Frequently asked questions

A “power hour” is traditionally a social drinking game. You take a small drink every time the song changes - often sixty, one-minute clips played back to back for a full hour. Power Hour App lets you build your own version with any songs and any interval you like.

No. Drinking is absolutely not required. Plenty of people use power hours purely as custom music and video playlists - great for parties, workouts, road trips, study breaks - with no alcohol involved at all. Use it however works for you.

My wife and I both discovered this activity separately during college, and we still like to unwind after a long week listening to these. It can also be a fun party game where you let friends choose a subset of songs, and during play everyone else tries to guess who chose what song!

We wanted a quicker and easier way to build power hours across all devices, and this app was built to achieve that goal. If nothing else, we’ll be using it =D

Building one takes just a few minutes:

1. Tap Create to start a new power hour.
2. Search YouTube for a song and pick the clip you want. Set where it starts and ends so it jumps straight to the good part.
3. Repeat until your playlist is as long as you want.
4. Set the interval between songs.
5. Hit play. Creating is free; sign in first if you’d like to save it and replay it later.

Yes. The classic power hour changes songs every minute, but you can set whatever interval you like. Shorter for a faster, more chaotic round, or longer if you want more of each song.

Your power hour plays in a web browser, so anything that gets a browser onto your TV will work. The most reliable options:

• HDMI cable (most reliable). Plug a laptop into the TV with an HDMI cable, open power-hour.app in your browser, start your power hour, and go fullscreen. No wireless hiccups.
• Chromecast / Google TV. In desktop Chrome, click the three-dot menu and choose Cast…, then pick your Chromecast and start your power hour.
• AirPlay from iPhone or iPad to Apple TV.The in-video AirPlay button isn’t available on embedded YouTube players, so use iOS Screen Mirroring instead:
  1. Make sure your iPad/iPhone and Apple TV are on the same Wi-Fi network.
  2. Open Control Center: swipe down from the top-right corner (iPad / newer iPhones) or up from the bottom (older iPhones).
  3. Tap Screen Mirroring (the two overlapping rectangles icon) and choose your Apple TV from the list.
  4. Come back to power-hour.app and start your power hour. The whole screen mirrors, so tap the fullscreen button in the player for the biggest picture.
• Game console or TV browser. Consoles or TVs that include a full browser should work in theory. If you are doing this, there is probably a better way (see above).

Yes. Power Hour App runs in any modern web browser, so it works on phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops. For the big screen, see the TV question above.

No. The web app you are on currently works great on all devices. Give it a try!

If you want a more traditional, app-like experience, you can install it to your home screen. On Android or desktop Chrome, open the browser menu and choose Install (or Add to Home Screen). On an iPhone or iPad, tap the Share button in Safari, then Add to Home Screen. It opens full screen with its own icon, just like a native app.

No. You can build and play a power hour for free without signing up. Create an account when you want to save a power hour and come back to it later, or play it on another device. You can also share power hours with friends easily once you have an account (and they do not need an account to view it).

You build your playlist from YouTube videos. Search for a video, pick the clip you want, and set where it starts and ends.

Make it as short or as long as you like, from a handful of songs to a classic full-length hour. The cap is 65 songs, in case you want to add bonus tracks.