In that location was a cursory moment of panic in mid July when articles with damning headlines such as "Federal court rules that sharing your Netflix countersign is a federal crime" clogged the news. I was on vacation with my family unit at the fourth dimension, and I felt a jolt of anxiety considering, truth be told, a friend shares her Netflix password with me. Did this mean the end of countless hours of entertainment?

Thankfully, when I got home I did some enquiry and learned that the headlines weren't quite right. In fact, they weren't true at all because the case that sparked the articles had cipher to do with Netflix. Zero. Nada. Conversely, Netflix says "the company views such [password] sharing as a positive and a way to concenter new customers." So why was Netflix dragged into this at all? A dissenting guess said in the ruling [PDF] that it might set precedent for sharing passwords to be perchance illegal in the futurity. That's what caused the flurry of scary articles.

Moving on.

Netflix is a great way to spend the evening hours. Family film night. Friend movie night. Netflix and chill night. Just sometimes it's meliorate to binge watch by yourself considering you don't have to worry nearly looking cute or people getting judgy looks because you ate all the Cheetos again, Devin.

Netflixing lone can become solitary, though, so tin can we combine the best of both worlds? Aye, past watching the same Netflix program together in different places. Win, win, my friends. But it's non the most clear cut thing to attain.

Do yous agree on a time to start the movie and bargain with a minute or two departure? Do you lot become on the telephone, countdown from 3 and click "Play"? But what if your friend pulled the trigger earlier than you? For those of u.s.a. who can't alive with that discrepancy, here's how to get in perfect, exact sync.

Rabbit

Rabbit is the existent MVP because it tin can exist used in Chrome, Firefox and Opera, and with most whatsoever streaming service, including Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Crackle and more. In fact, it doesn't even accept to be a streaming service. With Rabbit y'all tin can just surf the web in a political party setting.

According to their FAQ, Rabbit relies on WebRTC, a video conversation and P2P file sharing engineering science natively supported by most browsers including those mentioned above.

To watch Netflix together on Rabbit, just one person has to have a Rabbit and Netflix account and upwards to 25 people can be in one room at a time. The person who created the room controls the play/pause/etc features. You lot have the power, don't allow information technology become to your head. In that location's a chat bar that allows everyone a username and flick. Y'all could even practise voice or video conversation if you wanted to.

Showgoers

Beginning, this app requires everyone to accept a Netflix account, install Showgoers, and use Chrome. That knocks some groups out correct there, so that'due south why I put it up forepart. If you bank check all those boxes, though, it'south worth a try. The chat characteristic lets you cull your own name, but if you decide to become to a different moving picture (or the adjacent episode) y'all will have to kickoff a new sharing political party.

As a reminder, everyone who is watching with yous must beast signed into their Netflix account before opening the invite URL. To get started, press play on a movie or show and transport the syncing link to whoever y'all want to include. And then, anyone in the political party can intermission, play or jump to a unlike timestamp. If you don't have whatever friends on Showgoers yet, check out the public viewing party section of the website and join a viewing party with some strangers. It doesn't have to be as creepy every bit information technology sounds.

Netflix Party

Here's 1 more choice to consider: Netflix Political party, another Google Chrome extension that's super easy to gear up. Only one person needs to install the extension, and then they choose what to scout (after getting input from anybody else, of course), pause it, and and then give the red "NP" push button a click.

That gives a link to the shared session and so you can send information technology out to friends who also want to binge spotter Stranger Things.

One weird drawback to Netflix Party is that in the conversation box you can't select a username, so you'll take to remember which petty icon is which person. That could become a headache in a larger viewing party. Once the movie is going, anyone can pause, play or jump forwards or backward in the timeline. Just don't be surprised when y'all take to create a new session each fourth dimension you start a new movie or episode.

Let's Stop Talking and Lookout Netflix

In that location are a handful of expert options to watch with friends or family members without having to share the aforementioned airspace. The options are thin for those who don't want to use Chrome, but yous only really need ane and Rabbit has you covered. Now catch your snack and beverage of choice, choice a streaming party pick and sentinel A Nightmare on Elm Street two: Freddy's Revenge earlier it leaves Netflix at the terminate of August.

Image credit: Friends watching horror movie photo past oneinchpunch