Patchy performance
So my review is not about the BFI or the quality of the films; that's not in question at all. My problem is the performance of the app. It's so very patchy and often doesn't stream properly, especially to Chromecast. It's really frustrating because this is my only way that I can actually watch stuff. I wish that this would be fixed. It makes me want to have to cancel my subscription, which I've had for a couple of years now.
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Excellent films but glitchy app
I’m writing this in the hope it can help the tech team improve. I’ve only recently got the app on my smart tv, and as much as I love the films, the subtitles sometimes get stuck-as in the same words will stay up long after the dialogue has continued. I often have to start the film again and fast forward back to that point.
Also, the app doesn’t have memory of what you’ve watched before, or mark your spot if you want to come back to it, again you have to forward to your spot which is very tedious. I know the app is in its infancy so really hope these issues can get sorted quickly because I really love the films!
Also, the app doesn’t have memory of what you’ve watched before, or mark your spot if you want to come back to it, again you have to forward to your spot which is very tedious. I know the app is in its infancy so really hope these issues can get sorted quickly because I really love the films!
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Response from developer
Hello, thank you so much for the feedback! I would find it really useful if you can reach out to bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk so we can explore it more.
great films, but wrong about devices
There are a lot of outstanding films available on the BFI player. There was a problem with English subtitles to films in English not appearing - subtitles are essential to the hard of hearing - but this has cleared up recently. There is still a problem with a pop up appearing, usually every five minutes, stopping the playback claiming incorrectly that 'Your device limit has been reached'. It has to be removed and the film reset, including subtitles. I have not seen any film unaffected by it. There are other error messages, but they are infrequent.
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Response from developer
Hello, thank you so much for the feedback! Please reach out to bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk so we can investigate it further.
Ideal for Cinephobes
Disappointing. Film selection is excellent, but try finding them ! The movie I wanted WAS there, but the search algorithm is atrocious. Despite inputting most of the film title, it would not appear as a suggested title. I had to trawl through pages of titles to find it. As others have said, the forward, rewind and pause tools are ‘basic’. If you select subtitles then pause or rewind playback, it resets without subtitles. Can someone explain the on-screen timings? Watching a film for ten minutes and the elapsed time (or is it?) was 1hr16 mins ?
The app crashed 2 hours into a 3 hour film, so playback continued but was unable to pause playback or…anything! There’s more , but I’m boring myself now…..
The app crashed 2 hours into a 3 hour film, so playback continued but was unable to pause playback or…anything! There’s more , but I’m boring myself now…..
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Response from developer
Hi AndyCole, thank you for your feedback. We would find it really helpful if you could message bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk with all the feedback you've provided and any additional comments you may have so we can start investigating it.
Great service but has interface issues
The range of films and value for money is excellent but I don’t understand why what I see on the BFI iPad app is different from what I see on the BFI Apple TV app. For instance on Apple TV, I can’t see the ‘Mark Kermode presents’ feature, or the playlist feature. Nor does it remember how much of a film you have watched if you don’t complete it all in one sitting. It makes it quite frustrating to use at times.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review. We currently have an early version of BFI Player live on the TV apps and are looking to roll out more features this year. If you have any other feedback, please contact us on bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
For the film connoisseur
I have only just discovered this service and I am impressed with the content and especially for me the catalogue of vintage films and shorts which gives a look at life as it was in say the 50s.
True, the TV apps are still in development but I will certainly hang on as I believe updates are due in the new year.
True, the TV apps are still in development but I will certainly hang on as I believe updates are due in the new year.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback and I'm glad you hear that you're impressed with the catalogue. We currently have an early version of BFI Player live on TVoS, Fire TV, Android TV, LG TV and Samsung. If you have any other feedback, please contact us on bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
A Frustrating and Unreliable Viewing Experience
The BFI Player app is, unfortunately, plagued by issues that make it almost unusable. Despite a decent-looking user interface, the experience of actually playing rented or purchased content is frustratingly inconsistent.
Casting, for example, was riddled with errors. On numerous occasions, I encountered issues when trying to cast content—either it wouldn’t start or, after watching for an hour, it would suddenly stop casting altogether. Switching to AirPlay didn’t improve matters, as it presented its own set of problems. I tried casting to Chromecast, which eventually worked after multiple failed attempts, but not without the AirPlay functionality cutting out beforehand.
Even trying the BFI Player app on my Samsung TV was a disaster. The app wouldn’t play the movie at first, and when it finally did, fast-forwarding more than a minute caused the app to crash every time. To add to the frustration, the app failed to sync my progress across devices, so I had to manually scroll through the timeline to find my place.
Moreover, the lack of an option for offline viewing is a major downside. You’re forced to have a stable internet connection to watch anything, which makes it highly impractical for anyone with inconsistent internet access.
In the end, my experience was overwhelmingly negative. Unless absolutely necessary, I will avoid using the BFI Player app in the future. This time, I only used it because the film I wanted to watch (I Am Love) was unavailable elsewhere.
Casting, for example, was riddled with errors. On numerous occasions, I encountered issues when trying to cast content—either it wouldn’t start or, after watching for an hour, it would suddenly stop casting altogether. Switching to AirPlay didn’t improve matters, as it presented its own set of problems. I tried casting to Chromecast, which eventually worked after multiple failed attempts, but not without the AirPlay functionality cutting out beforehand.
Even trying the BFI Player app on my Samsung TV was a disaster. The app wouldn’t play the movie at first, and when it finally did, fast-forwarding more than a minute caused the app to crash every time. To add to the frustration, the app failed to sync my progress across devices, so I had to manually scroll through the timeline to find my place.
Moreover, the lack of an option for offline viewing is a major downside. You’re forced to have a stable internet connection to watch anything, which makes it highly impractical for anyone with inconsistent internet access.
In the end, my experience was overwhelmingly negative. Unless absolutely necessary, I will avoid using the BFI Player app in the future. This time, I only used it because the film I wanted to watch (I Am Love) was unavailable elsewhere.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback and sorry for the issues that you're encountering. It would be really useful for us to get more information on this in order to help resolve this, please contact us on bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk.
Great Movies, but dreadful Apple TV app!
BFI movies are excellent, vast and varied. It’s a delight for any movie buff. However the app falls down massively.
1. You can’t search categories other than the few on the main welcome/menu page. Why?
2. It doesn’t have a saved list section (even though on the phone app there is). Why??
3. It doesn’t have a continue where you left off option. So basically you have to type search again for a movie you are half way through as it doesn’t show on the Home Screen. Why???
4. You can’t view all movies A-Z. Why????
5. You can watch the TV app on another device and then come back to it on another device and it doesn’t remember than you have even been watching (back to the start?). Why?????
The fast forward options are terrible on the TV app so when you try and fast forward second by second it won’t let you it just keeps skipping 10 minute chunks instead. Why??????
I’m actually speechless that somebody is making an app so poor then expecting you to pay £6.99 a month for the privilege of the app doing your head in. It’s like the Netflix app but Made by Temu. Such a shame as the content is awesome. But the apps rubbish. Sort it out or you will continue to lose subscribers like myself.
1. You can’t search categories other than the few on the main welcome/menu page. Why?
2. It doesn’t have a saved list section (even though on the phone app there is). Why??
3. It doesn’t have a continue where you left off option. So basically you have to type search again for a movie you are half way through as it doesn’t show on the Home Screen. Why???
4. You can’t view all movies A-Z. Why????
5. You can watch the TV app on another device and then come back to it on another device and it doesn’t remember than you have even been watching (back to the start?). Why?????
The fast forward options are terrible on the TV app so when you try and fast forward second by second it won’t let you it just keeps skipping 10 minute chunks instead. Why??????
I’m actually speechless that somebody is making an app so poor then expecting you to pay £6.99 a month for the privilege of the app doing your head in. It’s like the Netflix app but Made by Temu. Such a shame as the content is awesome. But the apps rubbish. Sort it out or you will continue to lose subscribers like myself.
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Response from developer
Hello, thank you for your feedback. We are looking at these features for future iterations of the tvOS app and will be sure to update this review once we release them. Please feel free to contact us on bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk if you have any other feedback on either the Mobile or TV apps.
Like everybody says, nice films but not a great app
How is it possible there is no 'continue watching' section for movies you've started playing? Especially annoying since the app closes the video player if you pause your video for too long. You have to scroll all the way through your watchlist to find the film again, which kicks you back up to the top if you click into something by mistake. Then you have to hope that it at least saved your place in the video (sometimes but not always).
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Response from developer
Hi, thank you for your feedback! If you have any other bits of feedback, please get in touch with us via bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
Finally a tvOS app for the UK
Really great to get a developer response today to let me know that an app for UK subscribers is now available for tvOS. It is a little basic and needs more work, but awesome to finally be able to watch BFI content on a big screen. The app doesn’t provide any information about the video or audio formats and it is not possible to connect it to the TV app for integrated browsing. The TV app still shows the BFI as a separate purchasable channel even when you signed into the new app with your subscription. Hopefully we will see updates to address these things in the near future.
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Response from developer
Thank you for your feedback. I am happy to confirm that we have released a tvOS app. If you have any other feedback or comments, please contact us on bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
Working nicely… just needs a few more tweaks
It’s been a long time coming, but I’m pleased to say that this now works great, including streaming to an Apple TV. The only reason I’ve not given it five stars is because it needs a better search function and a way to record which films I’ve already seen. Maybe in the next version??
Response from developer
Thank you very much for your review, I will feed this back to the team. If you have any other bits of feedback, please get in touch directly at bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk.
Great Films, Shame About the App
There are some truly wonderful films available on BFI Player. It’s nearest competitor is probably MUBI, which I’d say has more interesting recent releases, but BFI Player does brilliantly well for more classic films. BFI Player is also cheaper, and overall I’d say it’s better value for money.
BUT the app experience is really poor.
No Apple TV app, which is very frustrating. Instead, I have to screen share from my iPad, which I leads to an inevitable drop in streaming quality (my Apple TV is wired directly into to my router, the iPad runs off WiFi).
There’s also no way to download films onto my iPad, which is a major annoyance (and something you can do on MUBI). I travel a lot for work, and I like to have films on the iPad that I can watch when I’m stuck on a long journey or in a hotel room with poor WiFi.
Finally, there is no rating system - eg other BFI viewers ratings, or the film’s Metacritic / Rotten Tomatoes score. I know ratings are super subjective and are no guarantee of my own experience of a film, but for the many films I’ve never heard of, I do find them a rough useful indicator.
So great films, shame about the app experience. It feels bare minimum at the moment.
BUT the app experience is really poor.
No Apple TV app, which is very frustrating. Instead, I have to screen share from my iPad, which I leads to an inevitable drop in streaming quality (my Apple TV is wired directly into to my router, the iPad runs off WiFi).
There’s also no way to download films onto my iPad, which is a major annoyance (and something you can do on MUBI). I travel a lot for work, and I like to have films on the iPad that I can watch when I’m stuck on a long journey or in a hotel room with poor WiFi.
Finally, there is no rating system - eg other BFI viewers ratings, or the film’s Metacritic / Rotten Tomatoes score. I know ratings are super subjective and are no guarantee of my own experience of a film, but for the many films I’ve never heard of, I do find them a rough useful indicator.
So great films, shame about the app experience. It feels bare minimum at the moment.
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Response from developer
Thank you for all your feedback. We will let you know when new features have been introduced to the app. I am happy to confirm that we have released a tvOS app. Should you have more feedback please get in touch directly at bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
Terrible app. Buggy and frustrating
This is a terrible video player app.
When you Chromecast it to a TV screen, the session expires after about 5 mins, meaning, the film is still going on the screen but the app in your phone is gone back to the Home Screen and has lost track of your current viewing session. If you want to pause it, rewind, or do anything with the film you are currently watching, you have to terminate the app, stop what you are watching,open the app again, select the same film again and play….
When you Chromecast it to a TV screen, the session expires after about 5 mins, meaning, the film is still going on the screen but the app in your phone is gone back to the Home Screen and has lost track of your current viewing session. If you want to pause it, rewind, or do anything with the film you are currently watching, you have to terminate the app, stop what you are watching,open the app again, select the same film again and play….
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Response from developer
Thank you very much for your feedback. Would it be possible to get in touch directly at bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk with the casting errors that you have encountered? Hopefully we can find a solution.
That’s more like it!
To be honest, I’d given up on the BFI player mainly because of its previous user unfriendly app but…that’s all in the past now. I’m in love all over again. The new app rocks so much that I’ve cancelled all my other streaming platforms. I’m addicted. Well done BFI player. Whoever is running tings there is really listening to the consumer. In other words, it’s made for me. Love it!!
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Response from developer
Thank you for your review. If you have any other feedback or comments, please contact us on bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
Give us a TV app!
An amazing curation of incredible movies. However, you shouldn’t be encouraging people to consume them on an iPad or… iPhone! Please give us a dedicated TV app. I subscribed via the BFI website however I have to navigate through Apple TV app, find the movie I want to watch there and then re-subscribe via iCloud! A dedicated app would be so much better, and let me access my ‘Watchlist’ But thanks for a great collection of films
Update:
Also seems like now even AirPlay is disabled. After 5 mins an error pops up saying there’s two concurrent streams. So now I’ve paid and can’t watch!
Update:
Also seems like now even AirPlay is disabled. After 5 mins an error pops up saying there’s two concurrent streams. So now I’ve paid and can’t watch!
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback. The issue with AirPlay has now been fixed in version 4.6. Hopefully you can now watch films on your Apple TV. If you continue to experience any issues please contact us at bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk. We are looking into building an Apple TV app so more on this soon.
Great access to some art film gems
I’m new to the BFI player app. I was a little sad that there wasn’t and Apple TV app under which misunderstanding I subscribed. But so far my experience of airplay beaming from my phone to the apply tv works well enough. It’s also let me find more Mark Jenkin films so just for that I’m happy. Anything else is a plus. I really enjoy ‘Mark Kermode introduces’ too. I get the occasional stop due to the app reporting I’m logged in twice (I’m not.) But this is fixed by stopping g and starting again, and that puts my back where the film paused. Irritating, but not the end of the world. My impression is that the BfI are actively doing their best to give users a good experience without the limitless resources of Netflix and Disney. And for the most part they deliver to goods.
(For some reason Apple won’t let me tap a star. So 4 stars. Looking forward to adding a fifth. )
(For some reason Apple won’t let me tap a star. So 4 stars. Looking forward to adding a fifth. )
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Response from developer
Hi Johnels, thank you very much for your useful feedback. We are currently working on the AirPlay experience. We'll let you know once that's been released. *edit* Hi Johnels, I wanted to let you know that there is now a tvOS BFI Player app. If you have any feedback, please let us know directly via bfiplayer@bfi.org.uk
The star is for the library of films
I received the subscription to the BFI player as a Christmas present and, as a film lover, I was excited to delve into the available films. Unfortunately, the app is essentially useless as it is incredibly buggy, making it almost impossible to watch films on my TV (and I have no interest in watching them on a phone or even an iPad).
There have been a series of issues, most of which seem to be widespread amongst users.
The subscription only works on the app and website, you can not log in on a firestick (or I believe Apple TV); this requires a different account. But that is not specific to this app.
The website will allow you to log in on a TV browser (LG) but will not allow you to stream the films.
Playing on an iPad and casting to a TV via AirPlay, also will not work properly because after around 5 mins of playback, the app decides this constitutes two devices using one account at the same time.
I could go on, as each issue that I have managed to sort out through searching the multitude of other users having similar problems, has just lead me to the next problem that stops me from just enjoying a film on my TV through a subscription that has been paid for. But I’ll leave it at this shorter list of issues and finish by saying it’s more disappointing than anything. I just want to watch the excellent library on offer.
There have been a series of issues, most of which seem to be widespread amongst users.
The subscription only works on the app and website, you can not log in on a firestick (or I believe Apple TV); this requires a different account. But that is not specific to this app.
The website will allow you to log in on a TV browser (LG) but will not allow you to stream the films.
Playing on an iPad and casting to a TV via AirPlay, also will not work properly because after around 5 mins of playback, the app decides this constitutes two devices using one account at the same time.
I could go on, as each issue that I have managed to sort out through searching the multitude of other users having similar problems, has just lead me to the next problem that stops me from just enjoying a film on my TV through a subscription that has been paid for. But I’ll leave it at this shorter list of issues and finish by saying it’s more disappointing than anything. I just want to watch the excellent library on offer.
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback. Our most recent releases address AirPlay issues. We have also released a Fire TV and tvOS app recently where you can watch and enjoy subscription films.
Close to perfect
Brilliant service with the selection of films they offer however the application is poor. Does not support airplay to Apple TV, Screen Monitoring is disabled and can only run on few TVs outside of Samsung and AMAZONS DEDICATED VIDEO SERVICE “Prime”
I love the service, despise the application and my opinion and review here is based upon many others who use this service too.
A dedicated application on video game consoles with improve the longevity of this service 10 fold
I love the service, despise the application and my opinion and review here is based upon many others who use this service too.
A dedicated application on video game consoles with improve the longevity of this service 10 fold
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Response from developer
Thanks for your feedback. We've just released version 4.4 which offers an improved AirPlay experience. We hope this helps but if you encounter any further issues please get in touch with us at bfiplayer@feedback.com so we can look into this issue further.
So it's not a slick as (insert mega-streaming app)
... but it's also the BFI, not an organisation run by plutocrats whose only goal is to make themselves even richer, at any cost to the rest of us. It does what you need: play movies. And do you really need to give more money to the plutocrats? Hint: no.
This review received no funding from the BFI.
This review received no funding from the BFI.
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Would recommend for exemplary forms of quality British cinema and a highly intuitive app
In my experience this app was easy to use and user friendly, and the breadth of choices available on the platform show a keen eye for curation of only the best of British cinema.