Google’s got a brand new app that’s focused on video.
Uptime is a new app from Google, specifically the company’s Area 120 startup incubator. Area 120 derives its name from Google’s goal to let employees devote 20 percent of their time to own projects.
As for Uptime, it’s an app that lets you share YouTube videos with friends, watch them in real-time together, and chat with each other at the same time. You can also “engage” with your friends while watching a video with sparkles when you tap your screen, stickers, and hearts.
The home screen of the Uptime app will also show you videos that’ve been shared and liked by people that you follow.
Uptime is currently iOS-only. If you’d like to check it out, you can download it from the App Store right here. You can get an invite code to sign up from the @Uptime Twitter account.
This new Uptime app is an interesting experiment, making it easy to watch videos in real-time with your friends while also chatting and sharing your reactions with them. It’s kind of strange to see an app that focuses on watching YouTube videos that’s not integrated with YouTube, but that’s likely because the app is a result of Google’s Area 120 incubator. If Uptime ends up taking off, it’s certainly possible that we could see its features baked into the proper YouTube app so that more people can try them out.
If you try Uptime, be sure to share your thoughts with us!