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Area 120’s Uptime app for watching YouTube w/ friends is now available for all on iOS

Google is unique in that it allows its employees to spend 20% of their time working on personal projects on top of their daily tasks. To help employees, Google has an incubator called Area 120 where projects can come to life. One of the latest apps to come out of Area 120 is called Uptime, and it allows friends to watch, comment, and react to YouTube videos in real-time. Previously in an invite-only beta, Uptime is now available to all on iOS…

One complaint some have with YouTube is that you cannot share and watch videos with others in real-time. Sure you can share a link and then communicate together in some other fashion, but there is a disconnection.

With Uptime, you are watching the video at the same time as your friends. Additionally, as you watch, you can add comments and reactions to specific points of the video for others to view and create conversation. These are placed on a timeline that encapsulates the video so that others can go back and rewatch the portion in which you reacted to.

Since its initial launch, Uptime has added several new features. The first of which is the ability to find friends via Facebook. The second is an updated homescreen which is meant to make it easier to find videos you’ll enjoy and share with friends. Lastly, Uptime now allows you to watch music videos, something the app previously didn’t support.

If you own an iOS device and would like to check out Uptime for yourself, you can download it from Apple’s App Store for free. While there has been no official word, here’s hoping that the Googlers who created the application create a version for Android soon.


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Avatar for Justin Duino Justin Duino

I’m a writer for 9to5Google with a background in IT and Android development. Follow me on Twitter to read my ramblings about tech and email me at justin@jaduino.com. Tips are always welcome.