Use Google Meet to co-watch YouTube videos with others

You can use Google Meet to co-watch YouTube videos with other meeting participants through Meet live sharing.

To co-watch YouTube videos, you must: 

• Be on an Android device
• Use Google Meet and YouTube with a personal Google Account
• Have a YouTube Premium membership
  • You only need a YouTube premium membership to start a live sharing session. Meeting guests can co-watch the video without a membership.

The following users can’t use Google Meet to co-watch videos: 

• Anyone who uses Meet with a paid Workspace account
  • Exceptions: Workspace Individual & Google One Premium Subscribers. These are paid subscriptions and have access to this feature.
• Users under the age of 18
• Users on a Family Link account

Start a live sharing session as a host

How to: Co-watch YouTube Videos with Google Meet

Start a live sharing session from a meeting in the Meet app

1. Once you join a meeting, tap the screen to show call controls.
2. From the options at the bottom, tap More actions Activities .
3. From the “Activities” menu, tap YouTube .
   • For Google Duo users:
     • If you use the legacy Duo app which is now upgraded to the Meet app , you’ll have to schedule a meeting within the app to access this feature. If you directly call a group or a contact in the upgraded Meet app then this feature won't be available to you. The live sharing feature that is available in 1:1 calls in the upgraded app works differently than live sharing in meetings. Learn more about sharing your screen in 1:1 calls.
   • For original Meet app users:
     • This feature is available for you for any meetings you join or create using the Meet (original) app .
4. Optional: If you don’t have the YouTube app installed on your Android device, tap Install YouTube. This directs you to the Play Store to download the YouTube app. Once the app is downloaded, go back to the Meet app.
5. Once back inside the Activities menu in the Meet app, tap YouTube Open YouTube.
6. Search for the video you want to co-watch via live sharing.
   • There are some YouTube videos that can't be played during live sharing, such as content for kids and any paid content.
7. Tap on that video.
8. From the pop-up menu that asks to start a live sharing session, tap Start.

Once live sharing starts, you'll see a green bar at the bottom of your screen with the text “You are live sharing in Meet”. This means the YouTube video has started playing for all your meeting guests.

Everyone in the meeting can pause, rewind, and forward the video for all participants when it plays.

Tip: You might miss notifications or in-meeting messages while you watch a video in the YouTube app. We recommend you check the Meet app periodically for any missed notifications.

Start a live sharing session from the YouTube app

1. Search and find the YouTube video you want to watch together, tap Share on the video you want to watch tap Meet live sharing.
2. You'll notice a "Live sharing with Google Meet" pop-up, from the pop-up, tap Start.
3. If you don’t have a Google Meet meeting running in the background, a meeting starts in the background with a floating picture-in-picture experience (PIP) that appears at the bottom of the YouTube app.
4. To open the Meet app, tap the PIP Full screen .
5. Once inside the Meet app, to invite more guests to co-watch YouTube videos with you tap Share invite.
6. To share the invite, copy the meeting details and share with others or pick an app from the app picker.

Important: Make sure to stay on the Meet app until your guests join. Your guests may have to request to join and you're required to accept their join requests to let them enter the meeting.

When you end the live sharing session, it only ends live sharing for you and not for your meeting guests. Meeting guests will have to end the live sharing session for themselves individually. To end the live sharing session for yourself, close the YouTube app on your device.

Join a live sharing session as a guest

1. Once you join a meeting through your Android app, you’re either invited to a live sharing session or a live sharing session might already be in progress.
2. If someone starts a live sharing session after you join the meeting, you'll receive an invitation in the form of a pop-up. The pop-up will be titled "Join a shared experience in YouTube." Simply tap Join. You'll be redirected to the YouTube app to begin the co-watching experience.
3. If you join a meeting with live sharing already in progress, you'll notice a blue banner at the top of your screen. Tap Join on the banner, you will be redirected to the YouTube app to begin the co-watching experience.
4. Optional: If you don’t have the YouTube app installed on your Android device, the banner at the top of your screen will ask you to install the YouTube app. On the Live sharing banner, tap Get app.
5. On tapping Join you'll be redirected to the YouTube app with the co-watch video playing.

To end the live sharing session for yourself, close the YouTube app on your device.

Lower end devices which don't have sufficient echo cancellation might not work well with live sharing. Users on these devices get an in-app notification that asks them to use headphones to not disrupt the audio for other guests in the meeting.

Important: Co-watching YouTube videos isn't currently supported on:

• iOS devices
• Laptop or desktop browsers
• Paid work or school accounts
• Accounts registered to users under 18 years of age
• Anyone using a family link account

You’ll see a banner notification disallowing you from joining a live sharing session if you join a meeting from an unsupported device or account.