Software & Apps Apps The 13 Best Free Movie Download Apps for Android Watch what you want wherever you roam by Lisa Mildon Lifewire Tech Review Board Member & Writer Lisa Mildon is a Lifewire writer and an IT professional with 30 years of experience. Her writing has appeared in Geekisphere and other publications. our editorial process Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Lisa Mildon Updated on September 29, 2020 reviewed by Ryan Perian Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Ryan Perian is a certified IT specialist who holds numerous IT certifications and has 12+ years' experience working in the IT industry support and management positions. our review board Article reviewed on Apr 05, 2020 Ryan Perian Apps Best Apps Payment Services Tweet Share Email Whether you’re stuck in your office eating lunch or trying to pass the time on a rainy day, watching movies from your phone is a great way to keep yourself entertained. If you’re an Android smartphone user, you’ll see a multitude of different movie apps out there, but which ones are the best? Here are 13 of the best free movie download apps for Android. 01 of 13 Most Popular and Established App: YouTube What We Like Longevity has provided thousands of options. Familiar and easy interface. Video replay rarely lags. What We Don't Like Too much digging for full-length movies. Costly subscription for ad-free viewing. Our Review of YouTube Most of us have heard of YouTube, so this one shouldn’t be a surprise. YouTube now has a paid premium service called YouTube Premium that provides ad-free viewing on regular YouTube plus access to their original programming. However, with some determination and good searching skills, you can find just about anything to watch. Just be aware that YouTube is diligent in policing pirated content. Download YouTube 02 of 13 Largest Add-ons and Customization Options: Kodi What We Like Thousands of movies and TV programs. Easy to use interface. What We Don't Like Potential piracy and scams from 3rd party add-ons. While Kodi itself is merely an interface that requires additional add-ons for movies and TV, it's still one of the most popular apps for viewing streaming content. The beauty of Kodi is the options for video streaming are nearly endless. The main thing to watch for is add-ons with pirated content. If you choose to use one of these add-ons, make sure you use some sort of VPN for your protection. Download Kodi 03 of 13 Best Rotten Tomato Reviews Integration: Tubi What We Like Thousands of movies. Dozens of categories. "Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes Category" and other specialized categories. Some British programming. Free, with ad support. What We Don't Like Doesn’t have recently released films and programs. Ads can get annoying. Founded in 2014, Tubi is a completely free movie streaming service that's supported by ads and has thousands of titles from both the cinema and TV. To help locate the right thing to watch, Tubi has dozens of different categories including a handy “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes” category if you follow the movie ratings there. If you’re like most households and have various technologies you use, Tubi will surely delight as it's supported not only on Android but on iOS, Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, on the web, and others. Download Tubi 04 of 13 Easiest App for Customization: Pluto TV What We Like Program viewing grid. Customizable channel favorites. Live streaming. What We Don't Like Quite a few ads during movies. Not available worldwide. This app is a channel-based app with over 100 channels for anyone’s taste, including new movies and sports channels. Its interface looks like the familiar TV programming grid we’re all used to, which makes finding streaming programs easier. Signing up provides the ability to customize your channels. Pluto TV is a bit unique as it has both live streaming and on-demand programming. Download Pluto TV 05 of 13 Best App for Movie Suggestions: Sony Crackle What We Like The app is free. Can rate the movies you’ve watched. Gives other movie suggestions related to the movies you’ve watched. What We Don't Like The ads can be annoying and intrusive. A clean movie and TV app from Sony, Crackle provides a simple interface with tons of movies and television programs. Since the service is free, there are, of course, ads. At times, they can get annoying, but the quality of licensed content from mainstream media companies certainly makes it a contender. As with several of the best movie apps, Crackle comes on many platforms besides Android. A couple of nice features include the ability to rate movies with a thumbs up/down and other programming suggestions. Depending on what you're looking at, Crackle will give the user other viewing ideas. Download Crackle 06 of 13 Best App for New Releases: ShowBox What We Like Lots of current movies and TV shows. Intuitive interface. Built-in entertainment newsfeed. Viewable trailers. What We Don't Like Not available to download from Google Play Store. Possibility of malware in downloads. Site goes down frequently. ShowBox is one of the most popular movie apps for Android. It has both paid and free content numbering in the thousands. However, some argue some of these sources aren’t entirely legal, so tread with caution. Because of these possible issues, Google Play doesn’t host this application, so you’ll have to enable third-party downloads to get this gem onto your Android device. The main thing to be wary of is where you download the app. Some sites that host this app may contain malicious software, so viewer beware. Download ShowBox 07 of 13 Best Family-Friendly App: Dove Channel What We Like A large number of titles for free. Family friendly, wholesome entertainment. Simple movie rating system. Easy to use interface. Available on multiple platforms. What We Don't Like Have to sign up even for free stuff. The app has ads unless you pay for a membership. For full access to programming, you must pay a monthly subscription fee. For family-friendly viewing, you can’t go wrong with the Dove Channel. Founded in 2015, this Christian-based programming provides hours of movie entertainment for all family members. They even have their own rating system based on age appropriateness (All ages, 12+, and 18+). The app is simple to navigate and also has a web version for those that want to stream on their computers. They even have the channel on Roku if you have a Roku receiver. While they do have a paid membership, which gives you full access to all programming, exclusive content, and removes ads, there are a ton of movies available for free. Download Dove Channel 08 of 13 Best Classic Films App: Old Movies What We Like Nice selection of classic films. Can remove ads without paying. Plenty of categories to choose from. Can do an open text search for titles. What We Don't Like Not as large of a selection as other non-classic movie apps. The website doesn’t provide much information or support. If you’re into classic movies, then Old Movies is your Android movie app, as it offers hundreds of movies made before 1970. While this app has ads, you can remove them by giving the app a good rating. Most of the available movies aren’t mainstream favorites, but there are tons of good ones for hours of free entertainment. Download Old Movies 09 of 13 Best Anime App: Crunchyroll What We Like Thousands of anime episodes. Can create a queue for your viewing list. Has a viewing history. Does not require a paid subscription. Available on Android, iOS, Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation. What We Don't Like The most recent update has been hanging up on Android devices on occasion. If you’re a fan of anime, Crunchyroll is a must-have app for your Android device. The developer promises over 25,000 episodes and more than 15,000 hours of the latest anime available. If you choose to subscribe to their premium services, you'll have access to the newest anime episodes immediately after they're aired in Japan. Download Crunchyroll 10 of 13 Best Documentaries and Intellectual Viewing: CuriosityStream What We Like Available on numerous formats. Handy watchlist to save programs. The Collections allow you to find series of programs easily. What We Don't Like For the full library, you must subscribe. For those that love to be mentally stimulated while also being entertained, CuriosityStream is perhaps the best place to start watching. While the free viewing library isn’t very large, the paid plan is fairly inexpensive. The app is available on quite a few platforms besides Android and is even available on several smart TVs. The app itself has several categories to find just the topic you want to watch about. It also has a customizable watchlist so you can save programs you’d like to watch later. Download CuriosityStream 11 of 13 Best Choice for Students: Kanopy What We Like Free for university students and some public library users. What We Don't Like Only available in a few countries. Requires authentication through university or library. A unique entry for university students, Kanopy only requires your university and login credentials for authentication and to stream for free. Participating public libraries also provide free access. Not only are there hundreds of documentaries and other educational videos, but they also have quite a bit of mainstream programming. Download Kanopy 12 of 13 Best App for Indie Lovers: PopcornFlix What We Like Focus on indie movies and international films. Discover option to help find new movies to view. What We Don't Like The free app is supported by ads. Our Review of PopcornFlix Another free movie app that has a great selection of independent movies is PopcornFlix. Supported by ads, this app also has a fair amount of international films. It's also available on multiple platforms and has a kids version with social media sharing and commentary. Download PopcornFlix 13 of 13 Best App for Independent and Short Stories: Vimeo What We Like Free to join. Lots of creative videos to stream. No in-video ads. Ability to download videos. Can follow video creators. What We Don't Like No commercially made movies. Often seen as YouTube’s little brother, Vimeo hosts more than just homebrewed videos your buddies made. For the adventurous, there's quite a collection of unique film shorts and art films, and it’s a great place to find budding directors/movie makers. Like YouTube, you can also upload your own videos, although Vimeo is more for the professional trying to break into the business. Download Vimeo Was this page helpful? 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