So, you’ve decided to subscribe to Amazon Prime given its many benefits. Not only will it offer you benefits for all your shopping needs but also many forms of premium entertainment. Whether it’s the many iconic titles available on the platform or the popular Amazon Originals, it’s certainly worth the money. It’s one of the perks you look forward to most given the number of movies, shows, and books you’ll gain access to.
There’s just one tiny thing you forgot about: data costs can easily go through the roof if you’re not careful. Luckily, Amazon Prime allows for offline viewing so your data costs needn’t go through the roof. This way, you can easily watch all your favorite films on your way to work and back. So what are you waiting for? Here’s our guide for how to download Amazon Prime movies so you can quickly download all your faves!
All-Time Best Amazon Prime Movies
There’s almost no place in the world where people don’t recognize the brand name “Amazon”. It’s a behemoth of a company with a variety of services — one of which being Amazon Prime. While Amazon is mainly known for online shopping, Amazon Prime includes many other services unrelated to that. With the success of online streaming, Amazon decided to join the party with its very own service in Amazon Prime.
Before we learn how to download Amazon Prime movies, let’s explore a bit of their library of movies. After all, before you can download a movie, you’ve got to know which one to pick. Knowing how to search for Amazon prime movies is great if you already know what to watch. But it can be hard when you don’t know what’s available. So, what movies are on Amazon Prime? Which ones are worth watching? Let’s save you the time and give you a shortlist of recommended movies to watch on Amazon Prime.
1. Fighting With My Family
Fighting With My Family isn’t a movie you should overlook even when you’re not a sports or wrestling fan. It’s a well-made sports movie inspired by the life of Paige, a real-world wrestling star. The movie tells the story of her life and how she grew up in a family of wrestling-fanatics. From there, she became a wrestler going from local fights with her family to legitimate international pro wrestling.
2. Hale County, This Morning This Evening
If you’re looking for good documentaries on Amazon Prime, then Hale County should be at the top of your list. It’s one of the reasons one learns how to download Amazon Prime movies cause it’s just too good to miss. Hale County, This Morning This Evening isn’t just your ordinary documentary, though. It’s one that intentionally avoids narrative which most documentaries cling to. That’s because humans thrive on narrative and we tend to find things with no narrative uninteresting. However, this documentary is watch-worthy given how it explores the day-to-day of black lives in the 2010s.
Watch as you see RaMell Ross, the director and co-writer, film and photograph black lives of Hale County. The people you’ll see will be totally detached from their usual setting on the big screen. No link to white lives, no narrative to frame them as supporting roles, villains, or even heroes. Just a rich, raw film capturing the beauty of their lives in and of themselves.
3. Hunger Games Series
If you haven’t watched the dystopian young adult novel-trilogy-turned-movie, then here’s your chance to catch up on the entire series. Join Katniss Everdeen as she fights to the death against members of the other districts within her country. She learns survival skills — both physical and social — to try her best to win over the Hunger Games in hopes of protecting her little sister. Masked as a chance for glory and riches, the Hunger Games depicts a cruel, almost Olympics-like battle (but bloodier) that proves you can conquer any society that’s divided.
4. Midsommar
Are you up for a bit of a horror-thriller film? It’s one of the best and most entertaining Amazon movies (more so if you’re up for a bit of terror). Midsommar is about a couple’s simple trip to an idyllic town with a fabled midsummer festival. Little did they know that this Swedish town’s festival is actually a strange and violent ritual for a pagan cult. It’s one heck of a watch and should certainly be in a horror fan’s bucket list of movies.
5. The Avengers
Do I need to explain it? Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you and everyone you know have probably already watched The Avengers. And if you’re a Marvel fan like me, you’ve probably watched all of the movies multiple times! Learning how to download Amazon Prime movies is well worth your time when you get to watch great—almost classic—movies like this.
Relive the moment’s glory that is The Avengers when heroes from different movies all gather for the first time. It’s the pivotal point of the MCU that made cinematic universes the norm in the film industry. Even if it’s not out in theaters anymore, your Amazon Prime subscription can certainly help you out with binge-watching the MCU for the Nth time.
6. The Farewell
Simple and heartfelt, this is the tale of a young Chinese-American woman whose grandmother has been diagnosed with cancer. If any of your loved ones have had this dreadful disease, then you might relate to the main character. Billi, the young woman, returns to China after learning about her grandmother’s sickness. The tensions heighten when she finds out her family intends to keep this a secret from the patient herself — grandma. While the family’s intentions were to help her grandmother live in peace, it doesn’t sit quite as well with Billi. Watch the heartfelt (and heart-wrenching) story of the heartbreaking reality of being with a person whose time is limited.
7. The Report
If you’re interested in law-related films, then The Report should be right up your alley. It’s a wonderful thriller about the Senate’s investigation into the historic 9/11 attacks. However, it’s not what you might expect. It’s not about who the culprit is or what happened on that fateful day specifically. No. This movie chronicles the CIA’s methods of torture after the 9/11 attacks. Adam Driver plays the leading role as the head assigned to the investigation. Explore his personal life and how the report all unfolds and is created.
Step-by-step Guide on How To Download Amazon Prime Movies
If you’re not sure how to use Amazon Prime movies, then you might not be familiar with the downloading process. You might be surprised to find that not all movies are available for download despite being an Amazon Prime subscriber. Only Amazon’s select titles are available for offline viewing. These include most Prime Originals and anything distributed by Amazon. Additional content covered by copyright (from HBO, Starz, etc.) doesn’t allow for downloads.
There are also limitations when it comes to the platform, since Amazon only allows for downloads on mobile devices. Yes, unfortunately, laptops are prohibited from downloading Amazon Prime videos. Moreover, there are a few caveats with regards to movies you’ve already downloaded. For instance, the time period you have to watch downloaded content will vary by title. It’s not all straightforwardly one time-frame which can make things a bit confusing and a bit of a hassle.
Additionally, titles are even only available in certain countries or regions. There’s also a limit on the total number of videos you’re allowed to download. Once you’ve reached the maximum, you’ll be prompted to delete something you already have.
With all of that said, let’s get into the nitty-gritty on how to download Amazon Prime movies. It’s pretty simple, really. If you’re going to do it on a phone or tablet, do the following:
1. Open The Prime Video App
You should have the Prime Video app first and foremost — that is crucial. Without it, you won’t be able to download anything since downloads are locally stored within the app.
2. Selecting Quality
When downloading videos on Amazon Prime, you won’t be given the choice to select quality. However, these do matter since it can determine download speed and how much storage it takes up. You’ll want to configure your download quality before actually downloading your movie.
On iOS, go to Settings > Streaming & Downloading > Download Quality. Under this setting, you’ll have choices for Good, Better, or Best. If you choose best, just keep in mind that the higher the quality the more storage space it takes up. So, if you’re a little tight on space, it’s best to choose Good or Better depending on your available storage. However, storage space isn’t the only concern. If you’re concerned about data consumption while downloading, there is a way to limit it. Go to Settings > Streaming & Downloading > Download on Wi-Fi Only.
On Android, navigate to My Stuff > Settings (gear icon) > Stream & Download > Download Quality. For Android, you get a special setting to set a data saver for small, low-resolution downloads. You can also set this to “Always Ask” so they’ll ask you every time you tap on download. If you’re concerned over data charges, go to Stream & Download and set it to only download on WiFi.
3. Find The Right Movie
Search the movie you want to watch or browse around to look for something good. Once you do, tap on it and open the details page of the video.
4. Commence Download
If the video is available for download, then you should see a download button with a down arrow. To download it, simply tap on the button or the download arrow.
Sometimes you want to watch more than just movies like a TV Show. For these types of videos, you might want to opt to download a whole season. To do this, just select the “Download Season” option at the top of the screen. Alternatively, you can download individual episodes if you don’t want to consume a lot of storage space. To download individual episodes, just tap on the down arrow per episode and they should start downloading.
How to Rent Movies on Amazon Prime
If you’re not an Amazon Prime member, there’s still an option to watch movies via Amazon rental or purchase. Yes, renting movies is a thing. However, it’s not like the past where you rent a physical CD (they’re not going to give you a USB containing the movie). Renting movies on Amazon is purely digital and doesn’t require an Amazon Prime subscription.
If you’re not sure how to rent movies on Amazon Prime, just go to Prime Video. From there they’ll give you hundreds of movies that you can rent or buy. Renting movies are just a few clicks away. Of course, you have to enter your payment details and credit card information. Once you’ve rented a movie, downloading it is possible (again, only select titles are available for download).
If you want to know how to download Amazon Prime movies you’ve rented, you should know that you can’t do it on a laptop. You’re going to have to download the Prime app on your mobile device (phone or tablet, either should do). From the app, just open My Stuff at the bottom. At the top of the screen select Purchases and tap the video you wish to download. Then just select Download.
How To View Amazon Prime Video Downloads
Once you’ve learned how to download Amazon Prime videos, viewing them is a piece of cake. If you’ve been streaming your videos until now, then you shouldn’t have a problem navigating to your downloaded videos. You can watch your downloaded content the same way you would use Amazon’s streaming service or rental service.
To view downloads on iOS, just tap on the Downloads button in the Amazon Prime app. On Android, go to My Stuff and tap on Downloads. On this page, you should be able to see the content you’ve already downloaded.
Alternatively, you can also just search the title you’ve already downloaded. Just type in the title and a checkmark should be on the far right side. This indicates that you’ve already downloaded this content and can play it offline. Next to the checkmark, a play button should be seen. Just tap on it to start watching your downloaded video.
How To Delete Amazon Prime Video Downloads
After learning how to download Amazon Prime movies, you should learn how to delete them, too. After all, they take up a lot of space and once you’re done with them you might not want to watch them again. Plus, since there’s a limit to the amount of content you can download, you kind of have to delete some videos.
Deleting videos should be similar to the previous how-tos. Navigate to your downloads by tapping on the download icon on iOS and navigating to My Stuff > Downloads on Android. Tap on the movie you want to delete, tap “Options” and then tap “Delete Download”. If you’re deleting an episode of a TV show, just navigate to that episode. Once you’re there, tap on the checkmark indicator and a delete button should appear. Tap on the delete button to delete your download.
What About Free Movies?
So far, the methods of how to download Amazon Prime movies require a bit of money. You either need to rent the movie on Amazon or be an Amazon Prime member. However, life isn’t always easy and the standard of living is rising higher and higher. In this case, it’s not exactly easy to shell out monthly fees just for another subscription service. Is there no way to watch and download Amazon Prime movies free? Unfortunately, yes. If you want to download Amazon Prime movies, you have to shell out a bit. However, there is a silver lining in all this if you want to watch a free movie. It’ll require the internet and it has ads, but that’s still a good deal considering it’s free.
The trick to watch free movies is from IMDB TV. It’s not another subscription service if that’s what you’re thinking. IMDB TV is a free movie streaming service supported by ads. Even though you’re not allowed to watch offline, it’s a good deal if you’re looking for something cheap — or free. Just make sure to be prepared for the multiple commercials you’ll have to endure. But hey, it’s just like the old days when you had to watch commercials when movies came out on TV. Not too bad.
The Verdict
With all of that said, the way how to download Amazon Prime movies is pretty simple. It’s like most streaming services if you’re already used to Netflix or Disney Plus. Although, there are a few caveats and restrictions imposed by Amazon. However, their library of content is well worth the small inconvenience. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’re all set to enjoy your commute or your weekend night at home. Just make sure to stay connected to the real world and not get too lost in all the great movies.
