Google has a new way to help you find where movies and TV shows are streaming free.
I'm rich Dmarrow. This is Rich on Tech Daily.
One of the side effects of all this cord cutting is that it is confusing. A lot of us are subscribed to a bunch of different streaming services, and sometimes you just don't know where to start when you want to watch something. We've got lots of them available, Netflix, Amazon Prime, all the individual apps from ABC, NBC, the
assorted cable channels. It kind of makes finding something to watch kind of tricky, and sometimes I find myself just paralyzed in saying, you know what, I'm just not gonna watch anything, and I end up just looking at my phone. The one thing you don't want to do with all these subscriptions you're paying for is double pay for something that you're watching. So let's say you want to watch Wonder Woman, so you're rented on iTunes, but you don't realize it just started streaming.
For free on HBO. Google is trying to help.
They have a new feature inside their Google Play Store and the Google Play Movies and TV app. Basically, when you're browsing for things to watch and you select one. Not only are you going to see how much it would cost to rent or buy that movie from Google, but there's a new drop down box, and this lets you know if your movie or TV show is streaming on a service for free.
How handy is that?
So, for instance, if you search for a movie like Ride Along two, which I just did on my phone, it says you can rent it for three dollars buy it for ten dollars, But then there's a drop down box that says it's also streaming on max Goo, which is the app from Cinemax. Then from there, just one more tap and you can install the app if you don't have it, or you can just launch right into
the show or movie if you have the app. Google says they have support for more than two dozen apps right now, including ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Hulu, HBO Now, HBO Go.
I don't know why those two are separate.
Showtime, Amazon Prime, Disney Now, HGTV, b ET, Comedy Central, and more. The one thing that's missing from that list right now is Netflix, but I don't think this is on purpose, because Netflix data is available through other apps, So I think it's just a matter of time before Netflix and Google cut a deal to have their info on there as well. Google's also adding some new ways
to browse for stuff to watch. You can also add videos to a wish list, which is handy I find if you want to see when the movies you want to watch pop up on a service that you pay for, So a lot of times I will basically bookmark the movies I want to watch, but I'll just wait until they hit HBO Go.
Or something like that.
You can also get new recommendations by using the thumbs up and thumbs down to rate titles. Now you're probably thinking yourself, wait a second, I've already seen this in other places. Google is not the only one to do this, and you're right. Roku does something similar. They have something called Universal Search, which is really great. Searches across all their apps so you can see where things are streaming. Apple TV also does this, and on the iPhone, if you have the TV app or on iPad, you can
search for things as well. Just keep in mind that none of these services are perfect. A lot of times you'll find the information as outdated, maybe it's incorrect, or it's incomplete. Sometimes some will be streaming somewhere, but Apple say it's not. So. For instance, I searched for Right Along Too, which was the same movie we searched in Google.
I searched this in.
Apple's TV app, and guess what, I only got the option to rent or buy from iTunes. So either Apple is not getting that information from Cinemax, or it's just not on their database, or who knows.
Now. I search for Rio.
Two on the TV app on Apple and it says it's streaming on FX now and Fox Now. So you're really just gonna have to kind of see which one of these services works best for you. If you're on an iPhone, you're probably gonna use the TV app, If you're on Android, you're probably gonna use Google. If you're on Roku, you're probably gonna use Roku's. One thing I have noticed, though, is a little quirk on Apple TV.
If you're using that, you really want to always search with Siri, because that way it will tell you when things are on different streaming services.
So Apple TV does a really nice job of this.
It'll say, hey, do you want us to open this in you know, Netflix or Amazon or whatever, But you have to be searching with Siri. If you search using iTunes, your old, I'm gonna find movies that are on iTunes.
So it's a little quirk, a little bit different, but you just have to be aware of it.
Now. If you want a dedicated third party app for all of this, the one that I like is called just Watch, and it searches across pretty much all the major services including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Hbo, and more.
There you have it.
Never pay double for a movie or TV show ever. Again, thanks so much for listening. If you like this podcast, be sure to rate and review it in the Apple Podcasts app, and maybe tell a friend about it as well. I'm Rich Dimiro links to everything I mentioned here at richontech dot tv.
I'll talk to you real soon.