Cancelled Netflix? This new Amazon app streams great TV and movies for free

(Image credit: Amazon)

published 18 May 2022

Did you cancel Netflix because it was just too expensive? Amazon has you covered. Its new streaming app gives you some of the very best bits of Amazon Prime Video for free – and you don't need a Prime subscription to access it. That's because the new Freevee app is ad-supported – and so far at least it doesn't blast you with endless ads either. I've been watching the daft but addictive crime drama Bosch Legacy on the service and I'm really impressed.

If you already have Amazon Prime then Freevee is already in the app or in your browser, but there's also a dedicated app that you can run on (deep breath) iOS, iPadOS and Android, Apple TV, Roku, Android TV and Google TV, LG and Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV sticks and boxes, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Freevee vs Amazon Prime Video: what's the difference?

Freevee is the new name for IMDB TV, and Amazon appears to have two goals in mind: one, to attract people who won't pay for Amazon Prime and make some money by selling ads and product placement; and two, to tempt people into the Amazon ecosystem – so for example while you can watch Harry Bosch do his thing on Freevee, some of the big releases such as the imminent season 3 of The Boys will remain Prime-only.

Disney may have fallen out with Netflix, but it clearly hasn't fallen out with Amazon: in addition to its own Amazon Studios productions, Amazon has signed a deal with Disney to offer films like Deadpool and Deadpool 2, Logan and The Post for limited periods. It also has over 75 streaming channels.

One of the interesting things about Freevee is that Amazon is experimenting with a new kind of product placement. Fans of US TV shows will be very familiar with the often very blatant product placement for phones, laptops and cars in their favourite series; according to AdWeek, Amazon has created a virtual product placement system that'll enable it to insert such items virtually – and change them later.

As with most streaming services, the selection you get will differ from country to country. You can find out what's available to you by visiting the Freeview page on your country's Amazon site. This is the UK link and this is the US one.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).