Now you can share Movies Anywhere films with friends and family for free
Share up to three movies a month with loved ones stuck at home.
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In a move designed to give people stuck at home during coronavirus lockdown something new to watch for free, digital locker service Movies Anywhere now lets its users share movies from their personal collections to anyone with an Apple or Android mobile device.
The new Screen Pass feature is available to Movies Anywhere users who sign up for the open beta here, but numbers will be limited. The new section lets you send friends and family a text from within the Movies Anywhere app for iOS and Android, inviting them to watch a single movie. You can send up to three invites in a month, and like movie rentals, the recipients have a limited window in which to watch the film.
The Screen Pass feature is in beta and at the moment users will be able to watch the movie on any compatible Movies Anywhere device. The company advised that Roku support is now available. Not all movies are eligible to be shared either: There are currently about 100 eligible titles, which appear in a section of the app called Screen Pass Beta.
Friends and family have up to seven days to accept the Screen Pass invitation, and then up to 14 days to watch it. Once started they need to complete the movie within 72 hours. Movies Anywhere says the full commercial rollout of the feature will happen in late summer or early fall.
Movies Anywhere is a free service that lets you access movies you've bought from online stores including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play Movies and TV and Walmart's Vudu. It works with thousands of titles from most of the major studios -- namely Disney, Universal, Sony, Fox and Warner Bros. -- and includes new-to-digital releases like Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, Cats and 1917. It allows you to see all of your movies in one place on pretty much any device, regardless of where you bought them.
The open beta was due to go live in May but has been moved forward to serve people hunkered down at home. When Screen Pass was originally announced in March, Movies Anywhere General Manager Karin Gilford told CNET the company was working hard to help people combat the shut-in blues. "We will be working to see if we can roll it out early if we can," she said at the time.
While the new Screen Pass feature is not quite the no-holds-barred, "sharing your Plex library with the family" service some people might be hoping for, it's still cheaper for your loved ones than renting three $6 titles a month.
