Updated August 2026
Updated August 2026 · every rating, review count, install band and in-app purchase range re read from the United States Play storefront, and the region column rebuilt to name its source in every row
Netflix is our best overall pick because its listing, read 20 August 2026, shows 1,000,000,000+ installs, the largest of any subscription service here, no ads label, and nothing without paying.
Tubi is our best free pick because its listing, read 20 August 2026, rates 4.9 and sells nothing, advertising funded, though Tubi says not in Europe.
BBC iPlayer is our UK pick because the BBC’s help pages, read 20 August 2026, require a TV Licence and restrict use to UK residents, with no ads label.
Data checked: 20 August 2026.
Twelve apps, weighed on what a listing can prove before you install: what it costs, what you get without paying, whether it carries the Contains ads label, and where the developer says the app may be used.
Best all round paid library
Rating 4.1 from 15,529,725 reviews · Installs 1,000,000,000+ · Free to install · No in-app purchases listed · Developer Netflix, Inc. · Listing updated 18 August 2026 · Contains ads: No · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.1 (15,529,725) · read 20 August 2026
Netflix gives you nothing to watch until you pay, and its listing will not tell you what paying costs: it lists no in-app purchases and no price, so the subscription is bought on Netflix’s own site rather than in the app. What it does give you is the largest install band of any subscription service here at 1,000,000,000+, no advertising label, and a Data Safety section declaring no data shared with third parties. The blunt part: at 4.1 it is the lowest rated subscription service on this page.
On where it works, Netflix is the least restricted app here and still not unrestricted. Its own help page says the service is available in over 190 countries and regions and names five it is not available in: China, Crimea, North Korea, Russia and Syria. The same page adds that the library of shows and films varies by country, so a title you read about is not guaranteed to play where you are (Netflix Help Center, read 20 August 2026).
Skip this if. Skip it if you would rather not pay a subscription at all: Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex and YouTube are the free options here.
Choosing between them. Choose Netflix over Prime Video if you want a service that stands on its own, and Prime Video over Netflix if an Amazon Prime membership is already paid for.
Best for family franchises
Rating 4.3 from 5,120,210 reviews · Installs 500,000,000+ · Free to install · No in-app purchases listed · Developer Disney · Listing updated 10 August 2026 · Contains ads: No · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.3 (5,120,210) · read 20 August 2026
Disney+ is a subscription with nothing to watch before you pay, and like Netflix it publishes no in-app purchases and no price, so the cost is settled off the listing. It carries no advertising label, one of only three here. The blunt part is what the listing itself admits about geography: the content available may vary by region, and its Data Safety section declares it may share data with third parties.
Its own Play listing states that the content available on Disney+ may vary by region and that some titles shown may not be available in your country, which is a narrower claim than a region block and a wider one than nothing. The listing also marks the ESPN and Hulu hubs inside the app as United States residents only, and says the full experience of either has to be bundled with the Disney+ subscription. On downloads the listing is brief but not silent: it says you can stream and download its films, shows and Originals, without naming a tier against that.
Skip this if. Skip it if nobody in the house watches Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars or National Geographic titles, because that is most of what the subscription buys.
Choosing between them. Choose Disney+ over Netflix for the family franchises, and Netflix over Disney+ for range across everything else.
Best free everyday viewing
Rating 3.8 from 171,456,531 reviews · Installs 10,000,000,000+ · Free to install · In-app purchases $0.05 to $999.99 per item · Developer Google LLC · Listing updated 20 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 3.8 (171,456,531) · read 20 August 2026
YouTube is the one app here where the whole catalogue is watchable without paying anything, and at 3.8 it is also the third lowest rated app on this page. The listing is plain about the price of that: it carries the Contains ads label, and the paid tier that removes advertising runs to in-app purchases from $0.05 to $999.99 per item. The rating rests on 171,456,531 reviews, a larger sample than every other listing here combined.
Its listing repeatedly qualifies features as available in select countries, and it applies that phrase to YouTube Premium itself, the upgrade that removes the advertising. So the option to watch without advertising is not offered everywhere the free app is. It is also the only listing on this page that records an independent security review in its Data Safety section, and one of only three declaring no data shared with third parties.
Skip this if. Skip it if you want licensed films and box sets rather than creator video, because that is a different catalogue entirely.
Choosing between them. Choose YouTube over Tubi for creator video and live streams, and Tubi over YouTube for licensed films and series.
Best prestige drama
Rating 4.8 from 5,666,528 reviews · Installs 100,000,000+ · Free to install · In-app purchases $2.49 to $229.99 per item · Developer WarnerMedia Global Digital Services, LLC · Listing updated 13 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.8 (5,666,528) · read 20 August 2026
HBO Max is the highest rated subscription app on this page at 4.8, and the one whose own listing puts the hardest limit on who may use it. Nothing is watchable before you pay, in-app purchases run $2.49 to $229.99 per item, and it carries the Contains ads label as well. Read the region line before paying for anything: the developer states the app is only available in certain territories.
Read this first. Its Google Play listing states that HBO Max is only available in certain territories, that content and feature availability may vary by region, and that language availability varies by country. The listing does not publish the list of territories, so the only way to find out is to check on the developer’s own site before paying.
Skip this if. Skip it if you live outside the territories its own listing covers, because the listing does not say which they are and you would be paying to find out.
Choosing between them. Choose HBO Max over Netflix for prestige drama, and Netflix over HBO Max if you need the app to work without checking a territory list first.
Best if you already pay for Prime
Rating 4.7 from 5,566,924 reviews · Installs 500,000,000+ · Free to install · In-app purchases $0.05 to $349.99 per item · Developer Amazon Mobile LLC · Listing updated 18 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.7 (5,566,924) · read 20 August 2026
Prime Video is rated 4.7 and gives you nothing without a subscription, though it is the one service here many people are already paying for inside something else. In-app purchases run $0.05 to $349.99 per item and it carries the Contains ads label. The blunt part: its own listing says that what you can rent or buy varies by marketplace, so the catalogue is tied to the Amazon store you belong to.
The listing’s own qualifier is that renting or buying new releases has availability that varies by marketplace. That is a different shape of limit from the others here: not a border you cannot cross, but a catalogue that changes with the Amazon account region you already hold. The same feature list publishes something several rivals here attach to a tier: downloading videos to watch anywhere, with no plan named against it.
Skip this if. Skip it if you hold no Amazon Prime membership and want one flat catalogue for one price.
Choosing between them. Choose Prime Video over Netflix when Prime is already paid for, and Netflix over Prime Video when it is not.
Best free film library
Rating 4.9 from 2,557,607 reviews · Installs 100,000,000+ · Free to install · No in-app purchases listed · Developer Tubi TV · Listing updated 18 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.9 (2,557,607) · read 20 August 2026
Tubi rates 4.9, the highest here, and the whole catalogue is watchable without paying, but the developer says on its own front page that Tubi does not run in Europe. It sells nothing at all inside the app, listing no in-app purchases, and is paid for with the advertising its listing declares.
Tubi states on its own site that "We are not available in Europe due to changes in EU laws", read 20 August 2026. The same page describes Tubi as the largest free movie and TV streaming service in the US, and its Play listing markets the service as having zero subscriptions ever.
Skip this if. Skip it if you are in Europe, where the developer says on its own site that the service does not run.
Choosing between them. Choose Tubi over Pluto TV for a film library you pick from, and Pluto TV over Tubi for channels that simply play.
Best free live channels
Rating 3.7 from 803,770 reviews · Installs 100,000,000+ · Free to install · No in-app purchases listed · Developer Pluto, Inc. · Listing updated 19 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 3.7 (803,770) · read 20 August 2026
Pluto TV is the second lowest rated app on this page at 3.7, and its listing states no region limit at all, which is not the same as the service running everywhere. What it does give you costs nothing: the whole catalogue with no subscription required, no in-app purchases listed, and the advertising its Contains ads label declares.
Its listing states no regional restriction, and that silence should not be read as a promise. Pluto TV is run as separate per-country services with separate channel line-ups, so the channels named on the United States listing are not the channels a reader elsewhere would get. Where the service has not launched, the app is simply of no use, and nothing on the listing says where that is.
Skip this if. Skip it if you want to choose a specific title rather than take whatever is on, because the channel format is the point of it.
Choosing between them. Choose Pluto TV over Tubi for live channels, and Tubi over Pluto TV for a higher rated on-demand film library.
Best for a home library
Rating 3.6 from 483,611 reviews · Installs 100,000,000+ · Free to install · In-app purchases $0.99 to $949.99 per item · Developer Plex, Inc. · Listing updated 17 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 3.6 (483,611) · read 20 August 2026
Plex is the lowest rated app on this page at 3.6, and one half of it, playing a media collection you already own, needs Plex Media Server running on another machine. The free half needs nothing: its listing offers 50,000+ free movies and TV on demand and more than 600 free live channels with no subscription, funded by the advertising its Contains ads label declares, beside a paid tier from $0.99 to $949.99 per item.
Its listing states no region limit. What it does not say is which of those 600 channels appear in which country, and that line-up is not the same everywhere, so the free half of the offer is worth less in some places than the listing suggests. The half that does travel is the one that plays your own files, because that depends on your server rather than on a licence.
Skip this if. Skip it if you have no media collection of your own to play, because the free channels alone are covered better by Tubi and Pluto TV.
Choosing between them. Choose Plex over Tubi if you own files you want to stream, and Tubi over Plex if you do not, because Tubi is rated far higher for the free catalogue alone.
Best for anime
Rating 4.6 from 4,306,773 reviews · Installs 100,000,000+ · Free to install · In-app purchases $9.99 to $179.99 per item · Developer Crunchyroll, LLC · Listing updated 20 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.6 (4,306,773) · read 20 August 2026
Crunchyroll is the anime specialist here, rated 4.6 from 4,306,773 reviews, and the blunt part is that its listing never says what a non-member can watch. Every tier the listing describes is a paid membership, sold from $9.99 to $179.99 per item, and it markets viewing without advertising and offline downloads as things those tiers give you. It carries the Contains ads label as well, which declares that advertising appears somewhere in the app and settles nothing about a free tier.
The listing states that subscription pricing may vary based on region and selected membership tier, so the $9.99 to $179.99 range is the United States storefront’s range and not a global one. It also reserves offline viewing for the Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan tiers, so downloading is a paid feature rather than a free one. What the listing never describes is a way to watch without paying, and this page does not fill that silence in either direction: an ads label sits on Hulu too, where nothing at all is watchable before you subscribe.
Skip this if. Skip it if anime is not the reason you are installing anything, because it is the only single-genre service on this page.
Choosing between them. Choose Crunchyroll over Netflix for depth of anime, and Netflix over Crunchyroll if anime is one interest among many.
Best for US network shows
Rating 4.6 from 628,849 reviews · Installs 50,000,000+ · Free to install · In-app purchases $8.99 to $199.99 per item · Developer Peacock TV LLC · Listing updated 14 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.6 (628,849) · read 20 August 2026
Peacock is rated 4.6 and hard-limited by its own listing: use of the app is limited to the United States and its territories, which makes every other column on this row irrelevant to a reader anywhere else. Its listing describes three tiers, Premium, Premium Plus and Select, and never a way to watch without one, so nothing is watchable before you pay. In-app purchases run $8.99 to $199.99 per item and it carries the Contains ads label. Its install band, 50,000,000+, is the smallest of the subscription services here.
Read this first. Its Google Play listing states that use of the Peacock app is limited to the United States and its territories. That is the plainest region limit on this page, and it is published by the developer rather than inferred.
Skip this if. Skip it if you are outside the United States and its territories, because its own listing says the app may not be used there.
Choosing between them. Choose Peacock over Hulu for live sport, and Hulu over Peacock for next day network episodes, if you are in the United States for either.
Best for next day US TV
Rating 4.5 from 1,596,054 reviews · Installs 100,000,000+ · Free to install · No in-app purchases listed · Developer Disney · Listing updated 4 August 2026 · Contains ads: Yes · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.5 (1,596,054) · read 20 August 2026
Hulu is rated 4.5 and its listing states it is available to U.S. customers only, so for most readers of this page nothing else about it matters. Nothing is watchable before you pay, and unusually the one of the plans you pay for carries advertising anyway: the listing names a Hulu With Ads plan and a separate Hulu No Ads plan, and prices neither. It lists no in-app purchases, so the price is set outside the app.
Its Google Play listing states that "Hulu is available to U.S. customers only", and separately that regional restrictions, blackouts and additional terms apply to its live sport. It is one of only three listings here declaring no data shared with third parties, which is worth knowing for the readers who can actually use it.
Skip this if. Skip it if you are outside the United States, because its own listing says it is available to U.S. customers only.
Choosing between them. Choose Hulu over Peacock for next day network shows, and Peacock over Hulu for live sport.
Best for BBC shows in the UK
Rating 4.0 from 166,099 reviews · Installs 10,000,000+ · Free to install · No in-app purchases listed · Developer British Broadcasting Corporation · Listing updated 28 July 2026 · Contains ads: No · checked 20 August 2026
Google Play listing · 4.0 (166,099) · read 20 August 2026
BBC iPlayer is not free, and it is not for everyone: the BBC requires a valid TV Licence to watch or download anything on it, and restricts its use to UK residents, so outside the UK the app does nothing and inside it the licence is the price. What that price buys is the cleanest offer on this page. There are no in-app purchases, nothing is sold inside the app, and the listing carries no advertising label, one of only three here.
Read this first. The BBC states on its own help pages that "A valid TV Licence is required to watch or download any programmes on BBC iPlayer, on a TV or any device including a phone, tablet or computer" (Do I need a TV Licence to use BBC iPlayer?, read 20 August 2026), and that "BBC iPlayer is funded by the UK TV licence and its use is restricted to UK residents only" (BBC iPlayer help, watching outside the UK, read 20 August 2026). Neither statement appears on the Play listing, which never mentions the licence at all.
It is also the least recently maintained listing here, last updated 28 July 2026, and the smallest review sample on the page stands behind its rating.
Skip this if. Skip it if you do not live in the UK, because the BBC restricts the service to UK residents.
Choosing between them. Choose BBC iPlayer over Netflix for British drama and news if you live in the UK, and Netflix over it if you do not.
Start with where you live, because on this page it decides more than any feature does. Five of the twelve publish a hard limit: Peacock says use of its app is limited to the United States and its territories, Hulu says it is available to U.S. customers only, HBO Max says it is available in certain territories, the BBC restricts iPlayer to UK residents, and Tubi says on its own site that it is not available in Europe. Five more publish a softer qualifier: Netflix names five territories it excludes and says the library varies by country, Disney+ says content may vary by region, YouTube says its ad-free Premium tier is available in select countries, Prime Video says rental availability varies by marketplace, and Crunchyroll says subscription pricing varies by region. Only Pluto TV and Plex say nothing at all, and saying nothing is not the same as promising every title plays everywhere.
All twelve of these apps are free to install, which is why the table asks a different question. What separates them is what happens next. Three are watchable in full without paying and are funded by advertising: YouTube, Tubi and Pluto TV. Plex gives away a slice on the same terms, films and live channels with no subscription, alongside a paid tier. Six give you nothing at all until you subscribe: Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Peacock and Hulu, and Hulu is the awkward one, because one of the plans you pay for carries advertising anyway. Crunchyroll cannot be placed from its listing at all, which describes paid memberships and never says what a non-member can watch. BBC iPlayer is the odd one out: the BBC requires a TV Licence for it and restricts it to UK residents.
Six of the twelve publish an in-app purchase range, and that range is the only price signal you get before installing. The other six list no in-app purchases at all, and for Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu that absence means the opposite of free: the subscription is simply sold off the listing, so nothing on the store page says what a month costs. Where a range is published it is the United States storefront’s range, and Crunchyroll states outright that its pricing varies by region, so treat every figure here as a signal about the US store rather than a quote for your own country.
Nine of the twelve carry the Contains ads label: YouTube, HBO Max, Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex, Crunchyroll, Peacock and Hulu. Three do not: Netflix, Disney+ and BBC iPlayer. Paying can change what you see inside an app, but the label is what the developer declares to Google, and it is the only part of the advertising question anyone can check before installing.
Nine of the twelve declare in their own Data Safety sections that they may share data with third parties. Only Netflix, YouTube and Hulu declare that they do not, and YouTube is the only listing here that records an independent security review. None of this is an audit: it is what each developer states about itself, which is exactly why it is worth reading before signing in with an account you use elsewhere.
Every app named on this page is a licensed service, published by the rights holder itself, and installed from the Play Store. The ones to avoid are the free film and live TV packages that circulate as sideloaded files on forums and messaging groups, carrying films and live channels their publishers hold no licence to distribute. What is missing there is review before publication, not scanning: Google Play Protect is on by default and, in Google’s own words, "checks your device for potentially harmful apps from other sources", so a sideloaded app is scanned; what it never gets is vetting before it is published (Google Play Help, read 20 August 2026). These packages also lean on aggressive pop up advertising, including the kind that pushes yet more dubious software. A streaming app has no reason to want your contacts, your messages or your call logs, so treat those permission requests as the warning they are. Permission to install other apps is granted app by app on Android rather than by one global switch, so take it back from the browser or messaging app you used once the install is finished (Android developer reference, read 20 August 2026).
Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex and YouTube are all watchable without paying, and all four carry the Contains ads label on their listings, which is what funds them. Tubi and Pluto TV list no in-app purchases at all; Plex and YouTube both sell extras inside the app. BBC iPlayer is not free: the BBC says a valid TV Licence is required to watch anything on it, and restricts it to UK residents. Six of the rest give you nothing at all until you subscribe, and Crunchyroll's listing never says what a non-member can watch. Checked 20 August 2026.
Read this column carefully, because the honest answer is that only some listings say. Peacock says use of the app is limited to the United States and its territories, Hulu says it is available to U.S. customers only, HBO Max says it is available in certain territories, the BBC restricts iPlayer to UK residents, and Tubi says on its own site it is not available in Europe. Netflix names five territories it excludes, and Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video and Crunchyroll each publish a softer qualifier about content, features or pricing varying by region. Only Pluto TV and Plex state nothing at all. Checked 20 August 2026.
No, and the two are worth separating. All twelve of these apps are free to install, which is why the table asks a different question: six of them show you nothing until you subscribe. Free to install, free to watch with advertising, and paid subscription are three different things, and the table splits them into what you get without paying and what the listing charges inside the app. Checked 20 August 2026.
Nine of the twelve declare in their own Data Safety sections that they may: Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex, Crunchyroll, Peacock and BBC iPlayer. Three declare they do not: Netflix, YouTube and Hulu. YouTube is the only one here that also records an independent security review. This is what each developer states on its own listing, not an independent audit. Checked 20 August 2026.
Eight of the twelve say so on their listings. BBC iPlayer describes downloading programmes to the device, HBO Max says downloads come with select plans, Crunchyroll reserves offline viewing for its Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan tiers, Peacock says some titles can be watched offline, Hulu describes downloading select titles on its no ads plan, Prime Video says you can download videos to watch anywhere, Disney+ says you can stream and download its films and shows, and Plex plays your own downloaded media. YouTube describes saving videos for a plane or a commute, and reserves that for its paid Premium tier. Only Netflix, Tubi and Pluto TV say nothing about it, which is not the same as saying no, and Pluto TV's own mentions of downloading are about installing the app itself. Checked 20 August 2026.
Nine of the twelve: YouTube, HBO Max, Prime Video, Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex, Crunchyroll, Peacock and Hulu. Three do not carry the label: Netflix, Disney+ and BBC iPlayer. Note that Hulu carries it even though nothing is watchable without paying, because one of the plans it names carries advertising. A paid tier can change what you see, but the label is what each developer declares on its own listing. Checked 20 August 2026.
No. Sideloaded apps that promise free films or live TV carry content their publishers hold no licence to distribute, and nothing reviews them before they reach you. They are not unscanned: Google says Play Protect is on by default and checks your device for potentially harmful apps from other sources. What they never pass is a review before publication, and they tend to bury the video in aggressive advertising as well. Every app named on this page is the rights holder's own app on the Play Store. Tubi, Pluto TV and YouTube are free to watch and listed there, which is a far safer place to start. Checked 20 August 2026.
Checked 20 August 2026: all twelve Play listings were re-read on the United States English storefront and every rating, review count, install band and in-app purchase range on this page was refreshed. Two figures had genuinely moved rather than merely drifted: Netflix’s rating rose to 4.1, and Peacock’s in-app purchase range moved from $7.99 to $169.99 per item up to $8.99 to $199.99 per item. Every review count on the page had gone stale in the week since the last pass. The "Cost to watch" column was split in two. It mixed the price model with the advertising model in one cell and never printed the in-app purchase range; one column now says what you can watch without paying, the other prints that range as the listing prints it. Crunchyroll came out of both camps. The page called it a subscription service; its listing describes only paid memberships, never says they are the only way in, and never says what a non-member can watch, so its cell now says exactly that and nothing more. The phrase "No limit stated" is withdrawn from the region column, where it stood in seven of twelve rows and read as a finding about the world when it was only ever a finding about the listing. Five of those seven do publish a regional qualifier: Netflix’s help page names five territories it excludes and says the library varies by country, Disney+ says content may vary by region, YouTube says the Premium upgrade is available in select countries, Prime Video says rental availability varies by marketplace, and Crunchyroll says subscription pricing varies by region. Pluto TV and Plex state nothing, and the table now says exactly that rather than implying they are unrestricted. The column header no longer calls every one of those entries a limit, because five of them qualify a tier, a price or a catalogue rather than restricting who may use the app. BBC iPlayer was described as "free to use in the UK" and that is withdrawn: the BBC’s own help page says a valid TV Licence is required to watch or download anything on iPlayer, so the page now names the licence as the price. Three claims in the safety section also came out. The page said sideloaded streaming packages sit outside the Play Store, "so Google never checks them", where Google’s own documentation says Play Protect is on by default and checks the device for potentially harmful apps from other sources. It called that streaming "illegal in most countries", which this page cannot source for any named jurisdiction. And it told readers to keep "installation from unknown sources switched off", which describes a single global setting where Android in fact grants that permission app by app. Each is replaced by text cited to a primary source in the same sentence. The offline question was answered by naming five listings and saying "For the others the listing says nothing", and that is withdrawn as well: Hulu, Prime Video and Disney+ all describe downloading on their listings, and YouTube describes saving videos for a plane or a commute under its paid tier, so the answer now names eight listings that describe downloads, YouTube separately, and only three that say nothing. The quick answer block was rebuilt to the Our answer standard, so each pick is now one sentence carrying its own app, claim, dated reason and price and ads reality; Netflix’s reason is now its install band rather than its rating, which is the lowest of the subscription services here and argued against the pick whenever the sentence was quoted alone. Carried forward from the previous pass, because the changelog is the only place they may be named: YouTube TV and Sling were withdrawn as recommendations that carried no store link, and three claims came out with them, that Peacock no longer offers a free tier, that Crunchyroll no longer has a free ad-supported tier, and that Plex is free with an optional Pass. Tubi’s Europe statement and the BBC’s UK residents statement were both re-read at the developers’ own pages on this date and both still stand word for word.