Apple introduces SharePlay, with access to Disney+, Hulu, and other streamers

AppleInsider · June 7, 2021 5:30PM

At WWDC, Craig Federighi announced SharePlay, a new feature that will allow sharing streaming content on FaceTime calls across Apple's entire ecosystem.

SharePlay

"We love enjoying shared experiences, and so we built SharePlay," Federighi said during the iOS portion of the WWDC keynote. "SharePlay is a powerful new set of features for shared experiences that you can enjoy when you're on a FaceTime call."

Apple's new feature includes music, movies, and TV shows, "while having a rich, real-time connection with your friends," he added. Users can also share their screens and bring apps into their calls. And this includes several major streaming services, although Netflix is not currently among those included. In addition to Apple Music and the Apple TV app, supported content includes:

Disney+

Hulu

HBO Max

Paramount+

Twitch

TikTok

Pluto TV

Master Class

The NBA App

"We're incredibly excited to participate as a developer on SharePlay to enable innovative viewing experiences across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for our Apple users," said Jerrell Jimerson, EVP of Product & Design, Disney Streaming. "This will give friends and family another way to come together to share the incredible stories that we deliver through our content, including bringing a live sports co-viewing experience to ESPN+ for the first time."

The API will be made available to developers to make other apps available in SharePlay.

Users can also press "Play" in Apple Music and share music over a FaceTime call. The functionality is expected to arrive this fall alongside iOS 15.

Follow all of WWDC 2021 with comprehensive AppleInsider coverage of the week-long event from June 7 through June 11, including details on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, macOS Monterey and more.

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jony0 · June 7, 2021 7:01PM

Finally, screen sharing on iPad !!!
I hope it really means what it suggests, I certainly hope it also includes remote control for support of friends and family.

22july2013 · June 7, 2021 7:21PM

jony0 said:

Finally, screen sharing on iPad !!!
I hope it really means what it suggests, I certainly hope it also includes remote control for support of friends and family.

If true, this will help me to help my older family members use their iPad devices. Great news.

Japhey · June 7, 2021 7:44PM

This feature right here is a perfect example of why the Apple TV needs FaceTime. While undoubtably cool, it will quickly get annoying to have to hold your iPhone or iPad up while group watching a show or movie for any extended period of time.

Imagine watching a movie with a little PIP of your friend up in the corner of the big screen. Relax and enjoy.

dewme · June 7, 2021 8:25PM

This was the part of the keynote where I realized Apple is going after a generation of users that does not include me … which is a smart move for the future of the company.

Can’t we all just share a terminal window?

22july2013 · June 7, 2021 9:09PM

Japhey said:

This feature right here is a perfect example of why the Apple TV needs FaceTime. While undoubtably cool, it will quickly get annoying to have to hold your iPhone or iPad up while group watching a show or movie for any extended period of time.
Imagine watching a movie with a little PIP of your friend up in the corner of the big screen. Relax and enjoy.

On Macs, MacBooks, iPhones, iPads and iMacs there is a direct physical connection from the camera to the Secure Enclave for several reasons including the security of FaceTime calls. How do you suggest this would work when using an Apple TV (with an external display)? Would the Apple TV lose the direct trusted connection between the camera and the Secure Enclave? (There is a Secure Enclave on Apple TV, but no connection to any camera.)

I suppose Apple could build a new proprietary connector on a new Apple TV which could support a new proprietary external webcam from Apple that could mitigate these issues. But it doesn't sound like you are calling for that. It sounds like you are calling for run-of-the-mill webcams that aren't secure.

Perhaps you haven't considered that you can, I suspect, actually use FaceTime on an iOS device (and in Maverick, also on a Mac, I think) and use AirPlay to transmit the FaceTime call to your Apple TV. Why isn't this adequate for you? If I heard correctly today, you can also use your Maverick Mac to act as an "AirPlay server" and receive a copy of your AirPlay signal on the Mac too.

Japhey · June 7, 2021 10:44PM

22july2013 said:

Japhey said:

This feature right here is a perfect example of why the Apple TV needs FaceTime. While undoubtably cool, it will quickly get annoying to have to hold your iPhone or iPad up while group watching a show or movie for any extended period of time.
Imagine watching a movie with a little PIP of your friend up in the corner of the big screen. Relax and enjoy.

I suppose Apple could build a new proprietary connector on a new Apple TV which could support a new proprietary external webcam from Apple that could mitigate these issues. But it doesn't sound like you are calling for that. It sounds like you are calling for run-of-the-mill webcams that aren't secure.

Perhaps you haven't considered that you can, I suspect, actually use FaceTime on an iOS device (and in Maverick, also on a Mac, I think) and use AirPlay to transmit the FaceTime call to your Apple TV. Why isn't this adequate for you? If I heard correctly today, you can also use your Maverick Mac to act as an "AirPlay server" and receive a copy of your AirPlay signal on the Mac too.

Yes, that’s exactly what I propose. Definitely NOT a run of the mill webcam. And it could be done wirelessly, as the Touch ID on the new iMac keyboard proves.

As for your second suggestion, I actually didn’t realize you could do that. So thank you. But, as I originally posted, this would not be an adequate solution if one was using the feature to watch a movie for an extended period of time and having to hold the phone or iPad the whole time. Of course, a dock could be used…but I like my idea more.

damonf · June 8, 2021 5:29PM

If “sharing” content like a movie or TV show, I wonder if all parties on the FaceTime call must have not only the app, but also a subscription on the service that’s providing the content. Seems to me Disney wouldn’t want people to SharePlay movies to multiple households if only 1 has a subscription.

crowley · June 8, 2021 7:34PM

I can use a third party camera with my Mac for FaceTime calls, so I've got no idea what this talk of the Secure Enclave is about. As far as I know the Secure Enclave is used for Face Id, not FaceTime. Apple's support page for the Secure Enclave does not mention FaceTime.

It's a shame Apple removed the USB port.

22july2013 · June 9, 2021 3:16PM

crowley said:

I can use a third party camera with my Mac for FaceTime calls, so I've got no idea what this talk of the Secure Enclave is about. As far as I know the Secure Enclave is used for Face Id, not FaceTime. Apple's support page for the Secure Enclave does not mention FaceTime.

It is true that that page does not mention FaceTime, but other pages mention it, like…

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/some-new-privacy-features-for-mac-and-ios-devices-and-why-they-exist/

“the Secure Enclave…. In addition to storing pass code data, it’s used to secure Apple Pay transactions, iMessage messages and FaceTime calls”

I don’t really know who is right.

crowley · June 9, 2021 8:49PM

You don't know who knows Apple's technology best out of Apple and some news rag?

Like I said, I can use a third party camera for FaceTime. What security do you think the enclave would even provide?

22july2013 · June 10, 2021 5:13AM

crowley said:

You don't know who knows Apple's technology best out of Apple and some news rag?

Like I said, I can use a third party camera for FaceTime. What security do you think the enclave would even provide?

I should have learned by now that even when I provide links to you, you just ignore me.

FaceTime is built with end to end encryption, and I’m sure the Secure Enclave provides the key for that. But if there’s no direct connection between the camera and the enclave, then Apple can’t guarantee end to end security for the video data. I just found this by googling “does FaceTime use Secure Enclave” and the page that told me this was on apple’s website. I won’t give you the link because you should do your own research.

crowley · June 10, 2021 9:26AM

I didn't ignore it, but it's a local newspaper technology section that contains practically zero detail of its claim, and the claim cannot be verified in. Apple's own support pages. Therefore, I thin k it's questionable, you'll need to do better.

I repeated your search and while I found plenty of links to Apple's website I couldn't find a single one that referenced the FaceTime application being dependent on the Secure Enclave. And I doubt I will, because as I have already said, you can use third party cameras with FaceTime. You're right that the signal down the USB wire to the computer won't be encrypted by Apple, but if that's your concern it doesn't seem to one that Apple particularly shares, since they fully support it. The inputs to an application are not what is typically considered end-to-end encryption, which is more concerned with network transmission and storage. If you have a link from Apple that elaborates on this then please share it.

It seems to me that the only obstacle to a camera add on for the Apple TV is that there's no way to connect a wire.

crowley · June 10, 2021 9:58AM

22july2013 said:

FaceTime is built with end to end encryption, and I’m sure the Secure Enclave provides the key for that.

If "providing a key" is all you're suggesting the enclave does then it's close to useless. Either it's encrypting the video, or it's not doing anything. And it doesn't need a direct interface to the camera to encrypt video, software can pipe the video in.

22july2013 · June 10, 2021 2:34PM

crowley said:

22july2013 said:

FaceTime is built with end to end encryption, and I’m sure the Secure Enclave provides the key for that.

If "providing a key" is all you're suggesting the enclave does then it's close to useless. Either it's encrypting the video, or it's not doing anything. And it doesn't need a direct interface to the camera to encrypt video, software can pipe the video in.

Your points are partly valid, and you didn’t even mention that some older Macs don’t even have T1 or T2 chips. So that means FaceTime can’t always be protected by hardware security. And you were pleasantly polite today, so I will reply.

Aside from the encryption, the T2 chip (I believe) also directly controls the “camera on/microphone on” hardware light indicator on MacBooks and iMacs so that the user can see that the camera is on. Am I right? That’s definitely a security feature too, regardless of whether data is encrypted or not. The T2 cannot control this light when you use an external camera, right? So I don’t agree that the T2 chip is “next to useless” for FaceTime. That recording light indicator is extremely important for security and privacy, even if there is no encryption at all. But there is.

The T2 chip will be encrypting the video before the OS gets the video UNLESS you use an external webcam which has to go through the OS therefore the T2 chip CANNOT encrypt the video inside the Secure Enclave before it’s exposed unencrypted to the OS for an external camera. If you care about security, then this is very important. I do not trust webcam software from countries that have nukes pointed at me.

One small mistake I made: when I used google to find those pages above I included the string “+FaceTime” which is supposed to guarantee that the word “FaceTime” appeared on those pages, But google failed for some reason. So I thought I saw T2 and FaceTime listed on the same page (https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/security/sec025128f1b/1/web/1) because of google’s mistake. But Apple does list FaceTime as a “security service.” And I’m not sure that applies when you are using an external webcam. Unencrypted video inside an OS is, may I quote you, “next to useless.”

I don’t have all the answers. I don’t think Apple has indicated clearly how FaceTime is a “security service.” So maybe we can’t resolve this fully.

crowley · June 10, 2021 3:03PM

22july2013 said:

crowley said:

22july2013 said:

FaceTime is built with end to end encryption, and I’m sure the Secure Enclave provides the key for that.

If "providing a key" is all you're suggesting the enclave does then it's close to useless. Either it's encrypting the video, or it's not doing anything. And it doesn't need a direct interface to the camera to encrypt video, software can pipe the video in.

Your points are partly valid, and you didn’t even mention that some older Macs don’t even have T1 or T2 chips. So that means FaceTime can’t always be protected by hardware security. And you were pleasantly polite today, so I will reply.

Aside from the encryption, the T2 chip (I believe) also directly controls the “camera on/microphone on” hardware light indicator on MacBooks and iMacs so that the user can see that the camera is on. Am I right? That’s definitely a security feature too, regardless of whether data is encrypted or not. The T2 cannot control this light when you use an external camera, right? So I don’t agree that the T2 chip is “next to useless” for FaceTime. That recording light indicator is extremely important for security and privacy, even if there is no encryption at all. But there is.

The T2 chip will be encrypting the video before the OS gets the video UNLESS you use an external webcam which has to go through the OS therefore the T2 chip CANNOT encrypt the video inside the Secure Enclave before it’s exposed unencrypted to the OS for an external camera. If you care about security, then this is very important. I do not trust webcam software from countries that have nukes pointed at me.

One small mistake I made: when I used google to find those pages above I included the string “+FaceTime” which is supposed to guarantee that the word “FaceTime” appeared on those pages, But google failed for some reason. So I thought I saw T2 and FaceTime listed on the same page (https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/security/sec025128f1b/1/web/1) because of google’s mistake. But Apple does list FaceTime as a “security service.” And I’m not sure that applies when you are using an external webcam. Unencrypted video inside an OS is, may I quote you, “next to useless.”

I don’t have all the answers. I don’t think Apple has indicated clearly how FaceTime is a “security service.” So maybe we can’t resolve this fully.

Controlling hardware features of the camera is very different from being required for FaceTime.

Sounds like you've moved from unsubstantiated claims about the Secure Enclave to unsubstantiated claims about the T2. It does not "encrypt the video before the OS gets the video". You know how I know that? Because the video appears on the screen! It would have to encrypt it then immediately decrypt it in order to show the video in the FaceTime application, which is nonsensical.

I don't think you have a clue what you're talking about and you're just making stuff up again and concern trolling about security. Most of the big camera manufacturers are from countries that don't have nukes pointed at you: Logitech, Microsoft, Razer for webcams, and Canon, Nikon, Fuji, any number of others.

And still, the short of it is that your original claim is wrong. you don't need a direct interface from the Secure Enclave (or the T2) for FaceTime to work. And as such, if Apple wanted to they could release a FaceTime camera for the Apple TV (though they'd probably need a new Apple TV unit with a USB port).

Apple introduces SharePlay, with access to Disney+, Hulu, and other streamers

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