Disney+ Adds Groupwatch To Watch Movies With Friends and Family

September 29, 2020

Today (Sept 29, 2020) Disney + added the capability to watch a movie with friends no matter where they are….as long as the invitees are also Disney+ subscribers.

I gave it a quick try this morning, and, even though it is a bit clunky for the first time user, it seems to work. Note: I have no way to fully test it with a real person remote watching with me, but, comment below if you do 🙂

Caveat

I had to use a combination of my Android App and my TV app to “Invite” people. My thought is it should have been easy from my TV app alone, but, maybe I messed up? I will practice later and update this blog…..

Update: Looking at the screen shot, I see you have to use the Disney+ Mobile App or Website to Invite group watchers….hmmmm…..ok, I can do that. Oh, I did. 🙂

How it Works

I called up “Hidden Figures” (one of my favorite STEM / STEAM movies) and saw a new banner and icon for GroupWatch…..

I clicked on the icon for GroupWatch and saw this……

I hit the button to “Join Stream” and the movie started playing. Whooohooo! 🙂

Then I went to my Android Mobile Disney+ app…

and invited my first GroupWatcher by clicking on the Invite button…..

this informational screen popped up….so I clicked Invite again…..

Then saw my options to invite that person…..

I selected to send Lori an email even though I could have texted her just as easily….

Assuming Lori clicked on the movie (is there an indication when someone joins?), we would now both be watching the movie! Cool stuff. 🙂

If we also connected by videoconferencing (Google Duo, etc), we could have a real party!

At some point hunger overtook me (4 minutes into the movie, how funny) and I had to get popcorn…..so I paused the movie.

When I came back, I restarted the movie. I wonder if anyone else could have restarted it when I was gone? Or if I never came back?

Having watched the movie already (see my review here), I decided to leave the GroupWatch and write this blog.

A two step process….

Upon leaving…..I saw that my fellow GroupWatchers were still watching the movie. 🙂

Conclusion

The world is changing (Covid-19 is speeding up that process). And with this GroupWatch capability, coupled with videoconferencing (Zoom, etc), you and your friends can have a virtual movie watching party anytime you want! Will movie theaters be a thing of the past? Time will tell.

Geek On!

(This blog is also posted on TechyMike.com)

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