Watch YouTube together, in sync

There are two ways to watch YouTube with friends in Walnut: play a video in sync on everyone’s own player, or browse YouTube together on the room’s TV, with ads blocked.

Play a YouTube video in sync

Paste a YouTube link into a Walnut and every player in the room starts it at the same moment. Each person’s video streams on their own connection, at the quality their connection allows, and Walnut keeps everyone together: small drifts are corrected quietly, and anyone who falls behind jumps back in without pausing everyone else. Pause, seek or skip, and it happens for the whole room.

• Queue it up. Add videos to the watch queue; the next one plays when the current one ends.
• Count it in. Start a countdown and the video begins exactly when it reaches zero, for everyone.
• React without pausing. Send emoji over the video, type in the room chat, or just talk on voice.

Browse YouTube together on the TV

Rather pick as you go? Press Start on the room’s TV, open YouTube, and search, scroll and choose together. Everyone sees the same page. Whoever holds the remote drives, and you can pass it to whoever is choosing next.

The TV blocks ads and trackers with uBlock Origin’s and EasyList’s filter lists, refreshed daily, so videos usually start without pre-roll ads.

Which one to use

• Sync a link

  For watching: everyone gets their own player, their own volume and the best picture their connection allows.

• Browse on the TV

  For choosing: one picture shared by the room, and whoever has the remote can search and click.

Switch whenever you like: find something on the TV, then paste its link to watch it in sync.

How to start

1. Open Walnut and sign in, or make a free account.
2. Start a Walnut and send your friends the link or the room’s code.
3. Paste a YouTube link, or press Start on the TV and open YouTube.

Good to know

• It works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, on computers and in phone browsers.
• A Walnut holds up to 16 people, and Walnut is free.
• Direct video links (MP4, WebM, MOV and HLS streams) play in sync too. Any other site can go on the TV.