Netflix Party partied a little too hard, and broke

According to the platform's official site, the ray of hope in these dark times named Netflix Party, is broken.

The Chrome Extension, which allows groups to simultaneously stream shows and movies through Netflix, has no doubt seen a surge in use as millions of people prepare to spend weeks, or potentially months in their own homes.

However, in a note on Netflix Party’s homepage, the latest version of the application failed on Sunday March 22nd, with users experiencing serious issues when starting, and joining parties.

Around 30% of users are currently unable to participate in Netflix Parties, but a representative from the platform says that the developers are working round the clock on a fix.

Netflix Party is a Google Chrome extension that can be installed on any laptop or desktop computer. Users can share a program link with others, and invite them to watch the stream simultaneously. The platform allows users to control the stream for everyone in the party, and talk to fellow party-goers in a chatroom on the side of the browser.

A new version is set for release on Tuesday 24th March PST, pending Google approval, which should fix the bug, and allow users to get back to socially-distant Netflix and chill.

Current users who installed the extension between March 20th and 22nd are being advised to uninstall and reinstall Netflix Party and try again. Approximately 50% of downloads from this period have reported better results from this alone.

For those not yet using the extension, the recommendation is to wait until Tuesday to install and use Netflix Party. 

Anula Wiwatowska

Offsite Editorial Lead | Instagram

Anula is the Off-Site Editorial Lead for WhistleOut Australia, and an award winning tech journalist. She has been writing about the Australian telco industry, and consumer technology for over five years, and has been known to tell her Uber driver which phone they should upgrade to next.

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