Streaming services have taken over the entertainment industry over the past decade with platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus being the industry leaders.
Given the sheer number of streaming services available to consumers, it can become a bit of a nuisance having to click off one and scroll through a different one to try and find a new series or film to watch. This is where an app like JustWatch comes in.
JustWatch review – Browse through legal streaming services
After spending some time on JustWatch, navigating through the app, and testing its functionality it has to be said that I was really impressed with what I found.
For someone who has subscriptions to all of the most popular streaming services, having the option to search through the entirety of them all with one click is really helpful and saves a lot of time.
The app is free to use but does give users the option to upgrade to JustWatchPro for an additional cost of £2.29 a month.
However, you can get full use of the app on the free version, so most will probably want to stick with that, as the navigation largely stays the same and is just as easy to use.
I really like how niche some of the categories are on the home screen, including ‘2010s – Top 250 Narrative Features’, and how the app personalises its recommendations for the user depending on what shows they like.
All in all, I’m wondering why I haven’t always had this app downloaded, as if you want the best deal on movies and TV shows, Justwatch helps you find the cheapest price.
Pros
- All the top streaming services are available on the app.
- Personalised recommendations are made depending on your taste in films and television series.
- The timelines feature which displays new releases so you don’t miss new episodes of your favourite shows.
- Great variety on the ‘sort by’ options including ‘IMDB score’ to find critically acclaimed films.
Cons
- The upgraded paid service, JustWatchPro, doesn’t really provide you with anything new other than the removal of ads and a few more filters for your search.
- No point in having it if you’ve only got one or two streaming services.
If you can’t decide which streaming service or app to watch movies with friends to use, then Justwatch can be extremely helpful at showing you what’s on different streaming providers.
The timeline function
One of my favourite aspects of the JustWatch app is the timeline function. This function can be found by clicking the new tab on the bottom menu on the app’s home screen.
This will bring up a page which has a timeline running down the left hand side of the page with dates ranging from today to as far back as you are willing to scroll.
Next to each date will show all new releases from your selected streaming services for that day.
This means that you are never in danger of missing new episodes of your favourite shows or missing new film releases, either originals or films that have been newly added to a streaming service
If you find that you are getting too many shows appearing on this page then you can select which of your streaming services that you want to feature here.
For example, if I just wanted to keep tabs on Amazon and Netflix’s new releases then I’d just tick the Amazon and Netflix icons which are displayed at the top of the page.
You can also filter the results so they just display newly released films as opposed to tv shows and vice versa.
One other thing to note about the timeline page is the function icon which can be found directly underneath the the streaming service icons.
This will bring up a whole host of ways for you to filter your results from Genre to Age rating. JustWatchPro customers have access to a couple more filters here, including production country and runtime.
Being able to scroll through the catalogue of multiple streaming services at the same time, which can help if you’re always looking for new and popular movies to watch.
The app saves time by allowing you to do this, but it also allows you to create your own watchlist, which can help reduce scrolling time even more.
A personalised watchlist
The personalised watchlist is another great feature of JustWatch and one that makes it unique to each and every one of its customers. This watchlist is an opportunity for you to:
- Track what you have and haven’t watched;
- Remind yourself of shows and movies that are on your ‘to-watch’ list;
- Keep track of what episode you’re up to on each series you watch;
- Mark whether you like or dislike a tv show or movie. This will then help shape what the app recommends to you.
When you want to find a specific title, the vast content libraries of JustWatch makes this much easier to do.
Your watchlist is made up of two main tabs; TV series and Movies. Let’s look at how both tabs function.
TV Series
It’s really easy to identify the best app for watching TV shows with Justwatch, as it’ll round up the best of the best for your selection.
To add a tv show to the ‘TV Series’ tab on your watchlist then click the ‘Track shows now’ call to action box. Then search for the tv show which you want to add and hit ‘track show’.
This will then bring up a menu which asks you how much of the show you have already seen so they can get you set up on the right episode.
Once you’ve told the app how many episodes you’ve seen it will then be on your watch list for you to carry on watching.
After you’ve finished watching the show you can then like or dislike it and either keep it in your watchlist as a memoir or click ‘stop tracking’ to remove it from the watchlist.
Movies
To add a movie to the ‘Movies’ tab on your watchlist then click the ‘Add movies now’ call to action box.
Search for the movie you want to add and select ‘watchlist’ if you want to add it to your ‘to-watch’ list, ‘seen’ if you want to keep track of all the films you’ve seen, and then either like it or dislike it depending on how you found the movie.
Common questions about JustWatch
Is JustWatch a free app?
You can sign up for the JustWatch app free of charge and link all your streaming services to the app without an issue. If you want to though, then you can sign up to JustWatchPro which is an upgraded version of the app for £2.29 a month. This upgraded version will give you access to more filters to make your searches more niche, as well as giving you an ad-free experience.
Which streaming services are available on JustWatch?
Every top streaming service in the UK is available on JustWatch including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Apple TV, Hayu, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max and many, many more. Download the app for free to see a full list of all the streaming services available. You will need individual accounts on any streaming service that you want to add to your count in order to watch the content on them.
What happens if a title is available on more than one streaming service?
If you are trying to watch a show that is available on multiple different streaming platforms, then JustWatch will automatically find you the cheapest and quickest option. For example, if there is a show that you have to pay extra for on Amazon Prime but is available for free on All4, then JustWatch will bring up the All4 version for you.
Am I able to find new shows and movies on JustWatch?
Absolutely! JustWatch isn’t just a service to keep track of all the shows and movies that you are already watching but it can be used as a great tool to search for new things to watch and to find things that are similar to what you have already seen and enjoyed. The filtering, even on the free version, is really in-depth and you can go even deeper by signing up to JustWatchPro. In addition to this, the majority of tv shows and movies on the app have trailers that you can watch so you can get a feel for what you are going to watch.
Conclusion
To conclude, I have been extremely impressed with the JustWatch app and the service that it provides to its customers.
I haven’t seen anything else like this on the market and in a world dominated by streaming services, it’s a brilliant way to link them all together in to one functional, user-friendly app.
For anyone who has multiple streaming platforms then I would go as far as to say that it is a must-get due to the fact that it gets rid of a lot of the hassle that is involved with closing and re-opening various streaming apps and scrolling through them all to find something to watch.
In addition, it can be used by film and tv geeks as a way to keep track of all the shows and movies you’ve watched over time.
