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It’s Friday night, work is over, and the weekend is here. You want to sit back with a giant bowl of popcorn and enjoy the latest blockbuster movie. You head to Apple TV, purchase a movie, and away you go. But do you actually own the movie you bought? It’s a question many may not consider when shopping for digital movies, TV shows, and even games.
Each digital streaming service has its own terms and conditions for digital purchases. For Apple TV, simply buying a movie doesn’t mean you own it like you would a physical product. You can watch the movie through Apple TV as long as it is available through the service. While Apple states content should remain, there is a possibility it could be removed. Apple TV does allow you to download any purchased movie or episode to the Apple TV app.
What you’re actually getting when you purchase a digital movie from Apple TV is a license to view it. This essentially grants you permission to watch the movie or show you purchased on Apple TV or a device you have access to the Apple TV app. If you’re tired of spending money on digital movies, you could say goodbye to streaming subscriptions with this cheap alternative.
Physical versus digital purchases
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There is a lot of fine print when it comes to purchasing digital content such as movies, TV shows, and games through Apple TV and the Apple App Store. It’s left many viewers confused and even has a Reddit thread devoted to the topic of you not owning the movies you buy. All your purchase gets you is a license that states you have the right to view the purchased item through the service you paid for it, in this case Apple TV.
The Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions are full of legal text with information about purchasing digital content. “Purchased Content will generally remain available for you to download, redownload, or otherwise access from Apple. Though it is unlikely, subsequent to your purchase, Content may be removed from the Services and become unavailable for further download or access from Apple (for instance, because Apple loses its right from the Content provider to make it available). To ensure your ability to continue enjoying Content, we encourage you to download all purchased Content to a device in your possession and to back it up.”
Buying digital movies may be more convenient as it’s accessible from your home. But if you want to own a physical version, you could always pick one up. Here are five reasons to buy physical video games over digital, which are similar to buying digital movies.
Do you still own downloaded Apple TV purchases?
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Once you purchase a movie on Apple TV, you can then download it to the Apple TV app to watch it offline. Since you’ve only been granted a license to view the movie, it is only playable through wherever you can access Apple TV. This has to do with what is called digital rights management (DRM). In this case, DRM ensures only authorized users can view movies or TV shows, which are assets protected by copyright.
You can watch any of your purchased shows, movies, or events as long as you download them to the Apple TV app. In the Apple TV app, find the movie, and select Download to save it locally on your device. In the Library tab, choose Downloaded to see all of your content that’s available for offline viewing. You can only watch this content inside the Apple TV app. Apple’s terms and conditions state downloaded content could be taken down as well, so you can’t keep content forever just by downloading it.
Streaming services are a convenient tool for renting and buying movies or shows. You don’t have to plan a trip to the movie theater and can watch from the comfort of home and just about anywhere you can imagine. If you’re not a fan of not owning digital purchases in the traditional way, you could always go physical, like how Gen Z is ditching streaming for physical media.
