The 9 Best Free Movie Apps to Watch Movies Online

The age of streaming is upon us. In the move from cinema and cable TV to the internet, a handful of paid movie streaming apps—such as Netflix and Hulu—have become extremely popular.

However, there are a lot of free movie apps that will let you watch and download movies. All for free, and all legally. So, without further ado, here are the best free movie apps available.

1. Tubi TV

Tubi TV has a catalog of free movies, neatly sorted into categories by genre, like horror, romance, and comedy. You can also browse through featured and most popular movies. As far as the movies go, they’re high quality, and the movie player works smoothly.

As a bonus, all of the films have subtitles available. Logging in will give you the option to add movies to your queue, which is accessible across devices, and even on the web version of Tubi TV. You also get an option for screencasting.

2. Popcornflix

Popcornflix is a free movie app that offers a great collection of movies. The app presents you with a wall of free movies, sorted by categories, with the new arrivals shown right on top.

Popcornflix also has exclusive content, called Popcornflix Originals. The movies are of good quality, and streaming works smoothly. The movie player can be a tad overwhelming but is feature-rich and smooth. Popcornflix will also let you stream TV series for free.

3. Yidio

Yidio is a very convenient source for you to find movies. This free movie app comes with a twist: most of its free movies are not on the app itself. Yidio will point you to a lot of other free movie apps, which you can use to watch movies online for free.

The catalog is gigantic, given that Yidio aggregates content from a lot of other free movie apps. The only issue is that there are quite a lot of paid movies and subscription movie apps listed. However, Yidio lets you manage movies very efficiently, which means that with some tweaking, you can find thousands of free movies.

Download: Yidio on Android | iOS | Amazon Kindle Fire (Free, subscription available)

4. Sony Crackle

Sony Pictures is a big name in the film industry, and when it comes to watching free movies online, Sony Crackle lives up to its reputation. Sony Crackle has one of the best collection of free movies out there, with a mix of old classics and new hit movies.

The movie player works smoothly and is easy to use. The free movies are ad-supported, so you have to watch a few ads. However, the ads are not too intrusive and seem like a fair price to pay for the kind of content Sony Crackle provides. Crackle also lets you watch TV shows online for free.

Sony Crackle also has a website, which is among our picks for the best free movie streaming sites.

5. SnagFilms

SnagFilms is a great free movie app for indie movies and documentaries. The catalog consists of a great selection of critically acclaimed independent movies. The movie player is simple, and most of the free movies are of a high quality.

Like most free movie apps, SnagFilms is ad-supported. However, the ads are not too intrusive or frequent. SnagFilms’ catalog focuses on classics and indie films, so don’t expect the latest releases.

6. Pluto TV

Pluto TV is one of the most feature-rich free movie apps on this list. It has a simple user interface, despite packing in so many features. When you open the app you’re greeted with Pluto’s free TV channels, with a dedicated tab for free movies and TV shows.

There are also live channels on which you can watch free movies as they play, and a range of other free TV channels with a variety of other content. The movie player is nice and clean, with subtitles available for most free movies. You can sign in to customize Pluto TV to your needs.

7. Vudu

Vudu (what is Vudu and how does it work?) has a great collection of ad-supported free movies. The catalog is one of the biggest for any free movie app, and new movies are added regularly. You can choose to watch free movies in your preferred choice of quality.

Vudu lets you browse its catalog immediately, but you have to sign in order to watch movies. While Vudu has a focus on their rentals, you can select the “Free” tab to see the collection of free movies. The free movies are easy to spot otherwise, as well, having the “Free with Ads” label on them.

8. FilmRise

FilmRise offers a free movie and TV app experience that lets you jump in right away with limited ad interruption. Like most movie apps, you can scroll through a category-heavy homescreen at launch. If you want to explore another way, the browse button allows you to filter between movies, TV, and recently added titles directly.

The search feature also offers an in-built trending list, so you can see what others are watching. While browsing, you can also select any title and add it to a watchlist for later. The only downside is that its catalog is mostly filled with older movies, with the occasional newer title thrown into the mix.

Download: FilmRise on Android | iOS | Roku | Amazon Kindle Fire | Xbox One/Windows (Free)

9. Plex

Plex is a free movie app that works on almost any media device. If you own it, you can use Plex on it. On top of offering free movies and TV, you can also stream web shows, news, and podcasts.

The only obvious downside to Plex comes in the mandatory account linking before you can start streaming. Plex offers a very basic search engine, so you need to try different titles to see what you like. To help encourage exploration, this free movie app also remembers where you left off on multiple titles, so you can easily continue watching.

Some Free Movie Apps Are Region Limited

It’s important to remember that when it comes to movies, copyright is a big concern. This means that the apps in this list are available in a limited number of countries.

If one of these free movie apps is not available in your country, you might want to consider using a VPN, rather than sideloading apps from unreliable sources.

On the other hand, if you would rather download a movie rather than streaming it, check out our guide detailing how to legally download movies for offline viewing.

Read the full article: The 9 Best Free Movie Apps to Watch Movies Online

MakeUseOf