Kanopy vs Light Widow
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Kanopy
Access a vast library of films and documentaries for free with your library card. Enjoy ad-free streaming of award-winning movies, The Criterion Collection, and curated content for children, with new titles added regularly.
- Free film streaming
- Ad-free viewing
- Library card required
- Festival award-winning films
- Documentaries
- The Criterion Collection
- Kanopy Kids with parental controls
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Stream thousands of films for free without ads through your library. Sign up with your library card and start watching festival award-winning films, thought-provoking documentaries, The Criterion Collection, and more with new titles added weekly. Browse Kanopy Kids for unlimited age-appropriate shows and movies with access to parental controls. Available on mobile, web, and living room devices.
Light Widow
This application enables connection to specific hardware products for programming filters and customizing their appearance. It offers a streamlined interface for managing the look and feel of supported devices.
- Connect to FRS-Light, CineTag, ARRI LMB4x5
- Program filters
- Customize product look and feel
- Streamlined interface
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The Light Widow app allows you connect to a Light Widow product such as an FRS-Light, CineTag, or ARRI LMB4x5 Upgrade Kit. This app allows you to program filters and customize the look and feel of the product.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Kanopy at 152K against Light Widow's 3. Kanopy also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and chart position (#156 vs unranked). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Kanopy against 4.7 for Light Widow. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Kanopy has 152K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Kanopy ships an update every 2 weeks, Light Widow every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Kanopy | Light Widow |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (152K ratings) — better | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 72.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 152K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Best chart rank | #156 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 — better | 14.7 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 104 MB | 40 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Kanopy | Light Widow LLC |
Customer experience
Kanopy
Light Widow
Bugs and requests
Kanopy
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crashes and freezes frequently
- Login issues, unable to sign in or access account
- Chromecast and TV streaming problems
- Video playback issues, including blurry or out of sync
- Inconsistent behavior when resuming or rewatching movies
Requested features
6 requests- Add ability to pause, rewind, and resume movies without using credits
- Improve search and browsing functionality
- Provide more content filtering and parental control options
- Add support for offline viewing and downloads
- Enhance Chromecast and TV integration
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- Improve video quality and playback stability
Light Widow
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Kanopy
No in-app purchases
Light Widow
No in-app purchases
