The Coolest Apps for Watching Movies on Android – January 2018
Hey there! Have you been searching for the perfect apps to stream free movies on your Android device? Well, look no further! I’ve got you covered with the best options available for you in January 2018. Let’s dive right in!
First up, we have App X. With its sleek and user-friendly interface, App X provides an incredible selection of movies to satisfy all your entertainment cravings. From the latest blockbusters to timeless classics, you’ll never run out of options. Searching for your favorite movies is a breeze with their intuitive search feature, and you can even create a personalized watchlist. Talk about convenience!
Next on our list is App Y. This app takes movie streaming to a whole new level with its unique and innovative features. With App Y, you can discover movies based on your personal interests and preferences, thanks to its smart recommendation engine. Want to know what your friends are watching? App Y lets you connect with them and share your movie recommendations. It’s like having your own personal movie club right at your fingertips!
Now, let’s talk about App Z. This app is perfect if you’re a fan of independent and international films. App Z houses a vast collection of critically acclaimed movies from around the globe, giving you a chance to explore new cultures and stories. Whether you’re into thought-provoking dramas or quirky comedies, App Z has something for every movie enthusiast out there.
Last but not least, we can’t forget about App A. This app deserves a special mention for its fantastic selection of documentaries. If you’re someone who loves to learn and be inspired, App A has a treasure trove of informative and eye-opening documentaries for you to enjoy. Expand your knowledge and broaden your horizons with just a few taps on your Android device.
So, there you have it! These are the coolest apps to watch movies on your Android device in January 2018. I hope you find your perfect streaming companion and have a blast exploring the wonderful world of movies. Lights, camera, action!
We all know about the big streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. They charge you $8 to $12 every month to watch all their movies and shows. It’s not too expensive if you only have one or two, but if you want more variety, you have to pay for HBO, Showtime, and others. Pretty soon, you’re spending $80 to $90 a month just to watch stuff on your phone. And don’t forget about the cost of your internet!
But luckily, there are some free streaming apps for Android that let you watch movies for free. They make money by showing you ads while you watch. It’s not perfect, but it’s way better than paying $10.99 a month for Netflix.
We’ve tested a bunch of these apps to see which ones are good and legal. Most of them are available in the Play Store, but there are a couple of exceptions we’ll tell you about later.
So if you’re tired of paying too much for streaming services and don’t mind some ads, come with us and check out the best movie streaming apps for Android.
First up is Tubi TV. It’s available for Android.
If you’re looking for the best free streaming app for movies, with the least amount of ads and a great selection of films, you should definitely check out Tubi TV. It’s not perfect and it doesn’t have as many movies as Netflix, but considering it’s free and all the films are legally obtained, it’s hard to complain. While it may not replace your paid streaming services, it’s a nice addition to your collection of streaming apps.
Setting up Tubi TV is a breeze. Creating an account is quick and easy, and you can even log in with your Facebook. It would have been nice to have Google login support as well, but signing up with your email is smooth and hassle-free. Once you’re logged in, the app layout is similar to Netflix. At the top of the screen, you’ll find a rotating carousel of featured films, complete with screenshots. Below that, there are helpful categories to explore: Most Popular, which features some of the best films on the platform; Leaving Soon!, which shows movies that will be removed to make room for new titles; and Trending, which offers a mix of lesser-known films and cult favorites.
The app has a cool slide-out menu on the left side of the screen. It lets you easily browse different categories. There’s also a “News Feed” feature, but unfortunately, it currently just says that there are no updates. Hopefully, they’ll use it to show us upcoming films in the future.
Tubi has a ton of categories in this sliding menu. They have all the usual genres like drama, comedy, thrillers, horror, and action. You can even sort movies by “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes” or “Fan Favorites.”
One interesting category they have is “Sundance.” It features some great classic films that came out of the Sundance film festival. These movies might be a bit niche but definitely worth checking out. For example, they have “The Skeleton Twins” with Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader, “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer” which is a documentary about the Russian feminist punk-rock band, “Like Crazy,” a romantic drama starring Anton Yelchin, “The Imposter,” a critically acclaimed documentary about a man claiming to be a missing son, and “Sunshine Cleaning” with Amy Adams and Emily Blunt.
Before, the app had a category for the Cannes film festival, but now they’ve replaced it with Sundance. It makes sense since Sundance happens in the winter and Cannes in the summer. Because of this change, some movies like “Oldboy” and “Dogville” were moved to different categories. So don’t be surprised if you see these films in a different place. But it’s really cool to have access to these amazing movies for free on Tubi, with only a few commercials here and there.
But I hear you. Maybe you’re not interested in the festival films, no matter how impressed we were with them. Don’t worry, there’s something here for everyone. When I checked out the “Most Popular” category, I came across films like Empire State featuring The Rock, Nicholas Cage’s dramatic film Joe directed by David Gordon-Green, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, the original 1980s film Red Dawn which was the first film rated PG-13, Agent Cody Banks with Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff, Richard Linklater’s crowd-pleasing tribute to rock and roll School of Rock, the Coen Brothers’ western-drama True Grit, and many more. When I explored the genre sections on the side tab, I discovered even more options like Clear and Present Danger in the action category and Suspiria in the horror category. In the “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes” category, you can find films like The Machinist, Bound, and The Little Shop of Horrors.
While every category had its fair share of bad and poorly thought-out films, the weakest genre on the platform was “Family,” with only films like Igor, Imagine That, and the Fred movies based on the YouTube series from the 2000s. There were a few good films in that category, but they were rare, so there’s a limited selection for anyone looking for a film the whole family can enjoy. However, if you’re just looking for a film to entertain the kids, there are some decent colorful distractions available on the platform.
Just like Netflix, you can add films to a queue in the app. This way, you can create a list of movies to watch later. Your queue is easily accessible from the slide-out menu on the left of your screen. As for the settings, they’re not really remarkable. You can turn push notifications on or off, decide if you want the app in landscape mode, and enable captions for films. That’s about it.
Now, let’s talk about the experience of actually watching films with this app. It’s good, but not perfect. Most of the time, films start playing smoothly as expected. The playback screen is simple and neat, with a timeline to scroll through the movie, a pause/play button, and the option to choose the quality of the film based on kilobits per second (kbps). A higher kbps means better quality. By default, the streaming quality is set to automatic, and it’s decent, although not outstanding like Netflix. However, we did encounter a couple of errors before some films started playing.
When I used Tubi, a free app that is supported by ads, I encountered quite a few commercials while watching movies. The number of interruptions was similar to what you would experience with Hulu’s free streaming service: about two or three 30-second ads every twenty minutes or so. If I skipped ahead in the movie, ads would start playing immediately, just as I expected. On the whole, the ads weren’t too bothersome, but there were two issues worth mentioning. First, the ads themselves were a bit sudden and caught me off guard while I was watching the film. This was particularly noticeable during certain movies, especially those in the horror or thriller genre, where it felt like an unintended jump scare. The good news is that clicking on the video during an ad break didn’t open the advertisement in your device’s web browser, so there was no need to worry about accidentally leaving the app.
Let me break it down for you: Tubi is a fantastic option if you’re looking for something different from Netflix. It has a wide selection of favorite movies and cult classics that you’ll enjoy. Now, I won’t lie, there are some ads, but they are a lot more tolerable compared to other free streaming apps out there. One thing that really impressed me is that Tubi TV is completely legal, with support from big companies like Fox and Lionsgate. They even have representatives on the board. Plus, they keep adding new content every week, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have Tubi TV installed on your device.
About the App on Android
Tubi TV
Crackle
Android
Out of all the apps on this list, you’ve probably heard the most about Crackle. It’s directly from Sony Pictures and offers a wide range of streaming movies. It’s like Netflix or Hulu, but the quality isn’t as good. Crackle’s library isn’t as great as Tubi TV’s, but they do have a lot of TV shows and some amazing titles if you’re willing to do some digging.
Unlike Tubi, you don’t need an account to start browsing and watching content on Crackle. You can either log in with a regular Crackle account or use your Facebook account, but you can’t use Google login. You don’t need an account to use the service, but it’s necessary if you want to watch movies that are restricted by age, and to create watchlists.
When you open the app for the first time, you’ll see a cleaner layout for finding content. The top of the screen has a rotating carousel of highlighted content, but I found most of it to be a waste. Unless you’re a big fan of the four Scorpion King movies, you won’t find much here.
When you scroll down below the carousel, you’ll find a much longer list of Crackle’s best content, based on their own popularity ratings. There are a few popular movies here, like “Annabelle” and “The Shining,” which are both great films in their own right. And if you’re in the mood for some campy fun, “Army of Darkness” from director Sam Raimi is a blast. However, it’s worth noting that some shows, like “Seinfeld,” have been removed from the network since the article was first published. Even so, you can still find a decent amount of TV series on Crackle. For example, you can binge-watch full seasons of “Happy Endings,” or watch all four seasons of “Heroes” and its spinoff “Heroes Reborn.”
Since we last reviewed the app, it seems like Crackle has expanded their library a bit. They now have a revised listing on their app, making it easier to find new content in the Movies and TV show tabs compared to the front page.
Once you’re inside each tab on your device, you can use the drop-down menus in each category to search for more specific types of shows and movies. For instance, if you change the Movies tab to “New to Old,” you’ll discover some fresh results, including Crackle originals like “Dead Rising Endgame” and “Joe Dirt 2.” However, unlike Tubi TV, finding worthwhile movies to watch can be challenging on Crackle. Whether you’re a casual viewer or a film buff, it took some digging to find movies that stood out among the popular titles. “The Karate Kid,” “Can’t Hardly Wait,” and Wes Anderson’s directorial debut “Bottle Rocket” were a few notable picks, along with the hit Indonesian action film “The Raid: Redemption.” Although, as of now, all of these movies are just under a week away from expiring.
The more you explore Crackle’s lineup and genre list, the more hidden gems you’ll uncover. Movies like “Stand By Me,” “Last Action Hero,” and “Insidious” can be found in separate categories. However, when compared to Tubi TV, there’s a smaller selection of truly worth-watching films on Crackle, especially if you’re hoping to catch up on classic movies you may have missed.
Well, the TV section was quite interesting, although it had its ups and downs. Just like with the aforementioned show Happy Endings, most of the TV shows on Crackle only have select episodes or seasons available for streaming. However, there are some shows that are hard to find on other platforms. I was thrilled to find that the highly underrated NewsRadio had its second season available for streaming. And of course, the beloved cult classics like Patrick Warburton’s ahead-of-its-time The Tick and endlessly quotable The Critic were also here. Unfortunately, Crackle’s habit of only showcasing certain seasons of shows made it difficult to watch or start shows I hadn’t seen before. I mean, come on! Norman Lear’s groundbreaking All in the Family is here, but they only offer season eight for streaming. And let’s not forget about The Shield, one of the most groundbreaking and important shows of the 2000s. But don’t bother trying to start it on Crackle because they only have seasons three and four available.
I gotta say, I’m really disappointed with the selection of family-friendly movies on Crackle. I mean, seriously, I went through their whole catalog for May and the only films that could pass as appropriate for a family movie night were “The Karate Kid” and maybe “Look Who’s Talking.” It’s kind of baffling to me because Sony Pictures, which owns Crackle, has its own animation division that has produced some amazing films like “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” and “Hotel Transylvania.” So why in the world haven’t they added any of these movies to the streaming lineup on Crackle? It’s a missed opportunity, if you ask me. With their animation expertise, Sony could totally give Netflix and Hulu a run for their money. I mean, the closest Crackle comes to showcasing their animated works is by streaming the trailer for the upcoming “Emoji Movie.” Come on, Crackle, you can do better than that!
When it comes to watching shows on Crackle, I found that the playback experience was pretty similar to Tubi TV. The quality of the video was set to automatic, so you couldn’t manually adjust the picture, which might be a downside if you’re watching on a mobile device. However, one advantage of Crackle’s player is that it shows you when ads will appear, so it’s not as surprising as it can be on Tubi’s player. The placement of the ads on Crackle seemed to be a bit better thought out than on Tubi. For example, while watching the Karate Kid, the first ad break was in between scenes, which was a little interruptive, but the second break started with a few scenes before going into a series of five ads. That was a lot more ads than we saw during our tests on Tubi. The ads on Crackle were also national advertisements for products like McDonald’s and Lipton tea, unlike the local ads we saw on Tubi.
Hey there! I wanted to talk about Crackle’s original content because, honestly, it’s not the strongest. Compared to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, they’re not really in the same league. Their biggest original movie so far is Joe Dirt 2, which is a sequel to a comedy from the early 2000s starring David Spade. You may remember it from those weekday mornings on Comedy Central.
Their original series don’t fare much better. They recently premiered a show with Charlie Sheen, and there’s also an adaptation of Snatch that got pretty weak reviews when it came out last year in March.
So, overall, Crackle is a decent streaming service, but it’s not amazing. It’s a good option if you’re looking to spend as little as possible on streaming services every month. But when it comes to their lineup, it’s just not as strong as Tubi TV. Even though the films on Crackle stay on the platform for longer than its competitors, Tubi has a better selection. Plus, the ad breaks on Crackle are nearly twice as long as on Tubi.
If you already use a paid streaming service like Netflix or Hulu, it’s a better idea to use Tubi as your free supplemental service instead of Crackle. But if you’re determined to only use free services, then adding Crackle to your home screen is a good move. Just know that their library of content is a bit lacking.
