Since 2012, more than 25 million people have cut their cable subscriptions and opted for online streaming. Of course, while we love streaming movies and TV shows, it’s easy to rack up a handful of subscriptions trying to find new things to watch, and it can add up super fast. If you like watching a variety of shows and don’t want to get nickel and dimed with all the various streaming services, you may be looking for some free TV apps to watch shows and movies for free and branch out.
We’ve collected a list of five of the best free TV apps to help you cut your streaming fees and make sure you still get plenty of entertainment for free! (And if you’re looking for even more great streaming content, we have the definitive list of free streaming services offering access.)
Here are five of the best free TV apps that have pretty freaking good libraries of popular/classic shows:
1. Pluto TV
Pluto TV offers a variety of cable channels and on-demand movies and TV shows. Using their free app, you can live stream channels that offer a variety of popular shows and movies.
Unlike other streaming services like Netflix, you won’t find original movies and shows that are produced by Pluto TV, but you will find ample rebroadcasts of other shows you recognize that are aired on major networks from a variety of genres. You can also catch some news and sports channels which are accessible through the site, as well as various other niche channels that are tailored for tech lovers and video gamers.
The Pluto TV app is available to download for free on nearly all devices and requires no login or credit card.
Popular Shows Available on the Free PlutoTV App:
- Criminal Minds
- NCIS
- Iron Chef
- The Walking Dead
- The First 48
- This Old House
- Star Trek
- Forensic Files
- Beverly Hills 90210
- Storage Wars
2. Crackle
Crackle is another free online streaming service that hosts a variety of movies and TV shows, along with some Crackle-exclusive in-house content. The app is available on both iOS and Google Play and is available for download on most smart TVs.
While you won’t find the latest blockbuster movies on this app, you will find a large variety of titles to browse. Crackle has plenty of free movies, as long as you don’t mind watching some ads to keep the app free. While most users say you’ll see fewer ads than traditional TV, there are still some to sit through. With over 1,000 movies available to stream at any time, you’ll be sure to find something to watch!
Popular Shows to Watch on the Free Crackle TV App:
- Unsolved Mysteries
- Kitchen Nightmares
- Shameless
- Doc Martin
- Everybody Hates Chris
- McLeod’s Daughters
- Sister Sister
- The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross
3. Amazon Freevee
Another free streaming service is Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDb TV). The service is available to use through your Amazon account, so any device you use Amazon, you can use IMDb — including Apple and Android and gaming consoles like Xbox and PlayStation.
Amazon Freevee has more of the more recognizable movie titles if you’re looking for popular blockbusters and cult classics. Freevee also has some original content as well, so you may just find a new favorite.
Freevee also offers a pretty sizable selection of mainstream TV shows. Some major titles include Chicago Fire, Lost, and 24, but you may be limited to one or two seasons of each show on this free TV app.
Popular Shows to Watch on the Free Amazon Freevee App:
- Mad Men
- Bones
- The X-Files
- Murder, She Wrote
- Saturday Night Live
- Project Runway
- Batman
- Pokemon
- House Hunters
- The Wire
4. Tubi
Tubi is another free TV app that’s available on most devices including iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV devices. Tubi boasts around 45,000 titles to stream for free, which puts it near the top in terms of variety of shows and movies available to watch for free.
Of course, if you’re looking for the most popular and recent titles, you may not be able to find them on Tubi, but you will find some hilarious B-movies, and there are plenty!
As of this writing, there are a variety of TV shows for kids and adults you may recognize with a bit of nostalgia — such as the Flintstones, Scooby Doo, along with Alf, Garfield, and GI-Joe. Tubi is easy to use, free, and easy to download without any subscription needed.
Popular Shows to Watch on the Free Tubi TV App:
- Naruto
- Forensic Files
- This Old House
- Duck Dynasty
- My Crazy Ex
- Merlin
- Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Fear Factor
- Transformers
5. YouTube
YouTube hosts a lot more free content than the makeup videos we all binged in 2015! You can now watch a variety of TV shows for both kids and adults on YouTube, along with a variety of movies.
YouTube Primetime Movies features titles like The Mask, Godzilla, The Dukes of Hazard and shows like Kitchen Nightmares, Sailor Moon, and Iron Chef. You can watch dozens of titles completely free with ads. YouTube can be watched on any device or through their free TV app on most smart TVs.
Of course, if you can’t find what you’re looking for for free, YouTube also offers a variety of TV shows and movies you can rent or buy from their platform as well.
Popular Shows to Watch Free on YouTube:
- Wolfblood
- Iron Chef
- Inuyasha
- Sailor Moon Crystal
- Dawson’s Creek
- Dr. G: Medical Examiner
- Tin Man
- Highlander
- Andromeda
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