Looking to Find Where Your Favorite Movies are Streaming for Free? There's an App for That

Long gone are the days when Netflix was the only streaming service in town. Considering that many people now regularly use two or more streaming platforms, remembering where to go for your favorite shows or movies requires some mental gymnastics. As Lifehacker helpfully points out, though, there’s an app that saves you the time and hassle of flitting from Netflix to Hulu to Amazon in search of Back to the Future. (Sorry to say it’s currently on none of the above. We checked.)

JustWatch is a free app that tells you where certain titles are streaming for free. If you don’t have the right subscription, or if your chosen film isn’t streaming anywhere for free, it will also show you where you can rent or buy it and how much it costs. Back to the Future, for instance, costs $4 to rent on iTunes or YouTube, but it’s $1 cheaper on PlayStation, Vudu, and Amazon.

All of the streaming options displayed within the app are completely legal, so you don’t have to worry about infecting your computer with vicious malware. When you download the app, you’ll be prompted to select your country and choose your preferred streaming services. It will also ask for your zip code, which also lets you see which movies are currently playing in cinemas near you.

The app is neatly laid out with different tabs at the bottom displaying new titles, popular titles, cinema (current and upcoming films in theaters), price drops, and your personal watchlist, which you can edit and add to within the app. Additionally, the new titles are sorted by platform and regularly updated. On the day we first tried it, it showed us that Netflix had added 28 new movies and TV shows that day, including The Butterfly Effect, Jason, and The Bill Murray Stories.

The cinema feature is also helpful because it’s faster than going to your local movie theater’s website. After all, time is precious—especially when it stands between you and a viewing of the new Mary Poppins movie.