No internet while traveling? This is how you download movies and series on your smartphone or tablet | My Guide

Almost all major streaming services in the Netherlands offer the option to download episodes to your mobile device. That means you don’t have to miss anything from Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Videoland and HBO Max. Discovery+ and NPO Start do not currently offer an option to download episodes of programmes, films and series for offline use.

Downloading movies and series works in a similar way with almost all streaming services. In general, you will find the heading ‘Downloads’ at the bottom of the menu bar of the app, but with HBO Max this heading is under your profile. This is where all the videos you downloaded will end up.

Open the page of the movie or series you want to watch offline at a later time. On that page you will see a ‘Download’ button. These buttons are also next to the episodes themselves. You can choose which episodes you save and which you don’t, but in most apps you can also download an entire season at the touch of a button. When an episode has been downloaded, a checkmark will appear next to it.

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With Netflix, you can also set within the app how many GBs of space you want to make available on your phone or tablet for the downloads. You do this via ‘Settings’ in the ‘Downloads’ section. Netflix immediately informs you about how many hours of video you can watch with which number of GBs are available. You can watch about 12 hours of movies and series if you keep 3GB free.

Netflix also has ‘smart downloads’. You can set it to automatically download the next episode of a series you watch. Your device must be connected to WiFi. Watched episodes are then automatically deleted. If you’re not sure what to watch, “Downloads for you” can also help you get suggestions from Netflix. The streaming service then stores movies and series that the algorithm thinks you’ll enjoy watching.

Deleting episodes or seasons also works in a similar way with the streaming services. To remove downloaded episodes again, go to the ‘Downloads’ page and you can often select the titles you want from your device via ‘Edit’. You can often also tap the checkmark next to the episode to remove it.