Google Introduces Play Movies and TV App to iOS

Wish you could play media purchased or rented through Google Play on an iOS device? Now you can, thanks to the release of a new app by Google on Wednesday. The search giant announced the news on its Google Play Twitter account, and made sure to mention its popular $35 streaming dongle, Chromecast, just in case you didn’t already know it existed. The app itself looks very much like it does if you visited Google Play from an Android device, with tabs showing Watch Now, My Movies and My TV Shows. The only caveat is that you can’t purchase content directly from the app, though it still offers plenty of functionality.

While the inability to purchase content is no surprise, the lack of offline playback is another big drawback of the app—you won’t be able to sync content for playback at a later time without an Internet connection, which is hugely disappointing. The app also doesn’t offer the useful information cards that pop up when you pause content, so you’re getting a fairly barebones experience compared to if you viewed the content on an Android device.

Those faults aside, the app is a solid addition because it offers anyone who is invested in Google’s ecosystem a quick and dirty way to access that content. If you are deeply invested, chances are high that you own a Chromecast, so it’s a nice and efficient way to beam everything right to your TV from your iOS device. Google typically offers tremendous iOS apps, usually on par or better than on Android, but that’s not the case with the search giant’s latest attempt. Of course, some of the restrictions are on Apple. You can download the app from the App Store now for free.