Watch along in the browser extension
On youtube.com the extension's side panel carries the party beside the real player: a card showing who is watching with you, whether you are in sync, chat, and the Room. Tap the card's heading to fold it to one row with the party count, a Live tag, and your mic. Nothing disconnects.
The side panel carries the whole party: you keep watching on youtube.com, and it sits beside the real player holding who is here, the chat, and the Room. Nothing is ever drawn on the YouTube page.
Getting into a party
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Open the panel on a video. Install the extension, sign in from inside the panel, and go to any YouTube video. The watch-along area sits under the panel's timeline strip: a compact row of faces, then the roster and your visibility control.
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Look for the join pill. When a party is live and joinable on that video, the watchers row grows a pill to join it. Tapping it asks how you want to appear before anything commits.
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Choose how you appear, then join. The visibility chooser wraps the join, so Masked, Visible or Hidden is settled before your seat exists. Not now or Esc backs out and nothing is joined.
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Watch the real player follow. Once you are in, the host's play, pause, and seek reach your actual YouTube player. A sync chip on the card says whether you are with the party or catching up.
You can also arrive from a link. Opening a vdr.fyi party link takes you to the poster on the site, described in Join a watch party from a link, and the panel picks your seat back up when you return to the video on youtube.com.
A party you booked earlier
You do not have to go looking for a party you already have a place in. From a day before it starts, and for a day after if it never got going, the watchers area carries it: whether you are hosting or invited, its title, the start in your own clock's time, and how close it is, from Lobby opens at 7:45 PM through Lobby is open to Live now.
Open on web opens the party page, or the lobby once that is open, in a new tab. It is the only thing in the panel that opens a tab, and it waits for your tap. When the party goes live the button becomes Join live, which asks how you want to appear and then seats you in the panel, so a booked party and a party you stumbled into join the same way. A party the host calls off, or one whose start passes with nothing running, says so and offers Dismiss.
What the party card holds
One card, no tabs, because the panel has no room for rooms:
- Who is hosting, as the heading, or the party's own title when the host set one.
- The roster, as a strip of faces with a +N disc past five. A face glows while its person is speaking.
- A sync chip stating whether you are riding with the party.
- A Chat button, when the party has chat on, carrying a dot while messages arrive with chat closed.
- The Room, reading Room is live over Hear the room before you connect, then the live status, the count of mics, and your own mic button if the host granted you one.
- A settings-lite row: your current visibility, the report doorway, and leave.
Folding the card down
The heading is also the handle. Tap it and the card collapses to a single row that reads Watch Along and the number of people in the party, and keeps two things beside it: a Live tag once you are in the Room, and your mic button if you hold a mic. Tap the row again to open it back up.
Three things are worth knowing about the fold:
- Nothing disconnects. The Room, the roster, and the party keep running underneath the folded row. That is exactly why the mic button rides up onto it instead of disappearing with the rest of the card.
- The choice is remembered, on this browser, and it carries to your next party rather than resetting on every join.
- It starts open. The watch-along area is already bounded so the receipt feed keeps its share of the panel, so folding is a preference and not a fix for a crowded panel.
When the host changes video
The panel asks, every time. Follow takes your YouTube tab to the new video and keeps you in sync there; Not now leaves you where you are with your seat intact and a Follow button waiting on the card. The panel never moves your tab on its own.
A party working through a list behaves the same way, with one extra case: it can replay the video already on your screen. Follow then seeks your player back to the party's spot instead of reloading the tab. Not now answers only for the video in front of you, leaves a Rejoin the group pill on the card for when you want back in, and the next video in the list asks again.
What the panel doesn't do
The panel lets you listen, use your mic and mute it, watch the stage and other people's camera tiles, chat and ride along. Live captions, each speaker's own volume, the video getting quieter while someone talks, the stage controls and broadcasting your own camera are on the website only.
What's next
- Watch Along in the panel is the full tour, including ride along and the roster.
- Turn on voice or camera in a party covers the voice side in more depth.
Related
Watch Along in the panel
See who else is watching, join a watch party, chat, listen and talk, and ride along, all from the extension's side panel on youtube.com.
Install the extension
Add the Vid Receipts side panel to Chrome or Edge in under a minute.
Join a watch party from a link
Open the link and you land on a poster showing the video, who started the party, and how many people are already there. Signed in, one Join takes you to the video with the party running. Signed out, you get Sign in and join, plus Join without signing in when the host allows it. A link to a party booked for later opens on the booking instead.
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Turn on voice or camera in a party
Voice is on from the moment a party opens, and anyone in it hears the room on arrival, with no tap and no microphone prompt. Mics stay off until you unmute. The first four people to arrive after voice is on hold a mic seat; the host hands out the rest. Every speaker gets a volume slider that is yours alone, captions are transcribed on the speaker's own computer, and camera needs a private party, which is what Followers, Friends or A group gives you. Where camera is not available the Room keeps the control and names the next thing to do.
Create and organize feeds
Creating a feed takes a paid plan, but being in one does not. On any tier, a shared feed shows up under Shared With Me, opens from the plus button beside a video's feeds, or from the ⋯ menu on a phone, and a link to it activates the feed when that feed fits the video you land on. Only the person who made it needs a plan.