Updated September 2026 · all three apps now carry their own dated listing figures, and one price claim on this page was corrected by Plex's listing
If you came here looking for Showbox, you already know the bad news. The app that everyone passed around for free movies stopped working years ago, and the copycat versions floating around now are mostly ad traps or worse. The good news is that you do not need it anymore. There is a whole shelf of free, above board streaming apps for Android that look great, run smoothly, and will not get your phone into trouble. Here is how to set up the best ones, what they do well, and where they fall short.
Showbox shut down for the reasons most free movie apps eventually do. It served up copyrighted films without permission, the legal pressure caught up with it, and the official app simply stopped loading content. Since then, the name has been hijacked by knock off APKs that ride on its old reputation. That is not a risk worth taking for a movie night.
The smarter move is to switch to free, ad supported services that actually license what they show. Apps like Tubi, Pluto TV, and Plex give you thousands of movies and shows at no cost, straight from the Play Store, with no shady downloads. Plex is the only one of the three that also sells in-app purchases, $0.99 to $949.99 per item on the listing read 5 September 2026, so treat its free catalogue as the ad supported tier of a larger paid product. Freevee used to belong on this list too, but Amazon shut it down in 2025 and folded its free catalog into Prime Video's ad-supported tier. Its Play listing no longer answers, checked 5 September 2026, so the name is only a warning now. You sit through a few ad breaks, the same as broadcast television, and in return you get a clean app that updates normally and says on its Data Safety card what it shares. We walk through getting one running below.
Getting started with Tubi takes a handful of taps, and the other apps follow the same pattern. Open the Play Store, search for the app by name, and tap Install. Sticking to the Play Store matters here, because that is what keeps Showbox clones off your phone in the first place. Once it downloads, open it and you are usually watching within a tap or two.
Most of these apps let you browse and play without an account at all, which is a nice change. A free login on Tubi and Plex is still worth creating, because it syncs your watch history and your list across devices, so a film you start on your phone picks up on the TV later. Tubi and Pluto TV list no in-app purchases at all on their listings read 5 September 2026; Plex does, $0.99 to $949.99 per item, which is the only price difference between the three. Pick a movie, let it buffer for a second, and that is the whole setup. If you plan to cast to a bigger screen, make sure your phone and TV are on the same Wi Fi network and the cast icon will appear in the player.
On demand movies and series
4.9 stars from 2,572,421 reviews · 100,000,000+ installs · free · no in-app purchases · updated on the store 1 September 2026 · by Tubi TV · Contains ads: Yes · checked 5 September 2026
Google Play listing · 4.9 (2,572,421) · read 5 September 2026
The best rated listing on this page, 4.9 stars from 2,572,421 reviews on 100,000,000+ installs, read 5 September 2026. Free, with no in-app purchases listed at all, and the Contains ads label: the ad breaks are the whole business model. The blunt con sits on its Data Safety card, which says the app may share data types with third parties, the same line all three apps here carry.
The three lead with different things. Tubi has a genuinely huge library of movies and series, sorted into sensible categories, with resume playback that remembers where you stopped. Pluto TV leans into live channels, so if you miss the lean back feeling of flipping through TV, it scratches that itch with hundreds of streaming channels grouped by genre. Plex blends free on demand content with the option to stream your own media files, which is handy if you have a collection already.
Day to day, the controls that count are the small ones. Subtitles and captions are built in across all of them, playback quality adjusts to your connection so it does not stall, and Chromecast support means you can throw a film onto the television without fuss. Watchlists let you bookmark something for later, and search is quick. If you are mainly after live programming rather than a movie library, our roundup of the best TV streaming apps for Android goes deeper on the channel based options.
Live channels to flip through
3.7 stars from 805,391 reviews · 100,000,000+ installs · free · no in-app purchases · updated on the store 3 September 2026 · by Pluto, Inc. · Contains ads: Yes · checked 5 September 2026
Google Play listing · 3.7 (805,391) · read 5 September 2026
The channel guide app of the three, and the one to open when you want to flip rather than choose. Free with no in-app purchases listed and the Contains ads label, read 5 September 2026, at 3.7 stars from 805,391 reviews on 100,000,000+ installs, more than a full star below Tubi. Its Data Safety card carries the same third-party sharing line as the other two.
Free catalogue plus your own media files
3.6 stars from 484,541 reviews · 100,000,000+ installs · free to install · in-app purchases $0.99 to $949.99 per item · updated on the store 31 August 2026 · by Plex, Inc. · Contains ads: Yes · checked 5 September 2026
Google Play listing · 3.6 (484,541) · read 5 September 2026
The only app here that also plays a media collection you already own, and the only one of the three that sells anything: free to install, with in-app purchases of $0.99 to $949.99 per item on the listing read 5 September 2026, and the Contains ads label. At 3.6 stars from 484,541 reviews it is the lowest rated of the three, and its Data Safety card says data may be shared with third parties.
Here is the part the old Showbox crowd needs to hear clearly. Free and legal does not mean free of any trade off, it means the trade off is honest. These apps pay for their licences by showing ads, so you will hit commercial breaks during a film, usually a couple of short ones spaced out like network television. That is a fair price for a clean, safe app that will not vanish overnight.
The catch to avoid is the fake kind of free. If an app promises brand new cinema releases with no ads and no subscription, it is almost certainly serving pirated content, the same territory that got Showbox shut down. Those apps are where the malware and data harvesting live. Stick to the licensed services: the libraries are deep enough and nothing about them puts the phone at risk. Region matters too, since the free catalogues vary by country.
This is where the legitimate apps earn their keep. What the three listings publish, read 5 September 2026, is a Data Safety card, and all three say the same four things: the app may share data types with third parties, it may collect data types, data is encrypted in transit, and you can request that your data be deleted. That third-party sharing line is the honest cost of a free, licensed service, and it is printed on the listing where you can read it before you install. If a streaming app ever asks for permissions that have nothing to do with playing video, that is your cue to back out of the install.
They are not flawless, though. The biggest limitation is the catalogue itself. Because everything is licensed, you will not always find the exact blockbuster you had in mind, and titles rotate in and out as deals expire. The ad breaks, while reasonable, are still ad breaks, and offline downloading is hit or miss since some apps only stream. Those are fair compromises for staying on the right side of safe, but they are worth knowing up front.
For most people, one solid free app covers movie night, but it is worth keeping a couple installed because their libraries barely overlap. Pair Tubi for its big film selection with Pluto TV for live channels, and that combination rarely leaves you short. Plex earns a slot if you want your own files in one place too. Tubi and Pluto TV are free with no in-app purchases, Plex is free to install with in-app purchases of $0.99 to $949.99 per item, all three carry the Contains ads label on listings read 5 September 2026, all three come from the Play Store, and none carry the baggage Showbox eventually did.
If you want to compare every option side by side before committing, our guide to the best movie streaming apps for Android ranks the free and paid services together. And since a lot of streaming happens on the big screen these days, the essential YouTube apps for Android TV are worth a look for everything beyond movies. You can browse more of our picks in the wider entertainment hub, which covers streaming, games, and the rest of the fun stuff.
No. The original Showbox stopped serving content years ago, and the apps using its name now are unofficial clones you should not install. Free, licensed apps like Tubi and Pluto TV are the safe replacements, and they come straight from the Play Store.
For a big movie and TV library, Tubi is our top pick because it is free, legal, and genuinely well stocked. If you prefer live channels, Pluto TV is excellent, and Plex is great if you also want to stream your own media. Tubi and Pluto TV are free with no in-app purchases; Plex is free to install and sells in-app purchases of $0.99 to $949.99 per item. All three carry the Contains ads label on their listings, read 5 September 2026.
The licensed ones are. Apps like Tubi, Pluto TV, and Plex are available on the Play Store, declare on their Data Safety cards that data may be shared with third parties, and pay for their content with ads. Freevee used to belong on that list too, until Amazon shut it down in 2025 and folded its catalog into Prime Video's ad tier. The apps to avoid are the ones promising brand new releases with no ads, since those usually rely on pirated content and can carry malware.
Usually not. Most of these apps let you browse and play straight away with no sign up. A free account on Tubi and Plex is still worth making because it syncs your watchlist and resume points across your phone, tablet, and TV, and both apps are free to install on their listings read 5 September 2026.
The developer names shown on Google Play, read 5 September 2026, are Tubi TV for Tubi, Pluto, Inc. for Pluto TV and Plex, Inc. for Plex. Check the developer line under the title before you install, since the Showbox name has been reused by unofficial clones and the same trick works with any popular free app.
Checked 5 September 2026: the page named three apps and linked none, with no ratings, no ads labels, no table and no dated line. All three now carry fact lines read today: Tubi at 4.9 stars from 2,572,421 reviews, Pluto TV at 3.7 stars from 805,391 reviews and Plex at 3.6 stars from 484,541 reviews, all three free to install and all three with the Contains ads label. Plex's listing corrected the page once: it sells in-app purchases of $0.99 to $949.99 per item, so the lines All three are free and supported by short ad breaks rather than a subscription and All three are free, all three come from the Play Store are withdrawn, together with There is no payment step and no card required and there is never a payment step involved. The permissions paragraph now quotes the Data Safety cards instead of a claim no listing publishes, so Tubi and the others mainly ask for the basics and ask only for sensible permissions are withdrawn, and because all three cards say data may be shared with third parties, the phrase respects your phone is withdrawn as well. Claims about our own use are withdrawn and replaced by listing facts or reader instructions: Getting started took us under five minutes with Tubi, kept Showbox clones off our phone, We did create a free login on Tubi and Plex anyway, What surprised us most is how polished these free apps feel, We stick to the licensed services, None of them pestered us for contacts, location, or the microphone, We see those as fair compromises, We pair Tubi for its big film selection with Pluto TV for live channels, unofficial clones we would not install, and We still made a free account on Tubi and Plex. Freevee's Play listing no longer answers, which confirms the page's note that it is gone. The developer names were added to the FAQ so the copycat warning has something to check against.
12 Best TV Streaming Apps for AndroidEntertainment