The app also features a built-in chat, and each watch party can have unlimited guests. The Watch With Friends app automatically identifies a local Roku or Apple TV and gives you the option to play the show on either of those devices. After naming the party and entering a host PIN for control, they can share the link to the watch party for anyone to join on Roku, Apple TV or Chrome browser. To set up a Watch With Friends session, users copy the link for the Netflix program they want to watch together and paste it into the app.

Startup Scener has offered a similar synchronized co-viewing plug-in for Netflix since 2018, and recently introduced an option for HBO. Note that Caavo’s Watch With Friends ( ) and Netflix Party that piggyback on Netflix are not officially affiliated with the streamer - but Netflix seems content to let the co-viewing cottage industry do its thing, given that there’s a network-effect upside in spurring new users potentially signing up. Netflix Party, another third-party synchronous viewing browser plug-in, says it relies on donations to its Patreon account to generate income.

In other words, the app may be primarily a marketing tool to promote Caavo’s universal-remote system, which starts at $160. For now, the company’s main goal for Watch With Friends “is adoption, and we see the app as an opportunity to build company awareness and reinforce our mission of seamlessly uniting entertainment for everyone,” a Caavo rep said. How Caavo intends to make money from Watch With Friends isn’t clear.

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