Download Amazon Prime videos

Jim Martin reveals how to download Amazon Prime videos on to a smartphone or tablet

Amazon Prime Instant Video is a rival to Netflix and now lets you download videos to watch offline – something no other streaming service allows, unless you’re counting catch-up TV such as iPlayer and All 4 (which we’re not). It makes an Amazon Prime subscription all the more tempting as you also get music streaming thrown in (typically £10 per month elsewhere) and fast delivery when you order physical products from Amazon.

You’ll need a subscription to Prime Instant Video (you can sign up for the free 30-day trial), plus a tablet or phone to download videos. Supported devices include Amazon’s own Fire hardware, all Android devices and an iPhone or iPad. 2 It’s confusing trying to figure out how to watch Prime Instant Video on Android because Amazon’s website is out of date and tells you it’s part of the Amazon shopping app. But no more: you have to download Amazon Underground (see page 114) if you want to get video. On your device, go to amazon.co.uk/androidapp and it will automatically download the Underground app.

Then, once installed, launch it and tap the menu icon (top left) and choose Amazon Instant Video from the menu. When you choose a title you’ll be prompted to download the new version of the Amazon Video app. 3 When you first launch the Amazon Video app after the update which adds support for downloads, you’ll see this screen telling you all about it. 4 To download a movie or TV episode, first search or navigate to the title you want. Right now, you’re more likely to have success with Amazon’s own content, such as Extant, Transparent, Bosch and others. If you just see a play icon, you won’t be able to download it.

You can see here we’re downloading an episode of Bosch on an iPhone. If you allow push notifications, you’ll see a message on your lock screen when each video has completed downloading (you can put your device in sleep mode). 5 When you see a tick next to the play button, you know the video is ready to play offline. The first time you play a video, you’ll get a message saying you have 30 days to watch it. After that you have to reconnect your device to the internet to keep watching it.