Here are our picks of the best free movie apps you can get for Android.
1. Crackle
The go-to name when it comes to free movie apps. Crackle used to have a reputation as something of a poor person’s Netflix, but ignore the haters. Over the years Sony’s free movie-streaming platform has built up its fair share of TV shows including “Snatch,” “StartUp” (starring the brilliant Martin Freeman) and “The Oath.” While it used to be a real bargain bin of silly comedies and even sillier horror films, there are quite a few marquee movies on there today, including cult comedies “Superbad” and “The Big Lebowski,” the first four “Alien” movies, and the pretty recent “Annabelle.” Doesn’t sound so bad any more, does it?
2. Tubi
Another very good legitimate movie-watching app that’s quietly built up its catalog is Tubi. Not quite as comprehensive as Crackle, but still packing high-profile recent films like “Horns,” “Hugo,” and enjoyable crapfests like “Drive Angry” and “Bones” (starring Snoop Dogg), Tubi was set up four years ago and is doing well for itself today. And it has Cabin in the Woods – one of the best meta-horror movies ever made! As with most free movie-streaming apps, Tubi is monetized by ads that play during movies.
3. YouTube Movies
You probably know that YouTube has its own on-demand movie service these days, and you also probably know that if you look in the right places, you can find full versions of big movies that have somehow slipped under the site’s copyright radar. But beyond that, there’s a well concealed “Free to Watch” section when you browse the YouTube Movies channel. It’s not an all-star classic selection, but highlights include “Get Shorty,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” and the excellent documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.”
4. Documentaries
Speaking of documentaries, Documentaries is easily the least well-known app on this and appears to have been made by a solo developer from Turkey. It’s focused around documentaries, of course, and keeps things very simple by giving you fifteen categories to choose from – from Crime and World History, to Nature and Science – then shows you what’s on offer. It’s high-quality content, drawing from well-known documentary sources like the BBC, Discovery Channel and Nat Geo. It has an embedded YouTube player so draws most of its videos from there, but that’s fine, because it works seamlessly! Think of it as a simple frontend for YouTube documentaries.
5. Vudu
Another great movie app that’s slipped under the radar, Vudu has a solid mixture of paid and free content. It does a good job of highlighting its free stuff too, which in this case includes 90s classics like “Any Given Sunday” and “Mr. Nice Guy,” and the 80s classic that propelled Tom Cruise to stardom, “Risky Business.” The list goes on, even getting down to cult movies like “Critters” and “Mortal Kombat.” Another neat aspect of Vudu is that when you highlight movies, it immediately tells you their Rotten Tomatoes rating, giving you some idea of whether it’s worth watching (though the excellent “Mortal Kombat” only got 38% on Rotten Tomatoes, so you can’t always trust the critics!).
Conclusion
Those are some of the best free movie apps you can get on Android today. Some are region-restricted to the US, but in those instances just boot up a VPN, and you should be able to access them without issue. Have you discovered any great movie apps for Android? Let us know.
