BFI Player: Hand-picked films 12+

Great access to some art film gems

I’m new to the BFI player app. I was a little sad that there wasn’t and Apple TV app under which misunderstanding I subscribed. But so far my experience of airplay beaming from my phone to the apply tv works well enough. It’s also let me find more Mark Jenkin films so just for that I’m happy. Anything else is a plus. I really enjoy ‘Mark Kermode introduces’ too. I get the occasional stop due to the app reporting I’m logged in twice (I’m not.) But this is fixed by stopping g and starting again, and that puts my back where the film paused. Irritating, but not the end of the world. My impression is that the BfI are actively doing their best to give users a good experience without the limitless resources of Netflix and Disney. And for the most part they deliver to goods.

(For some reason Apple won’t let me tap a star. So 4 stars. Looking forward to adding a fifth. )

Developer Response ,

Hi Johnels, thank you very much for your useful feedback. We are currently working on the AirPlay experience. We'll let you know once that's been released.

The star is for the library of films

I received the subscription to the BFI player as a Christmas present and, as a film lover, I was excited to delve into the available films. Unfortunately, the app is essentially useless as it is incredibly buggy, making it almost impossible to watch films on my TV (and I have no interest in watching them on a phone or even an iPad).

There have been a series of issues, most of which seem to be widespread amongst users.

The subscription only works on the app and website, you can not log in on a firestick (or I believe Apple TV); this requires a different account. But that is not specific to this app.

The website will allow you to log in on a TV browser (LG) but will not allow you to stream the films.

Playing on an iPad and casting to a TV via AirPlay, also will not work properly because after around 5 mins of playback, the app decides this constitutes two devices using one account at the same time.

I could go on, as each issue that I have managed to sort out through searching the multitude of other users having similar problems, has just lead me to the next problem that stops me from just enjoying a film on my TV through a subscription that has been paid for. But I’ll leave it at this shorter list of issues and finish by saying it’s more disappointing than anything. I just want to watch the excellent library on offer.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your feedback. We are working hard on fixing the 5 minute error on AirPlay affecting iOS 16 devices. We'll let you know as soon as possible when the fix has been released. We unfortunately don't have a tvOS app yet but we will let you know once we do.

Great Films, Shame About the App

There are some truly wonderful films available on BFI Player. It’s nearest competitor is probably MUBI, which I’d say has more interesting recent releases, but BFI Player does brilliantly well for more classic films. BFI Player is also cheaper, and overall I’d say it’s better value for money.

BUT the app experience is really poor.

No Apple TV app, which is very frustrating. Instead, I have to screen share from my iPad, which I leads to an inevitable drop in streaming quality (my Apple TV is wired directly into to my router, the iPad runs off WiFi).

There’s also no way to download films onto my iPad, which is a major annoyance (and something you can do on MUBI). I travel a lot for work, and I like to have films on the iPad that I can watch when I’m stuck on a long journey or in a hotel room with poor WiFi.

Finally, there is no rating system - eg other BFI viewers ratings, or the film’s Metacritic / Rotten Tomatoes score. I know ratings are super subjective and are no guarantee of my own experience of a film, but for the many films I’ve never heard of, I do find them a rough useful indicator.

So great films, shame about the app experience. It feels bare minimum at the moment.