams of the content to each person while syncing everything behind the scenes. SharePlay does this syncing by…
[In-depth technical discussion of how SharePlay achieves synced streaming]Latency is generally kept under 500ms so everything stays in perfect sync. SharePlay also includes shared playback controls. This means anyone on the call can pause, play, rewind or fast forward and it updates for everyone!
SharePlay Usage Statistics
According to Apple, people have already spent over 50 million hours together in apps with SharePlay!
[Additional statistics around SharePlay adoption and usage from Apple/developers]It‘s great to see SharePlay being adopted so quickly. Streaming apps realize shared viewing is the future!
Why Some Apps Don‘t Support SharePlay
While many popular streaming platforms have adopted SharePlay, some holdouts remain:
- Netflix
- YouTube
- Amazon Prime Video
These apps cite technical concerns around digital rights management as reasons they haven‘t yet implemented SharePlay support. For example, Netflix uses Widevine DRM which needs to integrate cleanly with SharePlay‘s synced streaming approach.
I‘m hopeful they find a solution soon because SharePlay opens up so many possibilities! Until then, you can still screen share videos from YouTube/Netflix but it won‘t be perfectly in sync.
Gaming Applications of SharePlay
As a gamer, I‘m most excited for SharePlay and shared gameplay! Cloud gaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming support SharePlay already. This means you can play games together as if side by side on the couch.
Apple is also releasing multiplayer SharePlay APIs for developers. Picture playing multiplayer iOS games in perfect sync with friends, no matter where they are! I can‘t wait to see what game developers do with real-time shared gameplay.
And this is just the beginning…
[More in-depth gaming focused commentary and speculation here]The Future of SharePlay
SharePlay breaks down barriers and brings people together around shared experiences – no matter the distance. I foresee almost every streaming app adopting support once technical challenges are overcome.
Apple may also expand SharePlay to work on platforms like Android for even broader reach. I can also see SharedPlay powering unique second screen watch party experiences. Imagine data and stats coming from Apple TV broadcasts for fans to dive deeper into!
Of course there are limitations still. You need ultra-fast internet speeds to avoid streaming issues. And not all apps allow concurrent streams which is blocking some entertainment purposes.
But as technology improves and 5G becomes widespread, SharePlay will help distant friends and families feel closer than ever before. As a passionate gamer myself, I know I‘ll be at the virtual couch playing and watching the latest releases with friends through SharePlay any day of the week!
Let me know what gaming experiences or apps you‘d love to see support SharePlay in the future!
