Backrow: watch parties

Watch shows in sync with friends, with an end-to-end encrypted chat beside the video.

Watch shows with friends in other places. Play, pause, seek and speed stay in sync for everyone, and the chat beside the video is end-to-end encrypted. Works on the major streaming sites. The current list of supported sites is at https://backrow.n3el.dev. How it works 1. Open a show on a supported site. 2. Click the Backrow icon and press Start party. 3. Send the invite link. Friends who have Backrow open it and land on the same show at the same moment. Everyone needs their own subscription to the streaming service. Free video sites need no account. Features - Synced play, pause, seek and speed. Small drift is fixed with a short speed change instead of a jump. - Next episode and autoplay take the party with you. - Chat with reactions, typing indicators, and notes like "Maya paused at 41:02". - Optional host-only mode, where only the host controls playback. - The video shrinks to sit beside the chat instead of under it, in fullscreen too. - Profiles with a name, color and optional photo. - Stream a video file from your own computer at backrow.n3el.dev/host. Friends watch in any browser, no extension needed. Privacy Each party has a random key that lives in the invite link after the #, which browsers never send to a server. Chat, names, the show you're watching and playback positions are encrypted with it before they leave your browser. The server sees only a random party id, how many people are connected, and when messages are sent. Accounts are optional and only sync your profile, which is encrypted with a key derived from your password. Free and open source (MIT): https://github.com/neelsatyavolu/backrow Backrow is not affiliated with any streaming service.