Back during the early days of the pandemic, Disney+ added a brand new feature called “Groupwatch”, which allowed subscribers to come together to watch any title in the Disney+ library virtually with their personal friends and family.

The GroupWatch automatically synced the stream so that everyone in your group could watch together, even when they’re apart.   However, the feature had many restrictions, as all participants had to have an active Disney+ subscription on an ad-free plan and must be in the same country/region.

Unfortunately, the “GroupWatch” feature has been completely removed from Disney+ globally, as subscribers have been reporting on social media that they can’t find the feature any more.  Also, all of Disney’s official help pages have removed any mention of the feature, and the official page for GroupWatch is now just redirected to the main Disney+ page.  Also, the GroupWatch icon was removed from App Store images earlier this month.

Disney hasn’t officially made any announcement regarding the feature’s removal, and it’s unknown if the feature is going to return, but with the complete removal of any mention of the feature, it seems unlikely.  I’ve reached out to Disney+ help support and have been told

For now, we have confirmed that the GroupWatch feature has been removed as a feature on all regions for Disney+. There has been no report when it will be back on Disney+ as the GroupWatch feature has been removed today.

It’s unknown how much the GroupWatch feature was being used on Disney+, and with people returning to their normal lives, it’s possible that the feature just wasn’t being used enough to warrant running it.  However, personally, I believe as Disney is pushing more and more people to the ad-supported plan, the feature would become even less used, since it just wouldn’t work properly with the ads, since viewing would be interrupted.

If you used the “GroupWatch” feature, unfortunately, you will have to resort to other options like Zoom or Facetime, while trying to link up exactly with your friends and family to do watch-alongs together.

What do you think of Disney removing the “GroupWatch” feature?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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