How to download any YouTube, Netflix, Amazon or Hulu video to your phone: Want to watch your favourite YouTube videos offline, or download any Netflix or Amazon Prime movie/TV show to your iPhone, iPad or Android device? Here’s how you can do just that.
In the bad old days, video streaming services used to only allow online access to their movies and shows. Which meant you had to have a decent WiFi connection, or an unlimited data contract, to catch up on your favourite TV show or watch a film on the move.
Thankfully things are getting better, with the likes of Netflix and Amazon now offering the ability to download a selection of their content for offline viewing. In fact, we recently put together a guide on how to download movies and shows to your phone, using services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Sky Go and BBC iPlayer.
Sadly even these services are rather restrictive. You often get a set period to start watching your downloaded video, with movies and shows self-deleting just 24 hours after you start watching them. And the selection available for download often isn’t anywhere near the full catalogue of videos that you can stream, in the case of services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Read next: Best movies to download from Netflix right now
But there are thankfully ways around these restrictions. Here’s how to download any movie or show on Netflix, Amazon or Hulu right now, as well as video from services such as YouTube and HBO Now.
How to download any Netflix, Amazon or Youtube video to your phone: PlayOn Cloud
PlayOn Cloud is a nifty little app for iOS (the Android version is due imminently) which allows you to connect with a number of on-demand video streaming services and download absolutely everything on offer.
The streaming services supported by PlayOn Cloud are:
Netflix
Amazon Prime Instant Video
YouTube
Hulu
HBO Now
Yahoo! View
ABC
CBS
Fox
NBC
The CW
PBS
With the likes of Netflix, you’ll need to login to your account in order to download movies and shows. But with services like YouTube, you can get downloading immediately.
Once you select a movie, show or video to download, it will be recorded to the cloud. You can then choose to download this to any phone or tablet, using the PlayOn Cloud app. Even if a movie or a show is removed from Netflix (or whichever service you downloaded it from), your recording will remain in the cloud to be accessed at any time, for 30 full days. And once you download it to your device, it’s yours to watch over and over, for as long as you like.
Each recording costs you one credit, which you can top up for a small fee (99 cents in the US). But when you first sign up, you’ll receive five free credits to get you started.
Is PlayOn Cloud legal?
PlayOn Cloud is protected by fair use as established in The Betamax Case, the same statute that protects the DVR and the VCR before it. Recording content that is legally available to you for the purpose of time shifting is well established as legal activity.
You can check out more on the subject at PlayOn Cloud’s blog.
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