Multi

Short answer: Multi is dead. The Mac multiplayer screen-share app shut down on July 24, 2024, exactly 30 days after OpenAI announced an acquihire on June 24, 2024. The domain multi.app now redirects to openai.com, sign-in is gone, and the whole team ships collaboration inside ChatGPT and Canvas. If you loved Multi, Tuple is the closest Mac drop-in for pair programming, and Pop or Around cover cross-platform casual co-screen. Read on for the timeline, the reason OpenAI bought it, and the exact migration path.

Multi at a glance: what it was, what killed it

Multi (formerly Remotion) launched publicly in the Y Combinator Winter 2023 batch after two years of stealth. It was a Mac-only, multiplayer screen-share app built for small remote engineering and design pairs — think Zoom, but every participant gets a real cursor, keyboard access, and low-latency control on the host's screen. Founders Alexander Embiricos (ex-Dropbox, ran video + messaging), Charley Ho (ex-Google), Hedwig Hüls (ex-Nokia), and Jonathan Cortiñas (ex-Facebook) obsessed over sub-100 ms input latency, native macOS window compositing, and "instant hop-in" audio.

It worked. Multi built a passionate niche among pair programmers, design duos, and small YC-stage startups. Then, on June 24, 2024, OpenAI announced the acquihire. Thirty days later, on July 24, 2024, the product shut down.

This was not a failure. Multi was a working, revenue-generating product with high NPS. It was a talent acquisition — OpenAI wanted the team's multiplayer, low-latency, native-app expertise to build collaboration into ChatGPT itself. Running a separate Mac app was incompatible with that focus.

Why OpenAI bought Multi (and why the product had to die)

OpenAI's 2024 collaboration surface was thin — no real-time multi-user editing inside ChatGPT. Multi's team had solved the hard parts: presence, cursor sync, low-latency screen streaming, macOS system integration, and multi-user permission models.

Buying the team let OpenAI ship Canvas, tasks, and multi-user projects far faster than hiring open-market. The tradeoff was inevitable: Multi Inc. could not remain a going concern while its entire engineering bench worked on a competing collaboration surface at OpenAI. Shutting down was cleaner than a slow zombie.

The 30-day shutdown: what users experienced

• June 24, 2024 — OpenAI + Multi published joint announcements. All new signups were disabled.
• July 1, 2024 — Team messaged existing users with export instructions and refund policy.
• July 24, 2024 — Sign-in disabled, servers turned off, multi.app redirected to openai.com.
• Automatic pro-rated refunds shipped to every prepaid annual subscriber within 14 days.
• No data export was possible from the app itself — Multi did not store persistent documents. Sessions were ephemeral.

If you are still holding onto the Multi Mac binary today, it will not launch — the client requires a live handshake with the shutdown servers.

The best Multi alternatives in 2026

Multi filled three overlapping jobs: pair programming, casual co-screen, and async walkthroughs. No single tool does all three, so match your primary job to the best pick.

• Tuple is the closest one-to-one replacement for Multi's pair-programming use case. Mac-first, low-latency multiplayer input, drawing overlay, and a permission model designed for two-person deep work.
• Pop wins on cross-platform casual co-screen — macOS and Windows, multiple cursors, one-click session start.
• Around is the pick when you want video-forward hangouts with a floating-heads UI that stays out of your code.
• Tandem is closest to Multi's original "hop into a room" energy — persistent voice rooms with click-to-join.
• Loom covers async video walkthroughs — no live session, just record, share, and let teammates comment.
• Zoom Team Chat is the "you already pay for it" pick. Not multiplayer, but screen share plus in-meeting chat is fine for many pair sessions.

For a deeper ranked list with feature matrix and decision tree, see our best tools like Multi in 2026 guide.

Migration playbook: from Multi to your next stack (in a weekend)

1. Pick your primary job. Pair programming? Tuple. Casual co-screen? Pop. Async? Loom. Do not try to replace all three with one tool.
2. Trial two candidates for 5 days each. Give your team the same real task and measure input latency, audio quality, and time-to-first-cursor.
3. Standardize a "hop in" URL. Multi's magic was one-click join. Your new tool should have the same — bookmark a shared room or channel.
4. Rebuild your session rituals. Daily standup, ad-hoc bug pairing, and design review each want a saved room or template.
5. Cancel any lingering Multi charges. Refunds were automatic in 2024, but audit your card statements to be sure.
6. Document the new workflow in a shared doc so new hires know which tool to open for which job.
7. Follow the AI Tool Graveyard shutdown feed so the next acquihire does not catch your team flat-footed.

Multi vs the broader "acquihire graveyard"

Multi is a clean example of the AI acquihire pattern: buy the team, sunset the product, absorb the IP. Related cases: Adept AI (Amazon), Inflection AI (Microsoft), Character.AI (Google), and Humane AI Pin (HP). See the July 2026 trend report for the full wave.

Frequently asked questions about Multi

Is Multi still available in 2026?

No. Multi (multi.app) shut down on July 24, 2024, exactly 30 days after OpenAI's acquihire announcement. The domain multi.app now redirects to openai.com and there is no way to sign in, download, or restore the app.

Why did OpenAI acquire Multi?

OpenAI acquired Multi for the team, not the product. The Multi founders and engineers had spent years building low-latency, multiplayer screen collaboration on macOS — exactly the skill set OpenAI needed to build collaborative editing into ChatGPT, Canvas, and future agentic surfaces.

Who founded Multi?

Multi was co-founded by Alexander Embiricos (ex-Dropbox), Charley Ho (ex-Google), Hedwig Hüls (ex-Nokia), and Jonathan Cortiñas (ex-Facebook). Alexander had led product for Dropbox's video and messaging apps before starting Remotion in 2020, which later rebranded to Multi.

What is the best drop-in replacement for Multi?

For Mac-first pair programming with low-latency multiplayer control, Tuple is the closest one-to-one replacement. For casual co-screen sessions across macOS, Windows, and Linux, Pop or Around fit better. For always-on team rooms, use Tandem.

Did Multi users get refunds?

Yes. Multi issued automatic pro-rated refunds for all prepaid annual subscriptions when it shut down on July 24, 2024. Users had a 30-day window between the June 24 announcement and the shutdown to export any content and cancel.

What happened to the Multi team?

The entire Multi team joined OpenAI to work on collaboration features inside ChatGPT. Alexander Embiricos and the founding engineers moved to San Francisco and now work on multiplayer editing, Canvas, and real-time agent collaboration surfaces.

Is there a Windows or Linux version of Multi?

No. Multi was Mac-only for its entire product life (2020–2024). If you need cross-platform multiplayer screen share, Pop and Around both run on macOS and Windows, and Around has a Linux beta.

Can I self-host or recover Multi?

No. Multi was a closed-source, server-dependent SaaS app that used OpenAI-hosted collaboration infrastructure. When the servers turned off on July 24, 2024, the client app stopped working. There is no self-host, no fork, and no way to bring it back.

Sources

• OpenAI — Multi team joins OpenAI (June 24, 2024)
• Y Combinator company directory — Multi
• OpenAI Canvas launch
• Internal: best tools like Multi, what happened, why it failed