Last September, Sling TV added a Watch Party feature that allowed subscribers to watch Live TV with their friends. Outside of becoming the first co-viewing experience with Live TV, it also had the unique experience that it allowed you to see your friends through their webcam.
The major limitation was that it was only available from your browser, but now Sling Watch Party has been expanded to iPhone (iPad is not yet supported). While all participants will need to have a Sling TV account, new Sling subscribers can join their first three Watch Parties for free for up to 10 hours of simultaneous viewing.
In addition, all new Sling TV subscribers can get their first month of Sling TV for just $10 (a $25 savings).
If you want to share a channel like ESPN on Sling Orange, the person joining the Watch Party must have Sling Orange as well. This also means that if you have an extra pack like Sports Extra, all participants would need to have access to that add-on to stream something like NFL RedZone.
Once you join a Sling Watch Party, you can connect in real-time with up to three guests via chat or video. The host can control the Watch Party by pausing or rewinding on on-demand content. Each guest can control the volume of the stream and the video chat.
Co-viewing experiences have been a major trend during the pandemic, with services like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, while third-party services like Netflix Party and Scener have filled the void for Netflix and HBO respectively. Disney also launched a co-viewing feature for Disney+. For live content, Yahoo Sports! added the ability to live stream NFL games with your friends this season.