With quarantine still in place and vaccines still on limited supply, we are still stuck in our homes for months to come. And one way to entertain ourselves during this time is by watching movies and tv shows. One of the most popular streaming app is Netflix and I actually subscribed to the premium plan at Php549 per month. Though it may seem expensive, you can share with family and friends and that monthly fee becomes less per person. These days some people are even selling premium accounts for as low as Php50! But browsing through Google Play store I stumbled on 3 streaming Apps that offers a huge collection of movies and tv shows some not even on netfix but most importantly these apps are FREE.

Movzy is a fairly new app which was released January 2021 but with already more than 100 thousand donwloads. The description is misleading as it states that the app is for movie trailers and music. Opening the app you'll be welcomed by trending movies which are usually the latest releases. Beyond Netflix, the app offers other titles from HBO, Amazon Prime, and even Disney+. Aside from movies the app also offers a lot of tv shows to choose from as well as music. It even has radio stations to listen to. 

This seems to good to be true and it usually is. For an app that is FREE we expect ads to pop up from time to time and upon clicking on a movie or tv show, a 15 to 30 second ad will before the video plays and while watching you should expect banner ads to show at the top of the screen or have another 15 to 30 second ad pop-up every 10 minutes or so. It's quite annoying to cut to an ad in the middle of an intense scene but you have to remember that you are getting the service for FREE. The longest uninterrupted watch that I experienced was 30 minutes. To remove the ads you just have to invite 5 of your friends to download the app by sending them a link generated from the app.

Next app is Yizzu which was released a month earlier than Movzy. Movzy seems to be a clone of Yizzu as it has the same user interface with the same exact titles available. Similar to Movzy, Yizzu also has ads popping up everywhere and will also disrupt your movie watching every 10 minutes or so. Yizzu also sends notications with messages that seems like the app wants to be your friend. The main difference between Yizzu and Movzy is on how to remove the ads. Aside from the option of inviting friends, you can subscribe for as low as 120-245 pesos per month.

Last app I tried is Movemax. Also a fairly new app released only last December 2020. Now unlike the first 2 apps, Movemax only offers movies and you wont find any tv shows or music on the app. As far as the selection goes, available movies are up to date and has movies from Netflix and HBO to name a few. What I like about Movemax is that the ads on the app only pop up at the start of the movie. During the movie I didn't experience any disruption from ads. Movemax also doesnt have the option of removing ads but for a mere 15-30 second one time ad, it's not as annoying as Movzy and Yizzu.

All 3 apps are available on Google Play Store on smartphones but they are not available on the smart tv app store. Even if you figured out how to install the apps on your smart tv, all 3 apps are not designed for TVs hence is quite useless. To watch movies on larger screens, the workaround is screen mirroring or casting to your Smart TV.