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New Chrome extension hides your Netflix binging as Hangouts Meet call

It’s the Monday after a long weekend and you might not want to get back to work just yet. Thanks to a new Chrome extension you can procrastinate a while longer and finish up Stranger Things 3 or any other Netflix show while on your important, do not disturb “Hangouts Meet” call.

Released over the weekend, “Netflix Hangouts” lets you binge shows on the streaming service, but mask it in a Hangouts Meet window. With this Chrome extension, whatever you’re watching becomes the bottom-right corner stream of an imaginary conference call. The other three main streams feature generic people talking and gesturing, while there is even a feed for yourself in the top-right.

The show or movie is considerably shrunken down, but it’s a small price to pay for the ability to get in some “work” while at the office. All the Netflix controls are present, including play/pause, rewind/forward, skip, next episode, and the season browser.

The Netflix fullscreen button in this mode will expand the faux Hangouts Meet interface. Subtitles still appear, though are greatly minimized and harder to read depending on your screen size.

This is a one-for-one copy of Hangouts Meet, down to the bottom control bar with buttons for muting, cutting video, and ending the call. There’s even “Present now,” though tapping anywhere besides the Netflix window will not do anything.

The tool is enabled by tapping a red version of the Hangouts icon at the right of your address bar. Switching occurs instantly, but leaving the Chrome extension will reload your Netflix stream.

Netflix Hangouts is available now on the Chrome Web Store. It does use the Netflix logo and Hangouts icon, so it could always be removed in the future. At installation, you have to grant the ability to “Read and change your data on all netflix.com sites.”

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