Things to note before using Houseparty
Presently, Houseparty is pervasive.
The video-chatting app, which makes it a breeze for up to eight people to share a virtual meeting, has been around since 2016, but for obvious reasons, it has surged in popularity for now.
Currently, Houseparty is the iOS Store’s fifth most downloaded free app in the United States. (It has already hit #1 in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain.) If you do not own it already, chances are high that someone you know will invite you to join it soon.
Hence, what is the appeal of Houseparty, and what are the possible drawbacks?
As the name Houseparty seems to signify, the app is basically a virtual version of a massive get-together.
If your friends are “in the house,” you can chat them up one on one—or you can gather a group in a room to talk or play games, either locking that room’s door or leaving it open for new people to walk in and join you. It is a popular virtual hangout zone for lockdown times.
Houseparty Game | Chip and Guac |
| About | This fun word bridging game is highly addictive and funny. To play, one person deals a descriptive card — these cards say something like “sneaky” or “can’t even” — other players throw down a card that they think best matches that descriptor. A judge chooses which match is funniest, winner is championed. |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Sound it Out |
| About | Currently, most users have played — and grown addicted to — Heads-Up app. Lucky for us, Houseparty lets you play the Charades-like game inside the app, with subject cards appearing on the screen instead of players’ heads. To play, you must get teammates to guess what is on cards through making sounds. Charades, sounds, screen cards, guessing, houseparty game |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Karaoke Night |
| About | Another Heads-Up card game? “Karaoke Night.” Each card in this game has the name of a karaoke classic, and you will have to hum the song to your teammate for them to guess it. This deck is great for friend groups who cannot wait to get back to the microphone. Karaoke night, karaoke classic, hum song, song guessing, karaoke game |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Act it Out |
| About | This deck is fun because it prompts all to work as a team (and we could all learn to build up teamwork in these chaotic times). Each card in the deck is meant to be performed, embodied by three or more people — so everyone needs to be spontaneous, responsive, quick. Teamwork, acting, performance, theatrics, imagination |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Quick Draw |
| About | Houseparty’s Quick Draw is an online version of Pictionary. When you play, you see a word at the top of screen and a blank drawing pad; other players only see your drawing. Draw the word on the screen with maximum effort and see if the other players can guess it. Pictionary, word, drawing pad, drawing, interpretation |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | General Knowledge |
| About | Houseparty has 18 free trivia decks, thus requiring you to keep those game-night skills in great shape. A widely preferred, popular deck is “General Knowledge,” for the virtual sense that it tests your friends’ knowledge of basic facts. It resembles attending a virtual version of TV Game Shows like Wheel of Fortune. Trivia, basic facts, knowledge, quiz, online game |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Finish the Song Lyric |
| About | If your contacts are musically inclined — or even if they are not — try the “Finish the Song Lyric” deck. This deck will give you one half of a song lyric and ask players to complete it. Make the game even more entertaining by requiring everyone to sing the lyrics too. Songs, singing, music, lyrics, completing lyrics |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Animals Gone Wild |
| About | The game features an extensive list of animals to choose from and the participants must not say any part of the animal’s name or rhyme with it. To include a more challenging aspect, do not use words and just make noises and act out the animal’s habits to give hints. Animals, guessing, noise, acting, animal habits |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | Superstars |
| About | The guessing game that involves your favorite celebrities, “Superstar” follows the same guessing principles as the other rules. There can be description but no rhyming or saying the names of the stars that are chosen. This ensures that the game is extremely exciting, lively, entertaining, challenging, fun for its participants. Guessing, celebrities, rules, describing, no rhyming |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
Houseparty Game | #Trending |
| About | You can test your current meme knowledge with this deck, which has you guess topics, people, events, and meme-able moments from the past week. (It will also show you just how up to date you are on current talking points.) You must be up to date with the latest fads. Trends, trivia, fads, news, facts |
| Pricing | Free |
| Website | https://houseparty.com/ |
What is Houseparty?
Houseparty is a social networking app that allows up to eight people to video chat at once in a “room.” Users can have infinite rooms and easily float between rooms. Users receive a notification when friends open the app and can join chats with friends (and friends of friends).
How do I download Houseparty?
Houseparty is available on iOS, Android, Mac, PC, and as a Google Chrome extension.
Is Houseparty Secure?
Houseparty is secure. There have been no data breaches and no exposure of customer data or third-party accounts. You can read their full statement on the topic to learn more.
How do I play games with friends in Houseparty?
Click on the dice icon on the top right to play the games available on Houseparty Heads Up!, Trivia, Quick Draw, and Chips and Guac!
Tap a game and you will then be asked to add friends to play with you. Wait for them to connect, then it is game on.
How do I manage Houseparty notifications?
Tap on the smiley, hit manage notifications, and then you can toggle off or on both ‘in the house’ and specific friend notifications.
How do I invite friends to Houseparty?
Tap the plus button in the top right to Invite New Friends or tap on the smiley in the top left and tap Add Friends. If you want to add friends from your Address Book, you can tap Add from Contacts. They will double check that you want to upload your Contacts to find your friends. You can also connect to Facebook to add your Facebook friends if you want to. If you want to add friends from Snapchat, you can tap Add from Snapchat to share your Profile Link to your Snap Story.
How do I go on Houseparty silently?
On iOS and Android, hold down the app icon to ‘Sneak into the House’. This allows users to open and use Houseparty without alerting their contacts. Additionally, if you are on mobile you can update your preferences to say “never send notification when I open houseparty” if you wish.
How do I report bullying on Houseparty?
To report this person, tap their name, then tap the “Friends” button and choose “Report” for “Report or Block”.
You can also remove them as a friend by tapping the “Unfriend” button. Remember you can always lock your party to keep out unwanted guests, until you or someone else in the room unlocks it.
Fortnite Mode
Fortnite Mode lets you cast your party into Fortnite so you can bring your friends with you while you play. You opt in to this feature by linking your Houseparty and Epic Games accounts on the Houseparty app.
Lock Room
If you want to limit access to a room you’re in, you can lock it using the lock button screen. You or anyone in your Houseparty room can unlock the room at any time.You can also turn on Private Mode in your settings to automatically lock all rooms. You or anyone in your Houseparty room have to approve friends before they can join a locked room.
Interactive Features of the Houseparty App:
1. Instant video chat with contacts
The benefit: Houseparty draws on your personal contact lists (from your phone as well as from Facebook and Snapchat) to help you create a network of friends on the app.
The app then tells you who is online and who has been online recently. If one of your friends is on at the same time as you, hit the “join” button next to their name to be connected to them right away.
The downside: Because network contacts can start conversations instantaneously, make sure you are ready to be seen when you are using the app: You could be dragged into a conversation at any time.
If you have a lot of contacts, you may want to be discerning about which ones you put on your friend list; you could limit it, for example, to people you really would not mind seeing anytime.
2. Spontaneous group hangouts
The advantage: Houseparty allows groups of up to eight people to chat at once.
But relative to other apps like Zoom, it has a casual, spontaneous feel.
You do not need to plan anything in advance or send anyone an invitation; you can instantly join any open group that contains at least one person you are networked with.
That makes it a good way to broaden your social circle, like going to a physical party with one friend you know.
The downside: You may not want people you do not know intruding into your chat time with friends.
To control that, you can use the lock button at the bottom of the screen to close the group off.
3. Alerts when contacts are online
The advantage: If a friend you want to talk to is not using the app now, you can hit the hand-wave icon next to their name to let them know you are around; they will get an alert on their phone and have the option to join you or not.
The app also sends you alerts by itself to let you know when contacts of yours have joined the app or when friends of yours are using it.
The downside: If you have a lot of networked profiles and/or contacts, you will be getting a lot of alerts about them.
To manage this, hit the smiley-face icon on the upper left of the main screen.
That will give you the option to turn off notifications completely or to mute them for individual friends.
Also, if you are not truly in the mood to chat but just want to see who is online, you can use the app without anyone knowing by pressing the app’s icon on your phone a little longer than usual and hitting the “Sneak into the House” option.
4. Games with contacts
The benefit: One of the features that users enjoy most on the app is the availability of simple games to play during chat sessions (check out our list of the five best Houseparty apps if you are looking for inspiration).
When you click on the dice on the upper right if your screen, you there are four options: a trivia challenge and games that are essentially versions of Pictionary, Heads Up! and Apples to Apples. ( Pictionary game is fun.)
If you are looking to pass a little time with your pals, these can be a major plus.
The downside: The games themselves are not as well developed as they could be after a few rounds, you will be getting an annoyingly large number of repeat questions and clues.
Given the app’s ubiquity, one hopes that its developers will expand on this aspect of the experience soon, since it is one of the app’s major draws.
5. Effortless recording
The benefit: If someone you want to chat with does not happen to be around, Houseparty makes it easy to record and send them a brief video message—and get an alert when they read it.
Also, the app makes it easy to record your chat sessions by hitting the ellipsis on the bottom left of the screen.
The downside: Houseparty does not alert you if someone else is recording your conversation, so be careful if you are chatting with someone you do not trust—which is good advice in all situations.
Houseparty in Singapore
If you profess pulling through Circuit Breaker without hearing about the Houseparty app, it is hard to fathom.
Houseparty is the latest Yahoo chat room, only hipper, enabled with video and games.
Currently, it is the one face-to-face social networking app where all the hip people are chilling together.
It is where virtually everyone is chilling together right now. Get your friends to download the app while we are under lockdown.
It is like Zoom but more entertaining.
With Houseparty, you can video call to connect with contacts, and play online games together, like Houseparty’s virtual version of Pictionary or charades.
Sample costs of Houseparty App:
Price: Free
In-App Purchase: Yes
Operating Systems: Android and iOS
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