Key Takeaways
- Apple TV 4K offers top-notch HDR support, great performance and a sleek aluminium remote.
- You can find quality content for free on Apple TV if you know which apps to download.
- YouTube, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Plex offer a wide range of content, from professional to cult classics.
The Apple TV 4K is one of the more expensive add-on media streamers you can buy, and for good reason: It’s fast, supports all the major HDR standards, gives you access to a ton of apps, and now it even comes with a sturdy aluminum remote that charges over USB-C. Spend money on the top-of-the-line version and you’ll also get access to Thread, Ethernet, and even extra storage.
Just because you’ve spent a lot of money on the hardware doesn’t mean you have to pay even more for content. In fact, there are plenty of quality movies and shows you can watch for free on your Apple TV; it’s just a matter of knowing which apps to download.
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1 Youtube
Don’t overlook the obvious
YouTube / Pocket-lint
Youtube
- Featured Shows
- Kitchen Nightmares, Merlin
- Featured Movies
- Clueless, Terminator 3 (2003), How to Train Your Dragon, Mean Girls, Star Trek
It’s easy to take YouTube for granted, especially if your only knowledge of it comes from MrBeast or what your kids watch after school. In fact, YouTube has tons of professionally produced content that is as good or better than the content on paid subscription services, especially if you’re looking for content that informs or educates. Of course, a little skepticism is warranted and you should always consider the qualifications of the creators you watch. For example, science content should come from practicing scientists whenever possible.
The hardest part is finding the right channel. Here are some of my favorites, listed in no particular order with a short description:
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2 Pluto TV
When you want to see something now
Pluto TV / Pocket-lint
Pluto TV
- Featured Shows
- The Andy Griffith Show, Sanford and Son, The Twilight Zone, Charmed
- Featured Movies
- Top Gun, Spotting, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Some people still crave a form of broadcast TV. I’m not usually one of them, but even I can admit that the idea of ​​a steady stream of movies and TV shows, broken only by ads, at the click of a button is appealing. Pluto TV satisfies that rare craving I feel. The best version of the service is probably in the US; streaming rights vary in other countries, so you might get fewer channels or lower quality.
Easily switch between thematic channels to see what’s coming up next.
Thankfully, there’s always plenty of programming to choose from across news, comedy, drama, and other genres. Pluto seems to specialize in classic and kid-friendly TV, so it’s the place to go if you want to binge-watch shows like Frasier, I Love Lucy, and Naruto. The whole app is organized like your cable provider’s TV guide, so you can easily flip through thematic channels to see what’s on next.
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3 Tubi
Finding the Gemstones
Tubi
Tubi
- Featured Movies
- Don’t Tell Mom That the Babysitter Died, Child’s Play, White House Down, Knives Out, It
- Featured Shows
- Hemlock Grove, Babylon 5, Spartacus, Gotham, Columbo
Frankly, most of what Tubi has to offer is terrible. You can watch anything it hosts on demand, with the occasional ad, but the company is clearly stuffing its library with a ton of B- and Z-grade material to fill it out. But there are some A-list titles worth watching, and you might stumble upon a cult classic that’s hard or impossible to find anywhere else.
For example, at the time of writing, several classic Werner Herzog films are showing, including Cobra Verde and Aguirre: The Wrath of God. You never know when an opportunity like this will come along, so I keep my Tubi on hand.
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Four Plex
More than a local media library
Plex / Pocket Lint
Plex
- Featured Shows
- Broadchurch, The Kids in the Hall, The Fall
- Featured Movies
- Warrior, A Walk to Remember, Heat, Halloween (1978)
Plex is best known as a media server platform that lets you watch your own locally hosted videos, and this is still the main reason I recommend it. Movies come and go from third-party services, so if you can find the storage to build a local library, that can be the best and most consistent way to find movies to watch. With the right conversion tools, you can even import your old DVD and VHS collections.
You can also set up DVR recording of digital television broadcasts.
Plex has slowly expanded the amount of content it hosts, and now rivals Tubi and, to a lesser extent, Pluto TV. Those apps are still great in their own right, but Plex is extremely useful because it lets you use live and on-demand content alongside your local files. With a little effort, you can even set up DVR recording of broadcast digital TV.
Plex does offer a subscription service called Plex Pass, but it’s only intended to enhance your local library with features like offline caching and remote access; it’s not required for Plex’s on-demand titles or TV streams.
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FAQ
Q: Is Apple TV+ free?
Not strictly speaking, but you get three months free when you buy an Apple device, and you may come across similar plans from other companies: T-Mobile includes access as part of its Go5G plans. If you don’t have a promotional plan, you can only use Apple TV+ for seven days, after which you’ll be charged a subscription fee.
