By Guest Contributor Dan Martin

Science Fiction On Mobile

Science fiction fans have unlimited movies and television series to explore. 

Exhausting all the options is almost impossible. New content appears every day and a true aficionado is always up to date with the latest episodes.

It’s more comfortable to watch movies and series on a TV or your laptop. But, there are times when you don’t have access to that.

Say you’re stuck on a train, with 5 hours of traveling ahead of you. So why not use your mobile phone to catch up on your favorite series?

You don’t even have to worry about having an Internet connection. Most services let you download content so that you can watch it while you’re off the grid.

There’s plenty of Android apps for streaming content.

They can help you turn your smartphone into your own portable smart TV whenever you want. Android is a great mobile operating system that helps you make the best out of your phone.

You can read more about the OS on the Joy of Android website. You can also find many more ideas about how to enjoy your smartphone there.

So, here are some of the best Android apps available at the moment where you can discover and enjoy great science fiction - with and without a subscription.

With these, you can stream your favorite SF movies and television series anywhere, anytime. You just need to have an Internet connection at some point.

There are a lot of apps available, but these are some of the best.

1. Tubi TV

Tubi is available in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Mexico.

It’s a great alternative to the paid-subscription apps like Netflix. Yet, it isn’t available in Europe due to its laws.

Everything about this app is free. It doesn’t even need an account—that’s only optional. But signing up lets you queue up movies or get personalized recommendations.

Also, it’s fully supported by ads. But, the ads are short and don’t pop up too often. 

Tubi doesn’t offer any high-profile exclusive content or the newest releases. Yet, it has a large library to choose from.

Most of the titles are all-time favorites and you have all the chances of rewatching your favorite old flick on Tubi TV.

2. Yidio

This app is quite different from the others. It hosts its content as well as tells you where to go to watch a certain title.

Yidio collects movies and series from a lot of sources, like Hulu, Netflix, Tubi, and many more. Some of these will require a one-time payment or a subscription before watching.

There’s also free content on the app—in a special, separate section.

To see which of the movies and series is free, you have to look for the cover image that says “Totally free!”. You should expect to have to go through ads as well.

3. Crackle

Crackle has a large content library—around 700 movies and 100 series.

However, it’s been reported that most of the series on this app has a few episodes or seasons missing. The app is supported by ads but is completely free otherwise.

You don’t have to sign up or link your credit card to use the app. However, as you’d expect, there are some advantages to having an account—synchronization over devices, watch lists, and so forth.

But it’s all optional.

This is usually the case with free content. You can expect around 8 advertisements per 1 hour and a half of streaming.

4. Pluto TV

Pluto TV is more about streaming live television or on-demand content.

The app is completely free, but it supports itself with advertisements. You can browse around 250 television channels with no charge—but with commercial breaks.

There are also on-demand streaming options.

Pluto TV has some popular titles that you can watch anytime. However, that content will be at least a couple of years old—this means that this isn’t a good place to check up on your latest episodes.

5. Vudu

This streaming service is owned by Walmart and has been around for some time, but it is only available in the United States.

Rather than having to pay a monthly subscription to watch content, with Vudu, you can pay for individual titles whenever you want to watch them.

There’s also some content that you can watch for free, but there will be ads.

You can rent certain titles or you can directly buy them. However, you shouldn’t expect Walmart-like discounts—unless you’re a new subscriber, there's not a big difference.

6. Netflix

Everyone has heard of this one.

Available in most countries, Netflix offers a large collection of movies and TV series—but at one of the highest prices on the market. However, the company invests most of the money in creating original, quality content for the users.

Even if you have to pay a monthly subscription, your money is well spent with this app.

You can share your account with your friends and enjoy the content with them. The company focuses on offering a good user experience, and you can feel that.

7. Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime is another quality on-demand video service that should be taken into consideration.

It also comes with a monthly fee. But there is a lot of content to browse—from TV series, movies, original content, and even music.

The service is also focused on offering quality and value for the customer’s money, and it shows.

There are a couple of adjacent services that come with your subscription, from same-day delivery of retail merchandise to Kindle ebooks. Those can be useful if you’re already inside the Amazon environment.

What To Keep In Mind

There’s a lot of apps on Android that can help you with watching science fiction content online.

Some might be restricted in your area. But you can always use a virtual private network to access them—as long as there are no conflicts with the laws of your country.

To find the right app for you, you just need to ask yourself what you want.

For science fiction aficionados, a free app with outdated titles will probably not be enough.

A paid subscription can offer more up-to-date titles and even original content that you can’t find elsewhere. However, for casual watchers or people who want to rewatch old-school movies sometimes, a free app is probably sufficient.

About the author: Dan Martin shares his newfound knowledge with other Android enthusiasts on joyofandroid.com. Dan also enjoys photography and cooking steak.

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