What is Movies Anywhere? Here's what you need to know

Consumers have several different storefronts to purchase content in this age where we purchase and watch our entertainment from digital and streaming sources. There’s iTunes, Google Play Store, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, and many more. As a result, many, if not most, movie fans have their digital collection of films spread out among all these outlets. At least, that was the case until 2014, when Disney created at the time was dubbed Disney Movies Anywhere. It allowed people who purchased Disney movies digitally to access them across several storefronts without paying again to watch the same film on each outlet. In 2017, it changed its name to just Movies Anywhere, thanks to other major Hollywood studios joined up to support the same service for their digital library of films.

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Today, the service supports many digital film stores and some TV and internet services. Here’s what you need to know about Movies Anywhere and how you can sign up to use this handy service.

What is Movies Anywhere?

As we mentioned earlier, Movies Anywhere is a Disney-controlled digital movie locker service. It enables supported digital films to be synced up to several online storefronts when they are purchased. Comcast cable TV customers can also watch them on their set-top box with its Xfinity service. In addition, there are apps for the service that are available for a variety of platforms, and you can also watch all of your supported films on the web via the Movies Anywhere website.

Where is the service available?

At the moment, Movies Anywhere is strictly for US consumers. There’s no word if Disney plans to expand the service to other parts of the world.

Can I purchase digital movies on the Movies Anywhere apps or website?

No. Movies Anywhere is not a storefront all by itself. It’s a service that serves to sync up your movie purchases from several different storefronts. For example, if you buy Avengers: Endgame on iTunes, the film will now also appear automatically in any of the other supported digital storefronts that are linked to your Movies Anywhere account.

Can I redeem my digital movie codes in new DVD and/or Blu-Ray movies on the service?

As long as the DVDs and Blu-Rays come from one of the Movies Anywhere-supported Hollywood studios, you can redeem your code found by purchasing those discs to add the digital version of that movie to your Movies Anywhere library. You go to the Movies Anywhere redeem page, type in the code, and you should be all set.

What digital movie stores support Movies Anywhere?

Here’s the current list of digital storefronts that you can link together with your Movies Anywhere account?

• iTunes – Apple’s digital movie store.
• Google Play Store – The Android-based digital film source from Google.
• YouTube – Also owned by Google; any movie purchased on Google Play Store also shows up on your YouTube movie library, and vice versa, regardless if they support Movies Anywhere.
• Amazon Prime Video – The digital storefront owned, obviously, by Apple.
• Microsoft Movies & TV – The storefront owned by Microsoft is mainly for Windows 10 and Xbox users.
• Vudu – Fandango owns this storefront.
• Xfinity – This is just for Comcast cable TV customers.
• Verizon FiOS – Subscribers of Verizon’s FiOS Internet and TV series can use it.
• DirecTV – For users of AT&T’s satellite TV service.

What movie studios support their digital films with the service?

Fore of the major Hollywood studios currently allow their digital films to support Movies Anywhere. They include Disney (which includes movies acquired from 20th Century Fox), Universal, Warner Bros., and Sony. This covers many major movie franchises, including Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Aliens, Predator, Avatar, Die Hard, DC movies, Spider-Man, Jurrasic Park, Harry Potter, and many, many more.

What movie studios don’t currently support Movies Anywhere?

As of this writing, Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM/UA are not supporting the service. That means if you want to buy a Star Trek, Transformers, Hunger Games, Twilight, or James Bond film on one of the Movies Anywhere-supported storefronts, they won’t automatically show up in the rest of your libraries. Hopefully, their boycott of this service will end shortly.

Do any TV shows support Movies Anywhere?

The answer, oddly enough, is, “Mostly, no.” As the name suggests, Movies Anywhere is supposed to be a movies-only digital locker service, so if you buy a season of your favorite TV show, even if it comes from one of the supported Hollywood studios, it will stay in the storefront where you bought it. That being said, a minimal number of TV miniseries and movies are indeed supported by the service.

What platforms support the Movies Anywhere app?

You can access the standalone app from a variety of platforms and devices:

• iOS/Apple TV
• Android
• Amazon Fire TV/Fire tablets
• Chromecast
• NVIDIA Shield TV
• Roku-based TVs/set-top boxes and sticks
• Microsoft’s Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X consoles

In addition, you can watch your library of films at the service’s website on your Windows or Mac PC. It supports Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge browsers. Linux-based PCs do not support the Movies Anywhere site.

How do I sign up for Movies Anywhere?

It’s pretty simple to sign up for a Movies Anywhere account. Again, this service is just for US consumers. If you live in the US, here’s what you need to do.

1. Go to the Movies Anywhere website and click on the “Get Started” logo on the top right part of the site.

2. It will take you to a screen where you can choose to use your Google or Facebook account to create your Movies Anywhere account if you have one. If you choose not to use this method, you can manually type in your preferred email address, along with your first name and password, to establish your account.

3. Finally, it will take you to a screen where you will be asked to link your newly established Movies Anywhere account to the supported digital storefront that you already use. If you don’t want to do this right away, that’s no problem; you can go back to this screen at any time by going to your account profile on the Movies Anywhere website.

Can I set up separate profiles for others to access my Movies Anywhere account?

Yes, you can! If you have kids or other family members that you want to share your Movies Anywhere library of films with, here’s how to set them up with their own profiles.

1. Go to the Movies Anywhere website, log into your account, and then click on your own profile. You should see an “Add Profile” selection in the menu. Click on that option to continue.

2. You are now in the Add Profile section. Just write up the name you want to use for the new profile, and add an (optional) profile image.

3. You can then decide if you want to limit the movies library you have for the person using this profile by its MPAA rating. A slider lets you select the rating, which means if the profile is for a child, they can be limited to watching just G or PG-rated films from your library.

How many streams at once can I watch from the service?

If each person on the same account is watching a different movie, the Movies Anywhere website or app allows up to four simultaneous streams at once. It also supports up to two simultaneous streams of the same movie at once on one account. Keep in mind that your movie library can also be streamed on all of the supported digital storefronts as well, just in case four streams at once is not enough.

Does the Movies Anywhere app support 4K and/or HDR streaming?

If you bought a 4K digital movie, it will stream at that resolution on the app, assuming your device or platform can support it. However, the app currently only supports movies with the HDR10 standard. It does not support movies that use the competing Dolby Vision HDR standard.

Does the app support movie downloads for offline viewing?

Yes. You can download movies on up to eight separate devices at once with the Movies Anywhere app for offline viewing. You can keep your devices offline for up to 90 days before the downloads expire. One big limitation is that the Movies Anywhere app does not support 4K or HDR movies for downloads.

Can I continue watching a film on Movies Anywhere where I left off on another device?

Yes, you can! If you watch a film on, say, the Roku app and stop in the middle, you can continue where you ended in the movie on, for example, the Android Movies Anywhere app.

What is Screen Pass?

Screen Pass is a recently added feature to the service. Basically, it will allow you to lend most of your library of movies to anyone else who has a Movies Anywhere account. With Screen Pass, you can lend up to three movies a month to others. Once you notify your family or friend that you are letting them borrow a movie to watch, they have 14 days to accept it. When they do, they then have 72 hours to watch that movie.  One nice thing is that you can, in theory, share the same movie with up to three accounts per month. The best feature is that Screen Pass is available for free.

Here’s how it works:

1. After you log into your Movies Anywhere account, you can view which movies are available to share via Screen Pass. Just go to your My Movie section, and then you can see the My Screen Pass Eligible Movies list.
2. Pick the film you want to share with someone else, and on its details page, tap on the Screen Pass button.
3. After that, follow the screen instructions to send the movie you picked to someone else so they can watch it for free.

You also have the option of sending your entire list of eligible Screen Pass movies to someone, so they can pick which one they watch to watch for free.

• After you log into your Movies Anywhere account, tap or click on Settings and tap or click on Screen Pass.
• Then select the Share List of My Eligible Movies option. After that, click or tap on Use a Screen Pass.
• After that, follow the screen instructions to send your Screen Pass movie list to someone else so they can pick and watch one for free.

The company says about 80% of the Movies Anywhere library will support Screen Pass; some studios will not allow certain titles to be loaned out, at least for now. The loaned movies can be watched on every Movies Anywhere app, except for the Roku version, although Movies Anywhere may fix that soon.

What is Watch Together?

The Screen Pass feature of Movies Anywhere recently put in another nice addition: Watch Together. It allows up to 10 people to watch the same movie at once, online and remotely. Anyone with a Movies Anywhere account who has the same movie as the host, or has a free Screen Pass of that film, can join in and watch the film with everyone else in the group.

The host sends a code to the people that they want to join in the Watch Together party. Once everyone has joined, the host starts the movie. The host also can control the playback of the film for everyone else in the Watch Together party. Anyone in the group can also chat via text or use emojis on screen as well.

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That’s what we can tell you about the Movies Anywhere service and apps.