The YouTube app on Quest lets you watch videos in VR with friends

The YouTube app on Meta Quest is getting a nice upgrade: Instead of just being a way to watch videos alone, the app now lets you watch videos together with up to seven other people.

To activate the feature, which is launching in beta, make sure you have the latest version of the YouTube app and look for the “Co-Watch” icon at the top of the screen (it looks like three people would be grouped together). Select that and then select “Invite People” in the window that opens. You can then invite people from your follower list to watch something with you. (The people you invite must also follow you.)

There are some restrictions. For example, you can only watch 2D content together. And if you want to watch paid content like a movie, each person watching will have to pay for it separately. But co-watching still seems like a useful way to hang out with people in VR when you'd rather not hang out there Horizon worlds. And it perhaps feels less strange than Apple's spatial personas for the Vision Pro.