Google has recently launched Uptime, a new mobile app that has got the video world talking.
Uptime takes YouTube to new social heights, encouraging users to watch videos with friends and simultaneously add comments and chat alongside these videos in real time. It also lets users find their friends by connecting through Facebook and allows them to utilize fun and creative features. Why just send or share when you can watch together?
Use Uptime’s fun and exciting elements to:
- Invite friends: Find your friends by connecting through Facebook.
- Watch history: Easily find videos that you have recently watched and would like to view again.
- Video sharing feed: Share videos into your Uptime newsfeed for ALL your friends to see.
- Real-time chat: Talk to your friends alongside the video while it’s still playing.
- Creative reactions: Add hearts, stickers and sparkles. You can heart a video to show your friends that you enjoyed it. Mark a desired part of the video with chosen stickers and even tap the video screen to create temporary sparkles for others to see!
As of now, Uptime is only available in the U.S. on iOS devices and also does not include paid and premium content, such as movies and YouTube Red Originals. The most recent version of the app provides a new and improved home screen for more engaging video discovery.
Uptime was created through Google’s internal incubator program, Area 120, which encourages employees to use 20% of their weekly time to work on independent, small projects, such as this. For those who were not able to obtain early access codes, Area 120 finally created a central website that’s available to the public, so if you’re a fan and would like early access code for new projects, you can sign up here! These early access codes provide an incredible chance to be the first to try new and improved projects, and even offer feedback.
This program was created as a way to keep an entrepreneurial mindset amongst all Google employees, while also providing teams with the opportunity to test new ideas that could eventually become Google products. At the moment, Uptime is only one of a select few projects from this program that has been given some media coverage. If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, head to the app store now to get a first-hand look and start connecting!
