Google engineers contribute 20 percent of their work time for Area 120 incubator project where employees work on side projects. Now, one of the Area 120 project called as the Google Uptime has reached for the commercial roll out. The Google Uptime app let users watch and share the YouTube videos and interact and chat with friends simultaneously. However, the video sharing and networking app are currently available only on iOS platform in the US only. But it is likely to be rolled out for other platforms as well as other countries.
How to use Google Uptime?
For using the Google Uptime, you will have to log-in with your Google account. You can add stickers, sparkles and comments while watching YouTube videos on the app. You can follow users and see the content they like or shared on their app home screen. The app will show you the real-time engagements such as comments, sparkles or stickers each time you watch a video with others. Let’s see the pros and cons of the Google Uptime app.
Google Uptime: Pros
- Comments: The users’ comments are been displayed on the screen which disappears automatically once it moves off the screen.
- Sparkle: Sparkles are shown temporarily as you the screen.
- Stickers: Stickers can be posted on a required section of the video.
- The user engagements which are visible in real-time and attributed to the people watching the same videos on a sharing basis.
- Offensive content can be reported via the app by long-pressing the video and choosing ‘Flag this video on YouTube’.
- You can also report username or comment.
- Daily video recommendations from people you follow.
Google Uptime: Cons
- It does not let users access and share the paid and premium content such as YouTube Red and movies on the app.
- No support for videos with restricted content or private videos.
- Works like a welcome addition to the original YouTube platform.
- The feature to add stickers and reactions resembles a bit with Snapchat.
- Unavailability on Android, Windows, and other platforms.
- Compatible with Apple mobiles and other products running on iOS 10.0 or above.
The Google Uptime app is out for iPhones and other iOS devices in the US, while the global and cross-platform availability of the app is yet to known.
