How to add a movie to iPhone via iTunes for viewing on iPhone, iPad, Mac

It would seem - what could be easier than throwing a movie onto your mobile device? Connect it to your computer, open it like a flash drive and download whatever your heart desires. However, if you own an iOS device, such a simple scheme will not suit you.

Apple users must use a special iTunes program to download to their gadgets. This is due to the fact that iOS, the platform on which Apple mobile products operate, has a closed architecture, and therefore, when connected to a computer, the latter does not see the i-device as a flash drive.

However, this is not such a big problem; in fact, sharing content through iTunes is not a complicated science. In this article, we will figure out how to download a movie to iPhone using this utility. We note right away that the instructions given are also relevant when you need to download movies to your iPad and iPod.

The scheme for downloading movies to iPhone/iPad/iPod consists of two stages. The first is adding to the iTunes library, the second is transferring from the program’s library to a mobile device.

How to add a movie to iTunes?

Before adding content to iTunes, you, of course, should make sure whether this utility is installed on your computer at all. If yes, immediately read the instructions for loading a movie into it.

Otherwise, here's a little "pre-instruction" for you. You can download the program. After downloading, double-click on the downloaded iTunes.exe file - the utility will be installed automatically. To get started with iTunes, you don't need to restart your computer; you can immediately open the program, enter your Apple ID and start working with it.

Our job is to download the movie. Let's get down to solving this problem:

Ready! Just three steps - and the film is already in the program’s library.

How to move a movie to an iOS device?

Now you need to transfer it to your mobile device. For this:

All! All you have to do is wait for the synchronization process to complete! Agree, everything is quite simple? It is striking that iTunes has gained a reputation as a utility that is difficult to manage and incomprehensible. And many people are looking for alternative ways to download movies to a device without iTunes.

Well, such ways exist - there are quite a few alternative utilities to iTunes - the most famous of them are iFunbox, iTools, DiskAid, CopyTrans, iExplorer. They all work on the principle of classic file managers. And, of course, if you have worked with similar programs before, the same Daemon Tools, for example, for organizing and managing files on a Windows PC, then it probably makes sense to choose one of the alternative utilities. The scheme of interaction with the program as a whole will be clear, all that remains is to master the subtleties.

Another question is, if you are not familiar with such a concept as a file manager or are very familiar, then it will take the same amount of time to master both iTunes and, say, iTools, because both programs will be completely unfamiliar to you.

As for our recommendations, we would advise you to study iTunes, because no matter how good the alternative is, you need to know the “native” utilities - after all, iTunes allows you to do more than just download content to iOS devices. The functionality is very wide - from the well-known update option to the use of a program for remote control of i-devices.

Important addition! After downloading a movie via iTunes to your device, it will appear in the standard Video application, from which you can view it. But! Please note that this application only plays .mp4 format. If you want to watch movies in other formats, download an additional application from the App Store, such as AVPlayer. True, in such a situation, the classic scheme for transferring a film to a device will look slightly different. In iTunes, you will need to open the "Programs" section, find AVPlayer, click the "Add" button and select the desired file using the Windows Explorer that opens. After adding, we synchronize and you're done!

How to delete movies from iTunes?

Movies in good quality weigh a lot, and therefore users often ask how to delete a movie after watching it? After all, a film is not music - it weighs more and you won’t watch it hundreds of times.

Well, deleting movies from iOS devices is very easy. Depending on where you downloaded the tape - to “Video” or AVIPlayer, go to the corresponding application, select the file that is no longer needed and tap the “Delete” option.

If you want to delete from the iTunes library, open the program, click “File” / “Media Library”, find the unnecessary movie in the appropriate section, select it with the right mouse button and click “Delete”.

Downloading movies to iOS mobile devices without using a computer

Well, we figured out how to add a movie to iTunes and transfer it to your device using a computer. But what should you do if you want to watch a movie, but you don’t have a desktop PC at hand? No problem, in this case the iTunes Store application, pre-installed on every iOS mobile device, will help you. This application is a content store where you can buy an album, an individual track, a ringtone and much more. Among this “something” there are, of course, films.

It’s interesting that you can not only buy movies, but also rent them. Let's look at both procedures in one instruction:

The rental conditions are as follows: the movie is available to you for 30 days, but if you start watching it, you have 48 hours to watch it. Moreover, within the allotted 48 hours, you can view it as many times as you like.

It is also worth noting that not all films are available for rental; some new films can only be purchased. And another interesting point is that sometimes renting a movie from the iTunes Store is more expensive than buying it. So if you don’t care what movie you watch, but just want to pass the time, look for good deals and buy sparingly!

Let's summarize

So, you can download a movie to an iOS device in two ways - using a computer and the iTunes utility (or an alternative program), or using the mobile device itself and the iTunes Store content store. The advantage of the first method is that you get a free movie, the advantage of the second is that it is simpler.

It is worth noting that sometimes programs leak into the App Store - the application store for Apple - that allow you to search for unlicensed films online, download them to your device completely free of charge and watch to your heart's content. However, make no mistake, these applications are disappearing faster than they appear, because Apple is actively fighting for copyright.

FORGET iTunes! How to download movies, music, photos and videos to iPhone and iPad?