When Apple first introduced SharePlay a couple of years ago, I was certain that this was to support their to-be released AR headset 🙂

But then time passed and nothing much appeared to happen with SharePlay. In fact, I had almost forgotten about it since adoption of SharePlay seemed to be mostly limited to streaming service apps or music apps, and that was about it ... Even amongst streaming apps, the ones I used like Neflix or Amazon Prime did not have SharePlay.

But this year, it appears that SharePlay is back with a vengeance 😛 Check out the following WWDC session to find all the new functionality being added to SharePlay:

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10239/

My Favourite? SharePlay over AirDrop so that you can start shared activities with people in the same room by just bringing your phones together — no need to start a FaceTime call!

The thing I don’t know at this point is, will SharePlay work if there is no network (or at least, no Internet)? I’m guessing not, but I’m curious to find out.

#Apple #WWDC #WWDC2023 #SharePlay #SharedActivities #VisionPro

@f In the 19th century, telecommunications were used to connect people hundreds of miles apart.
In the later part of the 20th century, it was used to easily talk to people in different buildings.

Now we reached the point where we need to have our phones with us to interact with people in the same room?!

@nicemicro That certainly is one take on it 🙂 But what interests me is not the phone/communication factor, but being able to share an activity (like watching a movie) together.

And not on the phone, but on something like VisionPro where the activity would normally be considered a solo activity but where SharePlay could allow two or more people to watch the same movie, talk about it, and even pause/resume at the same point …

As somebody who moves around a lot, but who still consumes content with others, I find this very interesting 🙂

Also, you don’t have to go as far back as the 19th century to see telecommunications in action connecting people hundreds of miles apart, I’ve seen that in action in my lifetime. In fact, as a kid I used to have to go next door to make a phone call to my parents who were hundreds of miles away since the people with whom I lived did not have a phone 😛

@f I'm sorry but I feel distopian vibes about "sharing an activity" when watching the same thing on two separate screens.

Sure, when one plays a 1v1 game like StarCraft, you play it on separate screens because you are supposed to see different things. Watching the same movie in a distance I can also understand, this is how I watched "Lucifer" with my mom from the other side of the world.

But if I need new tech to watch a movie with my wife in the same room but two screens... please don't.

@nicemicro Each to their own 🙂 I’ve realized when talking to people online that a lot of the time, they imagine that everybody else’s situation is the same as theirs. Not saying that this is the case here, but it’s hard to know what works for somebody else and why …

Not sure why you get “dystopian vibes” about sharing content but then again, consider the fact that people said that radio, TV etc. also would destroy society when it first appeared 🙂

When I was young, the only way to watch a movie with somebody else was to go to the movie theatre. Then TVs and VHS came along and you could watch a movie at home. Was the change dystopian? I guess that depends on your viewpoint and your own needs.

As I said, each to their own 🙂

@f I think the big difference here is that it solves a non-problem.

Technology is an advance, when it allows you to do something that you couldn't do before, i.e., on TV, you can watch stuff at home, which you could not do with the cinema.

Now, you can watch a movie together on a TV. watching it together on two phones (or on two oversized swimming goggles) while being in the same room is not something you couldn't do, it's something you could do, just worse.

@nicemicro As I said before, you are thinking only of your own use cases 🙂 If you don’t like the tech (or the company) that is totally fine. That’s your prerogative.

I can think of several use cases that are actually solved by SharePlay. But of course, then people say things like “That’s a niche case” 😛 But it’s always a niche case when it’s not the one you want …

For example, watching movies together on a big screen when you are on a plane (which I do want), watching together on a huge screen when you travel around a lot and can’t cart around a big TV with you, working together on code on multiple large virtual monitors instead of crowding around a single tiny screen. These are just a few. There are quite a few variations on these that I can think of too …