Movies Anywhere recently rolled out a new “Watch Together” feature that lets multiple people meet for a synchronized movie night over the internet. The new feature works on your desktop or via Movies Anywhere’s iOS, Android and smart TV apps, and all movies on the service are available for group watch parties—as long as you own them yourself, that is.
How to set up a “Watch Together” session on Movies Anywhere
First, everyone will need to sign up with their own Movies Anywhere account—even those who will be watching as guests. Each account needs permission to watch at least PG-13 movies, a setting that can be changed via its parental controls.
The total number of people able to participate in a viewing session depends on whether everyone already owns the movie. Up to nine people can watch together, provided the feature presentation is unlocked in each person’s Movies Anywhere collection—which requires you to either purchase the title on Movies Anywhere or unlock it through the redemption of a code included in a physical copy. If you’ve got all that, you can skip down to the “Start a watch together session with Movies Anywhere” below.
If not everyone owns the movie, you’ll only be able to watch with up to three other guests. None of these guests need to own the movie, which is cool, but you’ll need to lend it to each of them first through the annoying new “Screen Pass” feature.
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Lending movies through Movies Anywhere’s “Screen Pass” feature
Movies Anywhere’s lending feature is currently restricted to Screen Pass beta users, and only certain titles can be lent at this time. Films from notable franchises like Marvel and Star Wars are not included right now, meaning everyone will need to own their own copy of Avengers: Endgame if you want to watch as a group.
That said, anyone can request and receive lent copies, even if they’re not in the beta. Screen Pass lending isn’t restricted to Watch Together, either; users can watch titles they’re “borrowing” at any time—whether on their own or in a group—within 14 days of receiving the movie, or up to 72 hours after clicking “play.”
- To lend a title, go to your Movies Anywhere locker in the Movies Anywhere app, or access it through moviesanywhere.com.
- Scroll to the “My Screen Pass Eligible Movies” section.
- Select the movie you want to share from your library.
- Click/tap the “Details” button, then select “Screen Pass.”
- Copy and share the link with up to three other users.
- Other users can accept the loaned movies in the Movies Anywhere app or via the website.
Start a watch together session with Movies Anywhere
Once everyone has their Movies Anywhere account set up and copies of the movie purchased or borrowed, you can finally start a Watch Together session.
- To host a watch together session, open the Movies anywhere app or go to moviesanywhere.com on your desktop browser.
- Navigate to your Movies Locker.
- Scroll through and select the movie you want to watch, then select “Watch Together.”
- A URL will pop up; copy and share the link with whoever you want to watch with.
- The host can start playing the movie at any time. All playback—pause, rewind, fast forward—is controlled by the host, but guests can send requests to pause, rewind, etc. All participants and click or tap the emoji menu if they want to react to a scene.
