The Play Movies and TV app was first released in January and enabled users of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to access the app's movies and TV programs that are streamed through Wi-Fi. While it may sound odd considering the fact that Apple has its own iTunes Store that provides the same services, it's still a useful feature for those who would like to cross stream between Apple and Google.
In the past, using the Play Movies and TV apps on an iPhone or iPad would need an Internet connection which should be good enough to support streaming videos. This time, iOS users can enjoy untethered viewing which has been enjoyed by Android users for quite some time now.
Other features of the update include the app's accessibility enhancements, stability improvements and bug fixes. However, the app is still limited in some of its features.
Users of the app don't have access to buy or rent movies. They are allowed to play back media which had been purchased online through Google's Play Store or through an Android device. Google would need to give Apple a portion of any sales made through its app.
Users who are loyal to the Apple ecosystem may show little interest to use Google Play over iTunes when buying movies or TV shows. However, those who are into switching back and forth between the two platforms regularly may find the update a relevant feature.
Users must remember that once a video has been downloaded, it is stored in the device's local storage. They cannot move the media to an SD card or to an external storage.
Users must also remember that video streaming and video downloading are only available through Wi-Fi connection. With this feature, users can view downloaded media anytime and anywhere without having to be connected to an Internet.
The purchased movies and TV shows in Google Play cannot be downloaded to most PCs. On the other hand, Chromebook users are given access to watch videos offline.
The new Google Play Movies & TV is compatible with Apple devices such as iPhone, iPod touch and iPad as long as they run iOS 6.0 or newer. It is now available on the App Store for free.
Last month, Google's official iOS app for its music streaming service, Google Play Music, was updated and featured music deletion and other enhancements.
Another addition to the iOS ecosystem is Google's e-reading service dubbed as Google Play Books. The app, which was last updated in December the previous year with an added support for OCR-based searching, hasn't had any major update since.
