The 8 Streaming Apps on My Phone Right Now
Streaming video content is so much better than cable. I remember when I was a kid and cable was the thing I aspired to have. We only had antennae over-the-air broadcast television early on. The channels were limited to the 5 major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and PBS), so there was not a lot to pick from.
It seemed like even less interesting content to watch as a kid. During the day there were daytime soap operas and court room shows, and in the evenings there were the full gamut of shows aimed at adults. Saturday mornings were basically the only time there was programming aimed at children, aside from afternoons on PBS.
The appeal of cable over the free broadcast programming was the increased variety of shows and movies to watch. Any mainstream taste could be satisfied on a regular basis through cable channels. You could watch children's programming, news, travel, drama, comedy, thriller, horror, game shows, reality TV, documentaries, movies, etc. You could watch just about any kind of thing you wanted at any hour of the day. When you compare that with free antennae TV, it seems that cable or satellite (like DISH or DirecTV) are the clear best choice. Increased options beats limited options.
But times keep changing and there have been further innovations in TV content. Now we can use streaming services, websites and apps that allow you to watch content on-demand over the internet, to watch not just the type of content we want to watch, but the exact show and the exact episode that we want. We have extreme choice with on-demand streaming. We no longer have to watch just what is on at the moment. We no longer have to settle for an approximation of our current desire. We can have exactly what we want. That alone is enough of a reason for streaming to be superior to cable, but that is not all.
Most streaming services also provide the content without commercials or advertisements. You can watch the entirety of your chosen program from beginning to end without interruption. There are a few streaming options (such as the free version of Hulu) which will play interstitial ads a few times throughout the content, but they still seem to show many fewer ads than cable channels.
And, the cost is often much lower for streaming services. For simpler basic cable packages, with only some of the channels you would like to have, you can pay over $50 per month. And if you go with a more premium cable package that allows you access to all of the channels you would want, you can easily find yourself with a bill of over $100. Most of the streaming platforms, on the other hand, are less than $20 per month. The prices change regularly, so it would be hard to post an exact cost for any of the streaming packages, but Netflix and Hulu are only around $15 per month, and something cheaper like Apple TV+ is only around $5 per month.
Each of these features individually would make it seem reasonable to cancel your cable subscription and switch to streaming services, but when you combine them all, it seems like an obvious no-brainer. Unless you need to pay for cable for something like a sport you follow which is only shown on cable, I don't see why anyone would waste their money on cable. You could sign up for 3 streaming services and still be paying less than you would for cable.
Cordcutters are people who have decided to cut the cord of cable and choose internet-first streaming companies to deliver their video entertainment. Cordcutting has really caught on as a popular movement and a great way to save money. In the beginning of that movement, it was seen as a fringe and possibly extreme way to alter your life to save money. It was a move for frugality. But it doesn't seem like a compromise at all now. It seems like you get to pay less for much more value.
Now that I have gone a long time without cable and have only used streaming services, I am incredibly frustrated every time I have to watch cable. The amount of time you have to watch ads per episode of a show is obscene. How can something that costs so much come with so much advertising? It feels very insulting to be shown that many ads.
Even if cable providers were able to offer their current service for around $15 per month, I still would not pay to have them. I don't like the lack of choice in what to watch. I don't like having to watch so many ads. I would never pay anything for cable. I might consider setting it up if it was completely free, but I probably would not end up watching it very often. The alternatives are just too good.
These streaming services can be set up to play on smart TVs and on any TV connected to streaming enabled devices such as Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV or even lots of game consoles like Xbox or PlayStation. You can watch on your computer or laptop. You can even watch on the go with streaming apps available on tablets and smartphones.
While I might have more apps set up to run on my smart TV, I have 8 on my smartphone right now. These are the 8 apps for streaming that I find essential enough to have on my phone.
1. Netflix
Netflix is a classic and is very common. Over half of all American adults subscribe to Netflix. They were once known for sending you DVDs in the mail, but their on demand streaming service has become far more popular than their disc service ever was.
Netflix has licensed the rights to lots of popular television shows and movies, but they don't just let you play content you could find elsewhere. Netflix has invested a lot of money into creating original content that is only available through their platform.
The Netflix original content is very high quality. Netflix has become a legitimate video producer which can compete with any major network or film studio. They attract popular mainstream actors and actresses for their productions.
Netflix is the streaming service I've been subscribed to the longest, and it is one that I will probably never unsubscribe from for the rest of my life. They offer great stuff for a low price. And even when they raise their subscription prices by a dollar or so, it is a very modest price increase for the massive amount of content they produce for that money. Well worth it.
I like that you can create different user accounts with Netflix so that you can create different watchlists for different people. You can also use their "Skip Intro" button which allows you to automatically jump past the intro sequence and theme and get right into the show. That feature is super handy, especially when bingeing a series. After a few episodes in a row, you get kind of sick of watching the same intro, and in other streaming services you would have to manually fast forward through it, but with Netflix it is as simple as click one button.
2. Hulu
I have also subscribed to Hulu for a long time. Hulu usually has current TV shows from all of the major networks, shows that were typically too new for Netflix to get access to. You could watch older shows on Netflix, but to see anything that is currently on cable, you would need to use Hulu.
Hulu was pretty appealing for really cutting the cable cord, because it ensured you didn't have to go without your favorite shows. You could stop paying for cable, but continue to watch currently aired shows.
I'm not sure of the different pricing plans for Hulu at the moment, but when I first started to use them, there were a couple different options. There was a free version which only required you to create an account. With the free version, you could watch all of the same content as with the paid version, but you would watch a few ads throughout your shows, but still significantly fewer than with cable.
They also had a premium version where you would pay less than $10 per month to watch without ads. In more recent years, I believe that have somehow split the paid versions into two different levels, one where you pay less but still watch ads, and one where you pay a little more for ad-free viewing. I'm not sure if there is a totally free version anymore, but it is only around $15 per month for no-restrictions, ad-free viewing, so I have no problem just paying for the top tier account.
Though Hulu was originally most known for their selection of television shows, they have increasingly tried to expand their movie offerings. And like the other streaming services, Hulu has been investing in original content that can only be found on their platform. The Hulu original programming is high quality and very compelling.
With Hulu, you can pay for add-on services, such as HBO and Showtime. Paying for the add-ons allows you access to even more premium content from those companies. I have had both the Showtime and HBO add-ons. I didn't much care for anything that came with Showtime. I'm sure there are people who really like the content they produce, but it just wasn't for me. I have LOVED the HBO add-on. Almost everything they make is something I want to watch. It makes it a little more expensive to have the HBO add-on, but I am happy to have the extra content.
3. Apple TV+
I had heard of Apple TV+ when it was first coming out, but I wasn't very interested in it. They didn't have very much content. They didn't offer any programming from other producers, only original content, and they simply didn't have much original content. The price was accordingly low, less than $5, but I had more content than I could ever hope to watch with my other paid subscriptions, and so I was going to let this one go.
When my wife got a new iPhone, there was a promotion which gave us a full year of Apple TV+ for free. We would be foolish not to try it out if it is completely free. We signed up and redeemed the free year, and have been binge watching their original shows for around a month now.
Their shows are fantastic. They are some of the best quality shows I've ever seen in terms of video quality and set production. The stories are great and they have big name actors.
One standout series is called Ted Lasso, starring Jason Sudeikis. The show is a comedy about an always upbeat American college football coach who moves to England to coach a soccer team, despite knowing nothing at all about soccer. It is hilarious and heartwarming.
Another noteworthy series is M. Night Shyamalan's Servant. It is not quite a horror and not quite a thriller. It is just eerie and strange. It is very similar to his other works in that way. The story is about a couple who hire a live-in nanny to care for their newborn son. Shortly into the series you find out that the couple's baby actually died and that the mother had a mental breakdown. In order to bring the mother back to sanity, they got a lifelike doll that the couple pretends is their son. The nanny that they hire is quiet and odd, and she treats the doll as if it were living, despite being told by the father that they only need to pretend when the mother is around. Soon after she begins the job as nanny, the doll suddenly becomes a living baby and there seems to be no explanation. The series is ultra compelling and we watched the entire series (just 10 episodes in season 1) in only 3 days.
Getting Apple TV+ just for these two shows alone is worth it.
4. CBS News
CBS News is an app which gives you access to all kinds of content. They have on demand content, such as segments from their morning or evening news. I especially like the Money Watch segment. They also offer clips from their standalone news programs, such as 60 Minutes, Face the Nation, and Sunday Morning.
While those on demand clips are interesting and I'm glad they are included in the app, I mostly use the app for the live streaming feature. Through the app, you can livestream CBS news. If it is during the normal morning, noon, or evening news viewing times, then you can watch the same news programs as people are watching with antennae or cable TV. One really cool part is that you are not limited to the version that is aired in your geographic location. In the app, you can click to the LIVE page and choose a broadcast from all of the major US affiliate stations. You can choose to watch CBS out of San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, Dallas, Chicago or several others.
And you don't have to go without your news fix in between typical broadcast times, because CBS has launched a 24/7 news network called CBSN. CBSN is much like CNN in that it is always on. You can watch live news coverage all day long through the CBS News app.
I like to watch the news in the morning while I make breakfast and get ready for work, but without paying for cable, that was the one thing I felt like I was missing. With this app, I have now found a completely cost free way to have my news in the morning.
5. Pluto TV
Pluto TV is a great app and a great idea. Where lots of the leading streaming services offer only or mostly on demand content, Pluto aims to deliver content differently. They offer live broadcast channels. One thing that people who cut the cord on cable found that they missed was the activity of channel surfing. They missed flipping around the TV guide to see what was on, sample a few things along the way, and make a decision based on what was currently playing.
Pluto tried to offer content in a way that gave users that same experience. They had content that played all the time, around the clock, on lots of different channels. And they had all those channels arranged in a guide format that showed the different channels and what programs would be playing throughout the day.
Early on in their existence, they didn't really partner with many official content producers that made big budget programs like those that would be shown on cable channels. I'm not sure exactly where they got their content from, and it was probably more legitimate than I am about to portray it, but it seemed like they were just scraping free content off of YouTube.
They would have a channel set up around a topic of interest, say DIY and crafting for example, and they would just have random videos that were on that topic playing. The programs weren't necessarily the typical length of shows, such as 20-30 minutes. They were sometimes quite short, like 5 minutes. And they weren't all made like real TV shows, which tend to have a title and regular hosts. Some of the programs were just like random videos you would find on the internet.
They had tons of channels on things like cars, sports, true crime, video games, and news. They basically had a channel for any mainstream interest.
The app is completely free, and the content is paid for by ads that run just like commercials on regular TV. Early on it seemed like they were having trouble finding enough advertisers to fill all of their ad slots, because pretty often you would be watching a show, it would cut to commercial, and the commercial would just be a picture of the Pluto TV logo. That was time that they would have loved to sell to advertisers.
As time went on and more people found and watched Pluto, they have been able to attract more and bigger advertisers. The commercials used to be for products you'd never heard of. Now their ads look a lot more like what you would see on cable channels. And because of the increase in advertiser interest, Pluto has been able to attract higher quality content.
The channels which are just generically aimed at a topic of interest now include shows that are custom made for that channel. Original programming. And they have been able to set up mainstream channels that people anywhere would recognize, such as Comedy Central and TV Land. And some of the channels are just a single show, and different episodes of that show play all the time. The content quality has gone WAY up over time, and now it is an awesome place to get your entertainment.
They have movie channels and music channels too. And there is even a channel which plays nothing but James Bond movies.
In addition to the livestreaming channels, they also offer on demand programming. They have some original content that they produced which is available all the time. Other things seem to be licensed from the producers for like a month at a time and so you can only watch it for a brief time. The temporary stuff in the on demand section is the same stuff that is being played on their channels, except you can choose to watch it whenever you want. It's like two ways to watch the same stuff.
I predict that eventually Pluto TV will become almost identical to cable but cost free. It will be what I think cable should already be. It will be TV that is actually paid for by the ads that run during the shows. I think they will eventually attract almost 100% of the existing cable channels to their app, and the content will be little different from that found on cable.
If you are looking to get streaming digital content, but for free, Pluto TV is a great place to start!
6. Tubi
Tubi is a free streaming app owned by FOX Corporation. They partner with big name production companies to deliver their back catalogue of content. They have movies and TV shows that you have actually heard of.
To keep this app free of cost and available without a subscription, they play ads during the content, just like commercials during a show on cable. There tend to be fewer ads on Tubi than there are on cable.
Tubi streams live news as well. They mostly offer different FOX news affiliates from different cities, which makes sense because the platform is owned by FOX.
This is a pretty great app for finding great content for free.
7. Crackle
Crackle is pretty similar to Tubi. It is the digital streaming distribution arm of a large content production company with the aim of monetizing views of a back catalog of content through advertisements. Crackle is the over-the-top streaming platform of Sony Pictures.
They offer television shows and movies you've heard of for free to viewers in exchange for being able to show them ads.
Crackle does produce their own original content that you can only get from their platform.
Crackle is another awesome option for someone who wants to join the streaming revolution but doesn't want to pay for any subscriptions.
8. VUDU
VUDU is a little different from all of the other services I've mentioned in this article. So far the services have either been subscription model (where you pay a monthly service fee to stream content on demand) or they have been advertiser supported (where content is free, but you have to watch commercials throughout your show).
VUDU is like a digital rental service. It is kind of like an online Redbox. You can browse through their catalog of options, both television series and movies, and you can pay to rent or buy what you want to watch.
VUDU is owned by Fandango Media, and I think I remember hearing something about them being purchased by or partnered with Walmart.
I have never rented or purchased a video from VUDU, because they have another way to use their content. They also offer a small subset of their catalog to users for free with ads. And the subset changes regularly, so there is always something new to watch on there.
VUDU is a great option to have because you can have access to great content for free, or you can rent or buy anything you want to watch. Being able to rent or buy anything is pretty great, because if you have a specific movie in mind that you want to watch, but it isn't available on any of the streaming services, you might be tempted to pirate that film and watch it illegally. With the option to pay for it, you can watch it legally.
Conclusion
It really feels like we are living in the future. It wasn't all that long ago that people only had a few channels to watch and they were stuck with the programming those channels gave them.
There are people who were born into the age of streaming video, who have only ever known content to be very easy to access. But for everyone else, they can really appreciate how awesome it is to be able to choose exactly what you want to watch, exactly when you want to watch it.
In this article I chose to exclude the video streaming apps on my phone which are not primarily for streaming the sorts of content which would have been found on cable or network television. I left out YouTube. I left off the social media apps which have a feature which allows content producers to offer video content such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
This has been a list of the 8 streaming apps which I think are so great that I would never delete them off my phone and I would download again if I got a new phone. I really like them and I hope you look into them if you are interested in watching shows and movies on your phone.
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