12 Useful Movie And TV Apps You May Not Know About

One could argue that the golden era of streaming — where cheap, convenient, commercial-free platforms replaced stodgy old cable — is over. Netflix now keeps saying your device isn't part of the household to get you to buy an extra subscription, and other platforms like Disney+ are banning password sharing, too. Subscription prices are rising across the board, and most streaming services force you to watch ads on their cheapest tier — and good luck figuring out which service has that one show you want to watch. It's a bit of a mess, but one benefit of bringing media into the modern age is all the clever smartphone apps that help make sense of it; apps that let you get around the streaming monopoly or find recommendations you might not have found otherwise.

We're taking a look at apps that help you stream from unconventional places, provide better information about the shows you're watching, and more. Most of the apps on this list are free to use, although some require a subscription for pro features. We've aimed to include only apps with versions for both iOS and Android, though one, unfortunately, is platform-exclusive. We've also tried to cover a wide variety of needs to bring you apps you may not have heard of, but which could change the way you watch media — since media itself has already fundamentally changed.

Do you have a ton of physical or digital media and wish you could watch it with the same convenience as a streaming service? Wish no more. Plex (available on iOS and Android) lets you create your own homegrown, subscription-less Netflix with a catalog featuring only the TV shows and movies you want to watch. Now, this does require a bit of setup and some extra hardware. You'll need a Plex media server, which can be an old laptop no one's using. One of the best uses for an old PS4, for example, is as a Plex server. The server hosts all your media and streams it to your television, smartphone, tablet, or any other supported device.

There are a few caveats worth mentioning. For one, you'll be in charge of making sure the server is running, updated, and stocked with all your shows, which can require some technical know-how. Also, you'll have to pay for Plex's Remote Watch Pass ($1.99 a month or $19.99 a year) if you want your server to stream to you outside your home network. Getting access to other goodies, like downloading your shows to another device for offline viewing or skipping the intro and credits, requires the more costly Plex Pass ($6.99 a month, $69.99 a year). Still, this is the easiest way to set up your own personal streaming service, and the Plex Pass is ultimately miles cheaper than just about any streaming service out there.

In an age where we pay a subscription for almost everything, it's easy to forget there's a place in your neighborhood that gives you free movies, legally: the library. The problem, of course, is that your library only supports physical media like DVDs and Blu-rays ... right? Not quite. These days, most libraries and universities can also rent out digital licenses for content. Kanopy (available on iOS and Android) takes those digital licenses and streams them all to your device from one convenient place. These are 100% free and legal movies you can watch no differently than you would on Netflix. We took a look at Kanopy to see what kind of movies it offers and if it's actually free. Spoiler: It has a lot, and yes, it's free. It's certainly better than the limited catalog of Libgen alternatives offering free and legal ebooks.

Of course, this depends on you having a library card, and the content depends on what your local library has available. You might need to pay off some old fines to get your card, or you might have a small branch with a tiny catalog. Consider getting a card at a larger branch in your city, or asking someone you know to borrow theirs — especially if they have access to a big university library. And of course, you'll be limited by the rental period your library allows — so if you can't finish movies within a somewhat limited timeframe, this might not be for you.

Letterboxd (available on iOS and Android) answers a question you probably never asked: What if there was a social media app, but only for movies? Well, there is, and it's called Letterboxd. Without using the app, you can probably guess how it works: Instead of posting cat pictures, you're posting reviews of a movie or show you've seen, and perhaps debating its twist ending in the comments with other users. You can see each film's 5-star rating according to other users (or your friends), rather than relying on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, or another service you may not entirely trust.

The app also serves as a way to keep track of your watchlist, and the algorithm can help recommend content you haven't seen or heard of. You could use it to find like-minded people who share your passion for cinematography, or follow someone whose opinion you value (provided they have an account) and see their thoughts on the latest release. Who knows, maybe the discussions will completely change your views on the ending of a film you love.

Naturally, this app is going to require a bit of investment on your part. If you don't have any more time to waste on social media and just want a straightforward way to find and rate films, maybe skip this one. On the flip side, if your internal critic is dying to spill some ink about that show you saw recently, then you'll be right at home. The app is free to use in either case, and includes a pro version with extra features if you're really dedicated to cinema.

It's hard to blame parents for being concerned about the sort of media kids are consuming these days. Given how pathetically unmoderated most social media is, many don't even let their kids have a TikTok account, and blocking YouTube on a child's iPad isn't a terrible idea. Common Sense Media (available on iOS and Android) is the best way to find out exactly what kind of content a movie or TV show has — and by exactly, we mean exactly. Each listing goes into exhaustive detail about every instance of violence, profanity, sexual content, or drug use — even going so far as to note instances of product placement. Conversely, Common Sense Media also highlights films with positive messages and diverse casts. They also rate books, apps, games, and podcasts.

You can find out about literally any concerning part of a film before going in, so you know exactly what to prepare for. It's great not just for parents with kids, but also for anyone who needs a better trigger warning than vague mentions of adult content. If you've experienced a traumatic incident that you'd rather not relive, this could make your life a lot less stressful by letting you go into a film with eyes wide open. Common Sense Media has been making these reviews on its website for years, so this just condenses that service into a smartphone app. The app does feature a subscription ($3.99 a month or $39.99 a year) if you want access to things like Ultimate Guides, unlimited reviews, and recommendations.

Another thing that streaming more or less changed was the release schedule for TV shows. With Netflix, an entire new season releases all at once, which is what led to the concept of binge watching; pre-Netflix, finishing a new season on release day was simply unheard of. That said, there are still streaming services (like Max and Apple TV+) that carry the torch of releasing new episodes on a weekly schedule, just like the good old days. Since it isn't 2005 anymore and you don't need to program show recordings into your DVR, there's an app to help you out. TV Time (available on iOS and Android) tells you when the next episode of your favorite show comes out. It's probably a lot more helpful to get a push notification when a new episode is available than to get a million push notifications from your streaming apps.

While at its core this is basically just a glorified calendar in app form, it also keeps track of everything you're currently watching — so you can decide how to juggle new releases with shows that aren't tied to a release window. There's also some functionality for recommending new shows based on what the algorithm thinks you might like. Best of all, TV Time is free and doesn't charge a subscription to use its core features.

Speaking of keeping track of your shows, no app we've mentioned so far focuses solely on that: Making a simple, centralized watchlist, complete with info on where to watch your media, reviews, and minus any unnecessary frills like social media. Movie Tracker does all that. The app makes it dead simple to organize your watchlist into categories — family movie night, shows for when you're feeling blue, shows you watch with your partner, etcetera — and tells you where to find a particular show, plus reviews to eyeball the general reception for the film.

Perhaps best of all is that Movie Tracker is privacy-focused, so there's no creepy company in the background gathering your data for purposes unknown. That is, however, where we get our first asterisk: The app is not free. After the trial period, users pay $1.49 a month, $10.99 a year, or $34.99 for lifetime usage. It's cheap, as far as subscriptions go, but not free as most people would hope.

Second, this app is exclusive to Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, and Mac). Having said that, this is what allows the app to be so privacy-centric, since it syncs through iCloud rather than calling home to proprietary servers. Being Apple-only also means the app can be "deeply integrated" into your Apple ecosystem.

Hollywood may be dying as far as cinema goes, but nothing beats the experience of the big screen with popcorn and drinks — and nothing is more tedious than waiting in line at the box office when the movie starts in 10 minutes. Fandango (available on iOS and Android) is your one-stop shop for buying tickets at your local movie theater. From one app, you can see reviews, which theaters are showing it, and what times. You can even buy tickets for movies that haven't come out yet, well in advance, making it much easier to plan movie outings with the family.

All of this is great, but there are some things worth mentioning. Number one, this is not the cheapest way to get tickets. Fandango has to make its money somehow, and it does so by slapping on a "convenience fee" to the ticket. You're flat-out paying for the convenience, so you might want to limit when you use Fandango. As an alternative, you can try Atom (available on iOS and Android), which has the added benefit of pre-purchasing concessions and may, in some cases, have a cheaper convenience fee compared to Fandango.

Recommendation algorithms are everywhere, especially for movies. Every time you watch a show on Netflix, for example, you see a series of recommendations beneath it. Still, not many apps focus just on that minus the extra, unwanted bells and whistles. If you're not happy with the recommendations you've gotten elsewhere, you might try Likewise (available on iOS and Android). Either let the app learn your tastes by adding movies and shows you already like to your list, or get crowd-sourced recommendations. You might find more curated recs from people who like a specific film or genre.

Beyond recommendations, the app also allows you to filter movies and shows by your preferred criteria and find out where they're being streamed. You can ask for recommendations from film buffs whose tastes better align with yours, too. The app has some basic social functionality so you and your friends can combine forces to find stuff to watch. If nothing else, you can take any recommendations you find and add them to a list to watch later.

These days, retro gadgets are making a high-tech comeback, dumb phones are growing in popularity, and people are reconsidering buying an old-school iPod over a smartphone streaming subscription. If you love the tactile experience of inserting a DVD — enough that building an at-home streaming service with Plex doesn't appeal to you — then you'll probably like the iCollect Movies app (available on iOS and Android). Part of the iCollect Everything database, which covers everything from books to trading cards, the iCollect Movies app helps you build a digital database of all the physical media you own.

To be clear, this is not a way to digitally watch your collection, it's about creating the most detailed catalog possible of what you own — BluRay or DVD, director's cut edition, release year, aspect ratio, you get the picture. The app syncs your collection online across your devices, including macOS and Windows.

Do keep in mind that this app is free only to an extent. To add an unlimited number of movies, you'll need to pay $29.99, and there's a pro user subscription for $49.99 a year. Frustratingly, the app requires you to pay for both (the $29.99 for unlimited movies and the $49.99 Pro subscription) to use the desktop apps.

Several of these apps incorporate a feature to find out which streaming service you can watch something on, but none of them do that, and only that. JustWatch (available on iOS and Android) does. For example, say you want to watch "The Office," a show historically plagued by being broken up across multiple streaming services for no good reason. Hit search, and JustWatch tells you that all nine seasons are available (at the time of writing) on Prime Video and Max.

In addition to that, JustWatch keeps track of where a show migrates later on. As soon as "The Office" returns to Netflix, for example, you'll get a notification. It's a far better solution than constantly Googling a show you've been dying to watch, waiting for the fated day it arrives on your streaming service of choice. After all, nothing is worse than paying for multiple streaming services, hoping one of them eventually lands a licensing deal for your favorite show.

If you think watching a movie in another language with subtitles sucks, then imagine how much more it sucks if English isn't your native language and you live in the U.S., where most theaters play only in English. Anyone who speaks a second language knows that even with advanced proficiency, you may still struggle to understand what marble-mouthed, mumbling actors are saying in a film. TheaterEars (available on iOS and Android) is one of the coolest apps on this list because it uses modern technology to let a Spanish speaker watch an English-language movie in the theater, no special accommodations necessary.

The TheaterEars app downloads the movie's audio track ahead of time for you to listen to through your earbuds, relying on your phone's microphone to make sure the audio is in sync. Users get to enjoy the movie alongside friends and family at thousands of supported theaters.

It's perhaps one of the most brilliant uses of technology, ever, to facilitate comprehension — especially when you consider that 13% of the U.S. speaks Spanish, making it the second-largest population of Spanish speakers in the world after Mexico (via Forbes). An app like this was a long time coming. If that wasn't good enough already, TheaterEars is free to use. The app was made by people who had been deeply frustrated by that very dilemma of being unable to enjoy movies together at the theater.

We've mentioned Likewise already as an app for getting quick movie recommendations. If you want something even simpler and more fun, and you like the swipe-left-swipe-right interface of Tinder, then Movie Night (available on iOS and Android) is for you. If you don't like a movie, swipe left and you'll get another recommendation. If you do, swipe right and you'll get a match; unlike the real Tinder, the movie will never swipe left on you! The gamified nature of Movie Night makes for a straightforward way to get quick movie recommendations.

Better yet, the Movie Night app can be used with a group of friends that's struggling to settle on one movie. Once everyone swipes right on a title, you know you have a match that will satisfy all. Aside from that, you get the same movie information and ratings as you might in the other apps on this list, and the movies you swiped right on can be added to a watchlist for later.