If you love watching videos on YouTube, this new app from Google – Uptime – is going to spice things up for you considerably.
This kitschy looking app lets you watch videos in real time with your friends. That’s right. There’s no need for a dozen people to peer over each other’s shoulders and watch their favourite music video on one iPhone. Now, they can watch videos on their own smartphones, but the added features in the app make the experience more interactive and fun.
What’s Uptime?
Uptime is a free app that is exclusively available to Apple users. Born of Google’s internal incubator program – Area 120 the app is invite-only for now and can be downloaded on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS 10.0 or later.
What does the app do?
Uptime works simply enough. You log into your Google account and watch YouTube videos like you would normally. Your profile icon travels along the progress bar that’s wrapped around the screen. If there are other people watching the video, their profile pics will travel along with you.
Are there any limitations to the app?
The App does have a few limitations at the moment, but that’s understandable since it’s at its earliest stages. You cannot stream live or record any videos. Also, for some strange reason, Uptime only lets you comment on videos that are shot in profile. The minute you switch to landscape mode, you cannot add reactions or leave comments. Finally, looking up people to connect with is not easy either. The Find Friends button only lets you invite new members to the App.
Despite these limitations, Uptime proves to be an interesting experience, bringing real-time social interaction to YouTube videos. We can’t wait for this App to come to India so we can try out these goofy features for ourselves.