Screen Pass, the Movies Anywhere feature that allows you to lend a digital film you own to a friend or family member, is now available to all users in the US. When you share a movie with someone (which you can do over text, email or instant message), they’ll have seven days to accept the invitation and 14 days to start watching. Once they begin the movie, they’ll have 72 hours to finish it. Users can lend up to three films per month — though, beyond that, you can share the same title as many times as you want. 

At the moment, approximately 6,500 movies are Screen Pass-eligible, accounting for more than 80 percent of the platform’s library. To use the feature, you need to have redeemed a non-promotional digital code within the last six months.

The Movies Anywhere app is free, but all Watch Together viewers must either purchase the movie or receive a Screen Pass for that title. Screen Pass, which is still in open beta, lets users share movies they’ve purchased with friends and family for limited-time viewing.

Watch Together offers a few advantages over other watch party options. Hulu, for instance, only lets viewers join its watch parties from the web app, and everyone has to be a No Ads subscriber. Watch Together is available on mobile, web and many smart TVs.  While it’s not exactly free, if you combine it with Screen Pass, only one person has to pay for the movie, so it’s one of the more affordable options. Twitch also requires its watch party viewers subscribe to Amazon Prime. Overall, official support for shared viewing is still extremely rare. Netflix hasn’t had official support since its features disappeared from Xbox 360.

To start a Watch Together viewing, search for the title you’d like to watch in Movies Anywhere. From the details page, select the Watch Together button and the “I want to host” button. You’ll then get a 6-character room code and URL to share with your guests.

However, Screen Pass doesn’t work with all movies on the platform as things stand. More than 6,000 titles (about 80 percent) will be shareable during the beta. But, according to The Verge, that doesn’t seem to include Disney, Marvel or Star Wars films despite Disney running the service. To share a movie, you’ll also need to have purchased a compatible copy or have redeemed a DVD or Blu-ray code for a digital version of a film within the last six months.

There’s no messaging option in Movies Anywhere either. You’ll have to chat with your friends elsewhere to decide what movies you’re going to lend or borrow. And, of course, you’ll need to have an invite to the beta. Those hurdles aside, it seems like a neat way to share movies with your friends. You might even start a film at the same time while FaceTiming so you can watch together despite social distancing measures being in place.

Screen Pass will let users share up to three films per month. Recipients will have a week to accept the film, 14 days to start it and 72 hours to finish it. There aren’t any limits on how many times you can share a film, but not every title in the Movies Anywhere catalogue is eligible. That depends, in part, on the studios — Movies Anywhere doesn’t have films from Paramount, Lionsgate or MGM. Still, Screen Pass will make it possible to share over 6,000 films.

For now, Screen Pass will be a closed beta, launching later today. An open beta is planned for May, and the full launch is expected later this year. Even if you don’t make it into the betas, you’ll be able to receive and watch movies shared by Screen Pass users.

This could be bad news for movie theaters, which are being impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to people sharing more movies at home, Universal is now releasing movies in theaters and at home on the same day. Movie studios have been considering this for years, and the need to keep a healthy social distance may finally push studios to get onboard.