Amazon just released a sweet upgrade to Amazon Prime Video that lets you set up a Watch Party for up to 99 of your closest friends. You can use it to watch any of the hundreds of movies or shows from Amazon’s catalog while chatting in a sidebar, like if you were on Amazon’s game streaming service, Twitch.
The new Watch Party feature has been rolling out to subscribers in the United States, and it works with any desktop browser except for Apple’s Safari. You’ll have to wait if you want to Watch Party on your Fire TV or other streaming devices, as Amazon hasn’t included those in the eligible devices yet.
Now you can still social distance while being social, and make jokes about the storyline, the characters, or whatever you find amusing. Heck, combine it with one of the adult beverage delivery companies and make a night of it!
Here’s how to set an Amazon Watch Party
Step 1: Get 100 friends. No, but really, we’re going to show you how to set it up, no matter how intimate or wide-ranging your watching circle is. Before you start, make sure everyone has an Amazon Prime subscription, cause this ain’t going to work with freeloaders. I
f they don’t already have one, you can get them to sign up for a 30-day free trial, just remind them to cancel before the trial ends if they don’t want to continue using the service.
- Go to Amazon Prime Video on your desktop browser (Safari doesn’t work)
Image: Amazon
- Find something you want to watch. Thankfully, this is much easier on the desktop, where you aren’t at the mercy of Amazon’s weird carousels. Anything on Amazon Prime is fair game, including Amazon Originals, and tons of movies. Sorry, you can’t watch Amazon Channels as a Watch Party, so no HBO, you’re limited to those included with Amazon Prime
Image: Amazon
- Go to the page for the title you want to watch, and hit the Watch Party button under the blurb
Image: Amazon
- Put whatever screen name you want into the box, then hit Create Watch Party
Image: Amazon
- You’ll get a screen with the video to the left, and a chat bar to the right, like Amazon’s other streaming service, Twitch. Hit the Settings tab to get a link to invite up to 99 of your friends, family or closest Twitter mutuals
Image: Amazon
- As the creator of the Watch Party, you have control over playback, as well as the quality of the video, and things like subtitles. Oh, and you get emotes in the chat bar, with some cute corgis
- When you’re done, hit the End Watch Party button on the Settings tab. You’ll get a message saying that it won’t kick individuals from watching on their own, but the group chat will be ended
There you go, now you know everything you need to know to start your own Amazon Prime Watch Party. All you need now is some friends.
What do you think? Is Watch Party a feature you could see yourself using? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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