FaceTimers and Disney fans, rejoice — you can now watch anything on Disney+ with friends using SharePlay.
SharePlay is Apple’s screen-sharing feature for FaceTime, introduced with iOS 15.1. Activating SharePlay — which you do simply by opening the compatible app and starting to view content while on FaceTime — will display and synch playback controls for whatever you’re watching on everyone’s screen on the call. But don’t think you can use SharePlay as a workaround for free streaming. Everyone on a FaceTime call must have their own Disney+ account in order to use the feature, as the content will be streaming directly from the app itself on each device.
Disney+ does offer its own screen-sharing-like feature, called GroupWatch, which allows up to seven people to participate in a watch party directly on the Disney+ app. While useful, SharePlay’s capabilities top this, allowing up to 32 people on a FaceTime call to watch content together. SharePlay also allows Apple users to continue using their device in other ways outside of the call, putting the shared content into a picture-in-picture frame.
To use SharePlay, all users must have iOS 15.1, tvOS 15.1, or iPadOS 15.1 or later, as well as the Disney+ app downloaded to their device. SharePlay will not work on a Disney+ Kids account.
