What is SharePlay? Apple launches 'virtual experience sharing' feature along with iOS 15

In WWDC 2021, Apple launched their updated operating system for iPhones, the iOS 15. While there have been improvements to the UI, FaceTime has received major refinements, including SharePlay. The feature allows iPhone users to co-watch content like videos, TV shows, and more during a FaceTime session. Read along to know about what is SharePlay.

What is SharePlay?

SharePlay enables shared experiences during a FaceTime session

SharePlay is a new feature that comes along with iOS 15. It allows users to have a shared experience using the Group Activities API. Essentially, while on a FaceTime call, anyone can jump to other applications such as Apple Music, Apple TV, or any other content streaming platform, and when they hit play, the music or video plays for everyone on FaceTime session in sync. All the members on the session have access to multimedia controls such as volume and playback options as well as iMessage to communicate. 

Streaming platforms during FaceTime 

OTT platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, Twitch, ESPN+, and Pluto Tv are also available to stream in a FaceTime session. Other than that, users can share SharePlay content on multiple devices in the Apple ecosystem such as iPhone, iPad, MacBooks, and Apple TV. In that scenario, the content being shared can be viewed on a separate device, while the FaceTime session goes on on another device. There is another screen sharing feature that works in real-time, which can be used to browse together.

A developer-friendly API

The SharePlay API integrates other applications in an iPhone with FaceTime. Simply put, a user can watch anything with a friend. The feature is similar to sharing screen on other video conferencing platforms like Google Meets and MS Teams. At WWDC 2021, Apple also announced that SharePlay supports third-party applications and that developers can build their own apps that support the feature, using SharePlay API.

Another big announcement at the event was about Spatial Audio coming to Apple TV. With tvOS 15, Spatial Audio would now be available to Apple TV users. The feature offers HD virtual surround sound, through AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. The iOS 15 would initially be available for beta testing to developers, with public beta testing following sometime in July. Additionally, users will have a choice to select between the new iOS 15 and iOS 14, until they want to upgrade to the latest version of iOS.

IMAGE: APPLE YOUTUBE