Movies Anywhere Review: One Library For All Your Purchased Movies

If you often purchase movies online, Movies Anywhere has the power to bring your digital film purchases together into a single library, removing many of the hurdles associated with digital stores and devices. For this reason, it is a good service to use, and at the very least, be aware of.

It is likely that many homes don’t buy digital copies of movies or shows anymore, and especially with the vast number of streaming services now available. For those that still do buy movies online, a major limitation is that buyers are often limited to watching the movie via the digital store where the movie was purchased from.

This is where Movies Anywhere comes in, as it lets you watch your movies – anywhere. Well, mostly anywhere.

Basically, if you purchase a movie from any of the following digital stores, it may be possible to access the digital copy through any of the other digital stores listed below, bringing together all your digital purchases into a single library.

Movies Anywhere supported stores:

• Amazon Prime Video
• Apple TV / iTunes
• DirecTV
• Fandango at Home
• Google Play / YouTube
• Microsoft Store
• Verizon Fios TV
• Xfinity

It is worth pointing out that not every movie is available through Movies Everywhere, so it is sometimes worth confirming a title’s eligibility before purchasing. Depending on the store, users may see a logo or message confirming Movies Everywhere support before buying the movie.

For those that have a Movies Anywhere account already, the movie immediately becomes available to watch through any of the other supported digital stores once purchased.

How Movies Anywhere actually works

Movies Anywhere links all your app store accounts together, making it possible to access all of your movies through any of the apps. Due to this, you do need to actually link your accounts together and this can be done through the Movies Anywhere website.

Once you have created a free account, Movies Anywhere will provide you with the option of linking your Apple TV, DirecTV, Fandango at Home, Google Play, Microsoft Movies & TV, Prime Video, Verizon and Xfinity accounts.

Linking any of these accounts will require you to sign in to those accounts and grant permission for data (typically your purchase history and library contents) to be shared with Movies Anywhere.

Once linked and permissions granted, your library for that app store will become available through Movies Anywhere. This also means supported movies in that library will be available through any of the other app stores you have linked as well.

What it’s like To Use Movies Anywhere

While Movies Anywhere brings your digital store libraries together, making it easy to access any of your movies through any of the supported apps, it is also possible to access all of the Movies Anywhere eligible titles directly through the Movies Anywhere website or app as well.

While many won’t like the idea of downloading another app, this one might be worth the download if you have a substantial digital library. The reason for this is that the Movies Anywhere app can further help to organize the library by grouping movies together.

At the most basic level, movies are grouped by collection (for example, all the Harry Potter or Die Hard Movies) and by genre. However, the app is also able to group movies together based on custom themes. In my library, for example, movies are grouped by Buddy Pictures, Irreverent Movies, Disaster Movies, and Saving The World, among others.

You can also create your own lists as well. As an example, here’s the Favorites list I created.

Another benefit of the mobile Movies Anywhere app is that it allows you to download any of your movies to watch offline. Again, while it might be possible to download videos through your digital store’s app, the Movies Anywhere app keeps all your downloaded titles together.

It also allows you to choose the video quality to maximize the experience or minimize the amount of storage consumed on your device.

In addition to accessing movies you’ve already purchased through supported digital stores, you can also shop for movies without leaving the Movies Anywhere app or website.

As Movies Anywhere is linked to all the major digital stores, this makes it easier to compare prices across those stores and find the best deal at that time. Once you’re ready to make a purchase, you can simply click through to the digital store with the best price and buy the movie.

Once purchased, the new movie will be added to your Movies Anywhere library along with the rest and accessible on all of your devices.

If you’re not quite ready to buy, you can always create a watchlist in the Movies Anywhere app and bookmark movies you plan to buy in the future.

Who should and shouldn’t use Movies Anywhere

If you often buy movies online and can’t remember where you purchased them from, Movies Anywhere is pretty much built for you. I have linked all my accounts and no longer have to check whether a title was purchased from Google Play or Prime Video. Instead, I can now just open either the Google TV or Prime Video app on any of my devices and just start watching the movie.

As an extension of this, I also no longer have to worry about device support. If, for example, I’m using a device that the Apple TV app isn’t available on, I can still access those movies purchased through Apple TV on the same device through the Google TV or Prime Video app.

With the added ability to also shop around for movies, Movies Anywhere has proven useful when looking to secure the very best deals.

Of course, if you don’t often buy movies online, and don’t already own any digital movies, then Movies Anywhere isn’t going to be of much use to you. Likewise, if you only ever buy movies through the one digital store, and can already access the store on all your favorite devices, then we don’t see any real reason for you to use Movies Anywhere.