How to set up a long-distance Netflix date so what you're both watching never gets out of sync

Columbia Pictures via YouTube

Trying to watch Netflix in tandem with a friend or significant other across the country always seems like a good idea, but it can be frustrating. Coordinating pressing play the first time is easy enough, but when you get up to get more popcorn, or you miss what someone was saying, it's annoying to get back in sync.

Now Showgoers, a new Chrome extension, is here to solve that very simple problem: syncing up your Netflix with someone else's.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Once you install Showgoers on Chrome, you select a 3D glasses graphic at the top right and click "Start a sync session." The extension will then create a unique link, which you can send to as many friends as you want. Once you've done that, you just click "Begin sync" and off you go.

Once you are synced, anyone with the link can press play and start watching at the same place. And when one person pauses or rewinds, it does the same for everyone who is watching.

There's a chat function in case you need to explain your movie choice to your watching partners, though it could use a bit of beefing up (you can't customize your name, for example).

The creator of Showgoers, San Francisco coder Alan Jones, created the extension so he and his girlfriend could watch Netflix together while on the West and East Coasts, CNN Money reports.

Right now, the extension is only for Chrome, but Jones plans to released a version for Firefox and Safari, and to update the quality of the current version.

You can install Showgoers for Google Chrome here.