How To Use Houseparty: Everything To Know About The Group Video ...

You can still "sneak into the house," though

Don't want to send alert your friends that you're online? Simply hold down on your app or notification and opt for the "sneak into the house" option that appears.

Or, you can go ahead and update your settings to ghost either all your contacts or specific ones, so they'll no longer receive updates when you're in the house. Just hit the face icon in the top lefthand corner of your main screen and select "manage notifications." Turn off "send out my notifications" to ghost everyone or ghost specific people.

Don't want notifications from your friends?

You can also mute notifications to avoid an alert every time a friend hops on the app. In the same notification center you can turn off "get my friends' notifications" and those incessant "in the house" alerts will stop.

What is "passing a note" mean?

Houseparty has a sneaky little feature that allows you to send private messages to individual friends. Just tap on their profile icon or name, and shoot over whatever gossip you've got to discuss away from everyone else.

How to access Houseparty's library of games

The app's collection of games makes virtual game night a reality while social distancing. When you're on a call, simply hit the dice icon and you'll have options to choose from, including Heads up!, trivia, quick draw, or chips and guac.

What's a facemail?

Facemail is like a voicemail... just with your face in it. The app allows you to record a video message if your friends aren't around to chat IRL. Hit the dots in the bottom lefthand corner of your screen and select record Facemail, then do your thing.

Is Houseparty safe?

Recent reports suggested a Houseparty hack allowed culprits to access users' Spotify and Netflix accounts. Houseparty strongly denied that any such breach occurred and the company offered a $1 million reward to anyone that could prove its theory that the news was part of a "paid commercial smear to harm Houseparty."

But that's not to say you shouldn't be aware of some privacy issues. According to TechCrunch, the company is able to collect your data while using the platform. However, the company maintains that it is a "secure" service.

"There have been no data breaches and no exposure of customer data or third-party accounts," Houseparty said in an official statement on its site. "Immediately upon hearing these false reports, we assembled an internal team who worked alongside external experts to investigate. We determined these claims were not true."