Amazon Prime members will now be able to download movies to watch offline through iOS and Android apps as part of their subscription. Previously the feature was only available on Amazon’s own Fire devices.
It’s an attractive weapon in the battles with other streaming video services, though does come with several strings. The feature appears to cover both full-fledged Amazon Prime members and the UK-based Amazon Prime Instant Video service (which offers the video streaming as a standalone monthly subscription without the other Prime benefits.)
Not all videos available to stream through a Prime Membership will be available for download: some will remain streaming only thanks to licensing terms. At the moment it appears Columbia Pictures and Sony titles are most likely to be blocked from downloads.
Other terms appear to be similar to those already in place for Fire users. That includes a total of 25 downloaded videos at any time and a two-device limit on downloading any title. There’s also a viewing limit of 15 to 30 days (depending on title) after downloading to start watching a title and then 48 hours after starting watching to finish. (It appears that once you hit this limit, you can’t redownload it unless you buy or rent it on a standalone basis.)
As you’d expect, any videos you’ve downloaded through a Prime membership will be unavailable to view once your membership ends.
While you can download with a single tap from the Amazon website, to watch the downloaded video you’ll need the dedicated Amazon Video app. On iOS that’s available through the iTunes App Store, but on Android you’ll need to use the new Amazon Underground store, which itself needs to be installed through Amazon’s site as it isn’t supported by Google Play.