Uptime, the Social YouTube App for Friends, Becomes Available to All

Google-backed team Area 120 launched the Uptime app in March this year, and made it available via invite only to iOS users. Now, the company has removed the invite system and has made the app available to all iOS users on the App Store in the US. There’s still no Android version in sight yet.

For those unaware, the newly launched Uptime is a video sharing app made by Area 120 that lets you share YouTube videos with your friends and comment and chat on them as well. It lets you see all the videos your friends are watching on YouTube and vice versa. Uptime version 18.1 runs on iOS 10 and above devices only. This update, along with killing the invite system, introduces a new home screen for better discovery and navigation. It also brings support for music videos and allows for finding friends through Facebook.

The Uptime app is now available to all users in the US only, and can be downloaded for free from the App Store. Unfortunately, Indian users still can’t experience this app, as it still not available in the region. With the Uptime app, Area 120 looks to offer a YouTube centric platform for social sharing with a close group of friends.

You can share a YouTube video on Uptime for your friends to see, react, and have a conversation with. Google’s incubator, dubbed 'Area 120', is a new approach - part incubator and part new take on the spirit of the 20 percent time programme. It essentially allows employees to work on experimental projects in their free time, and is reportedly supervised by Google executives Don Harrison and Bradley Horowitz.