With lockdowns and self-quarantine all over the world, many of us are missing our loved ones. But thanks to the internet and the amazing social media platforms, we can be with our friends and family without being physically present. You already know that, so today I’m going to share a new free platform that allows you to watch YouTube with friends online, screen share, co-watch videos, play games and more.
Kosmi – A brand new app for virtual hangouts!
Kosmi is a free platform for digital hangouts. Unlike video conferencing apps, Kosmi offers a virtual room where you and your friends could hang out. You could do many things like:
- watch YouTube/Netflix together,
- video conference
- share your screen,
- chat
- play games,
- stream a video from your computer,
- join a random pubic room and chat with strangers
Above all Kosmi is completely free and there is no limit on the number of people who could be in a room. So, go ahead and try it today with your friends.
Kosmi uses React for the frontend and a custom backend written in Elixir + Absinthe for the backend with PostgreSQL used as the database if anyone wants to know.
Some of the features in the room, such as screen sharing utilises peer to peer networking, and the bandwidth is on the person sharing their screen. The size would be limited by the hosts’ bandwidth in that case.
Haukur, Creator
Kosmi will soon offer an SDK so developers could make their own applications to use within these virtual rooms. Kosmi is still in early development, so expect some hiccups but give it a try as it’s quite fun to use with friends!
Alternatives
There are alternative websites to achieve the above-mentioned features but not many of them have all of these features. The one that most resembles Kosmi is Kast.
If you’re looking to just watch Netflix together, then you could use Netflix Party.