Getting started

Global SharePlay is a Chrome extension that keeps a YouTube watch page in step with other people in the same room. It does not replace YouTube, and it does not ask you to create an account. You pick a nickname, you create or join a room, and play, pause, seek, and video changes are what the room shares.

This page is the product walkthrough: what you install, what a nickname is, how the first room starts, and what “in sync” does and does not mean. Host tools are in Rooms and hosts. Invite links are in Invite links. Stuck playback is in Troubleshooting.

What you install

Install Global SharePlay from the Chrome Web Store. It is meant for Google Chrome, and for Chromium-based browsers that can load that listing. After it is installed, it runs on YouTube watch pages. Other websites and other browsers are not supported.

The extension talks to the YouTube player on the tab you are watching. Comments, likes, subscriptions, and your YouTube login stay with YouTube. We do not see your YouTube password, and we do not build a Global SharePlay profile from your watch history.

This website is the documentation and the legal home for the product. The install path is the Chrome Web Store listing above. We do not offer a zip to sideload, and we will not ask you to install the extension from an email attachment or a random download.

Pick a nickname

Open the extension on a YouTube watch page and type a nickname. That name is what the other people in the room see next to you. It is not a username in a database, and it is not tied to an email address unless you later write to us.

Chrome stores the nickname on your device, along with preferences such as the last room ID. The sync server learns the nickname only as part of joining a live room. When the room ends, that live copy is discarded. The copy in your browser remains until you clear the extension’s data or uninstall it.

Use a name your friends will recognize. Do not put a password, a payment card, or a private address in the nickname. A room is not a place to store secrets. The Privacy Policy lists what the browser keeps and what the server holds in memory.

Create a room or join one

Leave the room ID blank to create a room. You become the host, and the extension gives the room an ID you can share. To enter a room that already exists, paste the ID a friend sent you, or open the invite link they copied. Both paths put you on the same timeline.

Everyone in the room needs the extension, a nickname, and that same room ID. YouTube still plays inside each person’s own browser. Global SharePlay sends the video ID, the playback position, and connection status to a sync server so those browsers can follow one another. The server keeps that state in memory for the life of the room. There is no account table and no saved history of the session.

A room currently holds up to 10 people. That cap keeps a watch-together group small enough that one host can still see who joined.

What “in sync” means

When someone in the room plays, pauses, seeks, or switches the video, the others follow. You are watching the same YouTube video at the same position, not a re-upload and not a stream we host. If the host locks controls, casual changes from other members stop moving the group.

Joining is not instant, and that is intentional. If you are still loading the video the room is on, the room holds so you are not dropped into the middle of a scene. The same hold is used while YouTube is showing an ad, during a large seek, and when the video changes. A pause in those moments means the room is waiting for everyone to land on the same frame.

What is not kept

Rooms are temporary. After about 15 minutes without activity, members are removed and the live room state is thrown away. There is no club to reopen and no library of past rooms. The next session starts with a new room or with an ID someone still has written down.

If you want the host’s approve, remove, and lock controls spelled out, continue to Rooms and hosts.