SyncLounge

SyncLounge is the most popular self-hosted watch-party tool for Plex Media Server, with over 1,000 GitHub stars and active development by the Plex community. Unlike commercial watch-party services like Teleparty or Scener that work only with specific commercial streaming providers, SyncLounge is built specifically around Plex and assumes each viewer has their own copy of the content on their own Plex server. The application acts purely as a clock and chat coordinator: it never streams content itself, so the host never has to share library access or burn upload bandwidth, and viewers experience full-quality direct play from their own infrastructure.

Common Use Cases

Distributed friend groups host weekly movie nights where every participant has the same film in their personal Plex library — SyncLounge coordinates the playback so it starts at the same time, pauses for everyone when someone needs a break, and seeks together if anyone wants to rewind a great scene. Families separated across cities run multi-household movie nights, with grandparents, parents, and kids all watching the same content from their respective Plex servers while chatting in the integrated sidebar. Long-distance partners use SyncLounge as a date-night tool for synchronized TV show watching with built-in chat reactions. Anime communities organize synchronized series rewatches across dozens of participants without ever centralizing the content or relying on a commercial streaming service. Privacy-conscious watch parties choose SyncLounge specifically because all participants stream from their own servers — content never crosses third-party infrastructure.

How SyncLounge Works

The architecture is intentionally simple. Each participant connects to the SyncLounge instance with their browser, signs in through Plex SSO, and picks their Plex server and the content they want to watch. The instance creates a room, generates a shareable code, and uses WebSocket messaging to keep all participants' Plex players synchronized as actions happen. There is no database, no persistent state, no admin account — the entire server is stateless, so restarts are instant and there is nothing to back up. The optional AUTH_LIST environment variable controls who can connect to the instance at all, providing a simple whitelist for private deployments.

Key Features

• Real-time playback synchronization (play, pause, seek, volume) across all participants
• Integrated group chat sidebar in each room
• Multi-server support — each viewer streams from their own Plex server
• Plex single sign-on for user authentication
• Stateless architecture with no database or persistent volume
• Optional access whitelist via AUTH_LIST environment variable
• Room codes for easy sharing with invited participants
• Browser-based — no native app installation required
• Works with Plex Web, Plex Media Player, and any HTML5 player
• Mobile-friendly responsive UI

Why deploy SyncLounge on Hostinger VPS

Deploying SyncLounge on a Hostinger VPS turns it into an always-on coordinator with low-latency WebSocket connectivity, so playback sync stays tight even with participants spread across continents. Because SyncLounge is stateless and only carries control messages (not video), the resource requirements are tiny — even small VPS plans handle large watch parties comfortably. Traefik HTTPS routing means the URL works smoothly on every modern browser without certificate warnings, and the lightweight Docker footprint leaves nearly all VPS capacity available for other services running alongside. Full root access lets you configure the optional whitelist, integrate with monitoring, and tune connection behavior — but in practice the default configuration just works, and adding new watch-party participants requires nothing more than sharing the deployment URL.