Houseparty has become more popular than ever these past few months after serving as a way for people sheltering at home to go on group video chats. Now, it’s taking the chance to expand its services by hosting a 3-day online festival meant to encourage you to co-watch live videos with friends. According to TechCrunch, the event running from May 15th through the 17th is the first in a series of experiences called “In the House.”

It will feature celebrities singing, dancing, cooking and even working out. The lineup for this weekend includes Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Dua Lipa, Zooey Deschanel, Neil Patrick Harris and Terry Crews. Houseparty’s new video player makes it possible to watch the event with friends, since it plays videos on your screen without covering other people’s faces. So, you’re actually watching videos with them and not just watching while in a group text chat.

We are investigating indications that the recent hacking rumors were spread by a paid commercial smear campaign to harm Houseparty. We are offering a $1,000,000 bounty for the first individual to provide proof of such a campaign to bounty@houseparty.com.

— Houseparty (@houseparty) March 31, 2020

On Monday, a number of claims appeared online from users saying they were unable to access other applications such as Netflix, Spotify and online banking after they had downloaded Houseparty. Other users claimed Epic Games — which purchased Houseparty in 2019 — was preventing the removal of the app from phones.

In a statement reported on the BBC, however, a spokesperson for Epic Games refuted those claims, saying, “We’ve found no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts.”

It’s not clear who Houseparty suspects is behind the alleged sabotage attempt, but it could not have come at a worse time for the platform. Video-calling has taken on an unprecedented focus in recent times. With people around the world consigned to their homes because of the coronavirus outbreak, platforms such Houseparty have become the go-to way of staying in touch. Indeed, according to Apptopia, downloads of Houseparty rose from an average of 130,000 per week in mid-February to two million a week in the middle of March.

Getting prepped

While virtual hangouts shouldn’t require much more planning than IRL get-togethers, they do require a different type of prep. Instead of loading up on snacks for your guests, you’ll need to make sure you have the right gear at the ready.

It sounds obvious, but double check that everyone knows when you plan on starting, and what apps they need ahead of time. You don’t want to keep the whole group waiting because you forgot your Zoom login, or didn’t realize one of your green-bubble friends doesn’t have FaceTime. If you can, send out calendar invites with relevant links and detailed instructions ahead of time.

You’ll also want to think about lighting and how you’re going to set up your camera. Your friends likely aren’t expecting a professional-level setup, but everyone will have a better time if they can actually see you. It’s worth taking a few minutes before your virtual hangout sesh to scope out where you’ll place your laptop or tablet so that you’re in the frame as much as possible. If you’ll be using a phone, make sure you have somewhere stable to prop it up. If you plan on sitting more than a few inches away from your camera, try to use a headset with a mic.

Also consider whether you’ll need more than one device. For example, if you’re going to be sharing your screen, you’ll likely need a separate laptop or a phone if you want people to be able to see your face (just don’t forget to mute one of them).

Finally, don’t forget to stay charged. Lengthy video calls will drain your battery very, very quickly so if you can’t keep your device plugged in for the whole call, at least have a charger handy.

Remote movie nights

In some ways, movie nights are the simplest kind of remote gathering to set up. Netflix and other streaming services are basically ubiquitous, so most of us already have the basics in place. The downside is that Netflix and most other major streaming platforms don’t have their built-in multi-person viewing features, so arranging remote viewing parties does take a few extra steps.

Enter Netflix Party, a new Chrome extension that helps groups of friends sync up a Netflix stream. It’s pretty simple – at least in theory. You install the extension, and send a link to your friends and Netflix Party will keep everyone’s streams timed up. There’s also a chat feature, so yoou and your friends can swap messages while you watch. But, since Netflix Party only works with Chrome, you’ll either be stuck watching on your laptop, or you’ll need to cast your screen or connect to your TV with an HDMI cable.

Netflix Party has recently had some technical issues, though, so you might need a backup plan just in case. And, the extension only works for Netflix, so if you want to watch something on another service, you’ll have to find another workaround.

If that’s the case, you can try the workaround a friend and I came up with while improvising a movie night with our partners, when we opted to manually sync up our feeds based on the timestamp. This takes a little more finessing, so it might not be ideal for larger groups, but it’s totally doable, and doesn’t require you to connect your laptop to your TV.

Once synced, we used an iPad with Google Hangouts open with the camera pointed at me and my partner on the couch and our friends did the same. This way, we were able to watch the movie and also chat with each other. This setup may not be ideal if you’re watching a plot-heavy movie that requires you to follow along closely, but it was a lot of fun while watching 47 Meters Down.

Game Night

Pulling off a game night can take a bit more planning and setup, but the extra effort is worth the payoff.

If you’re mainly looking for a low-key way to kill some time with a few friends with minimal effort, Houseparty, the group video chat app popular with teens, might be the best option. It has several games built-in, including Heads Up, trivia, a Pictionary-like drawing game, and something called Chips and Guac, a word association game similar to Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity.

Houseparty works with groups of up to eight, and the games tend to be a bit more fun with slightly larger groups. The downside is that the app’s interface can be a bit confusing, and the game selection is limited. Heads Up only has one deck available for free (you can pay for additional decks), and the trivia questions are only okay. The drawing game, called Quick Draw!, is basic but fun, especially if you’re willing to get a little creative. Chips and Guac is amusing, but you might be a bit lost if you’re outside the app’s core tween/teen demographic.

If you want casual games that will keep you entertained for hours at a time, some of the best I’ve found so far are from Jackbox, which adapt very easily to remote play. One of its more popular games, the pictionary-like, Drawful 2, is especially fun (and is temporarily free). The company also offers several “party packs” with a variety of games.

Though each is slightly different, they are well suited to multi-person remote play. One player “hosts” the game — the host is the only person who needs to purchase the game — and others join in via their smartphone browsers. (Again, you’ll want to use a separate device, like a laptop or tablet, in order to play while on a video call. Jackbox has also published a detailed guide on how to play its games remotely on various platforms, including Steam, Discord, and video conferencing services.)

And, if you’re already tired of these options, you shouldn’t be afraid to try something totally different. Friends have also reported joining remote poker nights and elaborate pub quiz-style trivia tournaments. One Twitter user told me she arranged an impromptu game night with a few friends around the New York Times crossword puzzle. Someone else rigged a game of Scattergories.

If you’re willing to get creative — and be flexible with rules — very few games should be off limits entirely.

Hosting a dinner party

Eating with friends is always better than eating alone, and another option is to get a group of friends together for a virtual dinner party. The great thing about this is you can put as much or as little effort into it as you want. At the extremely low-effort end, simply agree on a time and video chat platform (again, calendar invites go a long way), and everyone can eat dinner together in front off their cameras.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can get everyone more involved in the process. Ask your friends for help planning menus — a shared Google Doc or Pinterest board is a good place to start — and each participant can volunteer to cook a dish of their choice. Or, group members can “assign” each other recipes for an extra challenge.

After everyone’s cooked their meal, fire up the video chat* to show off your dish. Even though you won’t be able to physically share your food, you’ll still be able to see how each turned out, and watch as everyone digs in. And the fact that everyone took a role in the meal prep will immediately liven things up.

A friend who recently gathered a group of friends together for a dinner party recommended Zoom, rather than FaceTime or Hangouts, as Zoom’s gallery view was easier to manage with a larger group than Hangouts or FaceTime.

When you just want to jam

If your hangouts usually involve listening to a lot of music, then you’ll need something a little different than the typical video chat setup.

One of the simplest ways to get started is with Watch2gether, a free service that enables you to sync up videos in a chat room with your friends. Anyone can make a room — no account required — and the service supports YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch, Instagram and Soundcloud and there’s also a Chrome extension if you want to play music from a non-supported site.

Anyone who joins the room can add videos to the room’s queue, and there’s a built-in chat feature, with webcam support. It’s not the slickest interface, but it’s extremely easy to set up and your friends won’t need to fuss with an account in order to join.

If Spotify is your music platform of choice, JQBX is one of the best tools for building collaborative playlists with your friends. The app allows you to create “rooms” where you and your friends can build playlists and listen to songs together in real time. There’s also a built-in chat feature and room members can vote on which songs they like.

However, since it’s a Spotify-powered service, your friends will need an account to join. And if they don’t pay for a premium membership, they won’t be able to listen along, though they can still contribute tracks to the playlist. And, as my colleague Aaron Souppouris pointed out, listening to a lot of new music through JQBX could mess with your personalized Spotify recommendations.

Unlike Watch2gether, there’s no support for video, so you won’t be able to actually see your friends while you listen, though the chat and voting features make it feel interactive.

Images: NetflixParty (Chrome tab); Houseparty (group video chat); Jackbox Games (Drawful 2); JQBX (Spotify)

It was reportedly in discussions last year to buy Houseparty, a group video chat app from the team behind Meerkat. However, it ended the talks after a few weeks, according to the New York Times. Sources told the paper Facebook ultimately decided buying another sizeable player in the social networking space posed too much of an antitrust risk. Epic Games eventually bought Houseparty in June.

The FTC reportedly discovered documents that gave it cause for concern on the antitrust front when it investigated the company last year over its privacy practices. Facebook ultimately agreed to pay an FTC fine of $5 billion related to its privacy issues, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The agency received approval from the Justice Department to start an antitrust investigation into the company earlier this year, the NYT reported. Since then, investigators are said to have contacted several founders of companies Facebook has bought to gain insight into its acquisition methods. Engadget has contacted Facebook for comment.

There have been growing calls for Facebook to be broken up, and Elizabeth Warren pledged to do just that if she wins the presidential election. Facebook spoke out against such demands, and instead requested more oversight.

Still, Facebook is taking some measures that may make it more difficult for authorities to split up its empire. It’s meshing together the messaging elements of Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, while it plans to rename the latter pair to give them more of a Facebook identity.

“Joining Epic is a great step forward in achieving our mission of bringing empathy to online communication,” wrote Sima Sistani, Co-founder and CEO of Houseparty on Medium. “We have a common vision to make human interaction easier and more enjoyable, and always with respect for user privacy.”

It’s unclear what exactly Epic will do with Houseparty, though there’s speculation that it may try to build its own social video app. The game maker was valued at $15 billion in late 2018 and recently launched its own games store. Adding a video chat component could help it compete with the likes of Origin and Steam. Meanwhile, the acquisition comes at a troublesome time for Houseparty, which has remained relatively flat in user growth since 2017, reported Digiday. Houseparty is said to have around 35 million users, the majority of whom are under 24 years old.