What it is
Watch Party lets several people watch the same title together. Play, pause and seek stay in sync for everyone. Release notes also call this feature SyncPlay.
Watch Party uses a JellyWatch service, not Jellyfin's built-in SyncPlay groups. You do not need to enable anything on your server, and other Jellyfin apps cannot join a room.
Requirements
- A Jellyfin account. Watch Party is not available on Emby accounts.
- Everyone must use JellyWatch on the same media server. If you open a code from another server, the app says This room is on another media server.
- An internet connection to reach the JellyWatch service.
- Not available on Kids profiles.
Start a Watch Party
- Open Watch Party: in the TV sidebar, or on a phone from the category tiles of the Library tab.
- Under Create a group, type a Group name and select Create.
- You get a 6-digit code shown as
999-999. Share it with your friends. - The host opens a movie or episode and presses play. Only the host chooses what plays.
Join
- Open Watch Party.
- Under Join with a code, enter the code and select Join.
- When the host starts something, a Now playing card appears. Select Join playback. You start at the same position as the room.
If the code is wrong you see This code does not match a room. A full room shows This room is full.
In the player
A Watch Party button appears in the player controls. It opens a panel with:
- Participants, with an online or offline marker for each person
- The link status: Connecting to the room…, Online. Waiting for someone else. or Room linked. Playback stays in sync.
- Leave group
On phone, you can send emoji reactions that everyone sees. Short notices tell you when someone joins, leaves, pauses, resumes, seeks or changes the film.
How sync works
| Event | Effect on the room |
|---|---|
| Play | Everyone resumes |
| Pause | Everyone pauses |
| Seek | Everyone jumps to the same position |
| Someone is buffering | Everyone pauses (Someone is buffering. Everyone is paused.) and resumes when ready |
| The host stops the film | Guests leave the player |
Each device measures the delay to the service every few seconds. If your playback drifts by a small amount, the player adjusts its speed slightly (about 5 percent) to catch up. If you are more than about 1.5 seconds off, it jumps to the right position. If the connection drops, the app reconnects on its own and rejoins the room.
Achievement
Joining your first Watch Party unlocks the First Watch Party achievement.
