PlayOn Cloud - Streaming DVR Reviews

by Azure Guy

I’ve subscribed to PlayOn Cloud for about two years. A great idea but these are the issues I have had: 1) in the absence of a WiFi signal (eg on an airplane) PlayOnCloud crashes and does not open; 2) I am unable to transfer my recordings on my iPad through iTunes to my iMac. It only transfers perhaps a dozen of my 60 or so recordings. I have worked with customer support repeatedly with no resolution; 3) customer support, when there is (I haven’t heard back for three weeks despite repeated tech support tickets created), has always taken anywhere from two to four days to respond.
I wonder if they are financially struggling. Too. Ad since it is a great idea.

by David Z-

Used to work but recently it won’t stay open for more than 10 seconds before it just force closes itself. No matter what I do, rebooting, trying to delete stuff before it crashes, it keeps crashing. Using an iPad mini 4 updated to the latest iOS version and also PlayOn cloud latest version. Can’t even submit a support request via PlayOnCloud because it crashes before I can hit submit to send the report. Also, the skip ads feature doesn’t work on most networks, such as cbs and fox, it ends up just skipping parts of the show at random, so it’s useless. Overall it’s a really buggy app, if there was any alternative I would choose it. And this is on an Apple device, why should it be buggy?

by WinterStorm35

I don’t like PlayOnCloud since it make’s it hard for people to cancel there subscription to it and I only tried it for a few days last year then got rid of PlayOnCloud and now I am being charged for an app that I don’t have anymore and now I want my refund for it for the months that it took money out of my Mom’s bank account and put back in it.....so please give me back my Mom’s money ! That is the reason y I am not giving PlayOnCloud any stars since it is a very POOR POOR POOR service to work with since I did tried to cancel and it won’t let me do it and I tried to do it again today and since it expires today and it still won’t let me🔥😠😡🤬!!!!!!!!!!!!

by Marioone1

I love this service WHEN it works but i admit i put in my cc wrong three times to get cloud service and i was cut off so i contacted tech service two days ago meanwhile I’m on vacation and have no access to my movies i paid for and paid to download and was paying to try to store in iCloud

I have had this for close to a year and no problems but when you log in or put wrong info in three times your cut off and no access to movies you paid for until customer service gets back to you and so far i have been waiting two days while on vacation
Which they say 48 hrs but when your on vacation and have no access to your movies that’s eternity

by TARDIS Take Me With You

This is my go-to app to watch my shows. I don’t mind paying for episodes because they skip the commercials for me, which is awesome!

But recently every time I’ve tried to open PlayOnCloud it says, “Login error.” I updated PlayOnCloud , and it was working, but last night I was trying to download an episode. It wouldn’t download, and then when I closed and reopened PlayOnCloud it was back to saying, “Login error.” It’s still not working.

I’m not sure if anyone else is having this issue but I’ve never had a problem with PlayOnCloud before so this is frustrating.

by Annoyed!@#$%^&*&^%$#@!!!!!!

They recently added a higher def recording option, which is great. Except that it costs 3 credits. (They didn’t lower the cost of low def.) It would be nice to group recordings into folders like the desktop app does. Or at least allow to sort by title or other options. Overall seems primitive. Functionality in the iPad version is lacking on other platforms. This has been ongoing for quite some time, seems like they’re not supporting all platforms equally. So much for cross platform usage. For example, downloading to iPad plays with captions. Playing from PlayOn Cloud with Roku has no captions. Answer from support? Download to iPad then cast to Roku. (And manage space/recordings.) Those extra steps for every show I watch? Not feasible. I was paying for the service for a while, to support the developers. But the tone deaf and snotty support I received on multiple tickets led me to stop. I’ll just use the free account with paid credits. Since I need to go through all those steps, so it’s not a simple solution after all.

by Kevin 72638393

PlayOnCloud functions pretty well so far to record. The audio is great, and getting 1080p is awesome. The only problem I have is actually getting the darn recordings off it. They offer a VERY crude "cloud downloader" desktop app that works as a companion to this one. It downloads the recordings to your PC in batch. It is buggy though and, crucially, DOES NOT ALLOW DOWNLOAD LOCATION CHANGES. Crazy. Unchangeable download location for a utility that moves 1-3GB files. Why?????? Even the most basic windows app allows you to decide where to save a file. So yes - that means it only downloads cloud recordings to my main OS hard drive, which has 10GB of space left, while an 8TB external drive sits nearby, idle and useless. Until I can actually get the recordings down from the cloud in an efficient manner - it's 3 stars for me.

by CKMBenn

Update: I’d really like to see recording in 1080. Phones and tablets have so much storage now, and amazing resolution. I wouldn’t mind the file sizes being huge to get a much clearer picture. Current picture quality on recordings are not up to where they should be. If it’s a licensing issue, charge more.

I’d like to see some more channels though. Since you have NBC why don’t you have USA Network/SyFy? Works on my iPhone X as promised. They fixed the most annoying bug related to iPhone X so all good now.

by Schu117

Five Stars of well deserved praise. I have been using PlayOnCloud for months and have downloaded a couple thousand tv episodes with only a minor glitch here and there.

I did have a pretty major one recently that gave concern. While my situation proved very unique the tech who worked the issue was the best! He cared about what happened and hopefully my situation will lead to an even better app.

Rock on PlayOn!

by EM In Norfolk

Great app providing a useful service at a low cost with easy functionality. Would love two basic enhancements if anyone out there is listening. First, start recordings where they left off when watching something in more than one sitting. This happens if I have to close PlayOnCloud for a few minutes but if it’s a longer amount of time (say, start in morning then resume in evening) PlayOnCloud defaults to start the recording from the beginning. Second, sorting of recordings should be A to Z, not Z to A. For example, if I download 5 episodes of a show the 5th episode is first by default. They allow you to switch the order but you have to do it every time you go to your recordings which is kind of annoying. Great app overall that I’ve recommended to quite a few folks since using it myself.

by Totally Not A Computer

I do some edits on instagram and usually i spend like 3 hrs jst trying to find footage from random shows. With this tho its legit all right there easy to download and everything. Only problem is u hv to hv an account on the channel u wanna download from and u hv to pay for a subscription. Tbh tho its worth it bc the quality of the videos r great and the upload pretty quickly. And its way easier than going to shady sites and getting viruses or whtever

by Florida Geezer Geek

This is a versatile tool that works well both for casting to a TV or for viewing on the iOS device when traveling. For $3/month you get 30 recordings. You can keep your recordings indefinitely on your iOS device or download to a PC. If you don’t want to store them locally you can pay for storage space on their server.

by The NJ Dude

I really like the ease of PlayOnCloud. It works great for recordings for a plane ride. You need to consider the following:
- you need to have a subscription. For example I use it for HBO which I am a member but which does not allow you to download
- you need to download to your cloud before you need it and it takes the original show time to tape a show. So for example a one hour HBO episode of GOT will take one hour to record . So just do it over night for 5 shows.
- then you need to download it on your device

Sounds like a lot but it is not - and it is worth it to get your shows on a plane and not need the WiFi.

Overall pleased - watched 5 GOT episodes on my long plane ride to get ready for the new season.

by Tonytone2222

Great interface and easy to use access to download pretty much anything. As long as you have an actual account that you already pay for. I use offline downloads a lot so it works great for me. Being able to download anything on HBO to watch without worrying about my cell signal and data is a godsend. Only other downside is the downloads are really slow. Still, I have no regrets

by Cuse231

PlayOnCloud is wonderful...offering almost every video streaming platform you could want (almost!), and allows you to record and take videos with you on the go. You record in the cloud and download to your device. It’s useful to build your own library and watch on myriad devices (iPad, phone, TV, PC/laptop). Recording quality is excellent and file size is very reasonable.

Their customer service is excellent too. Anytime I’ve had a technical issue (and they do occasionally happen), they respond quickly, efficiently, and very personably.

They occasionally have $0.10/recording specials but even at $0.15, that’s an excellent deal.

I highly recommend PlayOnCloud to my friends with children (and even those without)!

by Lostcypher

For years I’ve been a subscriber to all the major players and have watched great content come and go... well... no more! With the PlayOn cloud app I’m able to build personalized libraries for myself and my family on our home network... not a huge fan of the price per recording, hopefully they are able to come up with a lifetime fee of some sort, but other than that, it’s been a go to app since I downloaded it.

by OctoberC

Just downloaded... they offer a deal when you sign up for cloud storage, which is fine & good & all, ppl godda make money... but it seems that you get 7 days of storage for free & they offer packages if you want to build a library I suppose... So, just here to say it looks like you can still get functionality for free as long as it’s used sparingly... good to know because I didn’t want to be pressured first & don’t think I’ll be using it very much but this week I’m taking a flight & want offline viewing...

by AppFan3

I’ve used the PlayOn cloud app for many years, and it has always been a great app. The ability to preserve movie and tv favorites is wonderful, and channels such as the new HBO and Peacock are added as they become available.

I have had only two technical issues in my years using PlayOnCloud . Each time I emailed support and they were friendly, responsive and very helpful. I suspect that if anyone is not receiving a response, the email must not be reaching app support.

I highly recommend PlayOnCloud and look forward to its continued development.

by KatieDydde

I spent months trying to configure a way to record streaming content, but everything required spending a lot of money for hardware and software to create a convoluted system. I wanted a straightforward, intuitive, reliable solution. PlayOn Cloud is everything I was looking for.

PlayOnCloud is so easy to use right out of the (figurative) box that I was up and running as soon as I logged into my subscribed services. The cost per recording is painless, and they often run specials where you can buy credits in bulk at even more reasonable prices.

On the rare occasions that I’ve needed support, the team has been amazing. Their initial response is fast, and they keep me apprised of their progress as they work things through (the streaming services can be idiosyncratic). They generously share knowledge with me to increase my proficiency with PlayOnCloud . I’ve never experienced this level of communication for any other product.

If you want your streaming content always available seamlessly, PlayOnCloud is for you.

by AdamDanley

Recently moved to an area with no high-speed connection and limited cell/data service. PlayOnCloud has been a lifesaver. Almost bit the bullet to get satellite..but sure glad I didn’t. Simply record the shows to the cloud and download them to your phone when on wifi. It’s a bit costlier than I’d prefer, but still far cheaper than going with a 2 year contract for satellite, and miss out on some of the shows that are streaming only. It’s a bit misleading that they say more recordings are only 20c each, when in reality most are going to pay $5 for 20. Would be nice to be able to airdrop shows to family members, as you’re tied to one device, but all-in-all very much worth it.

by Twhiting9275

Support takes FOREVER to get an initial response ( 3-4 days ), then simply just regurgitates canned responses that are irrelevant to the actual problem at hand. Weeks later? Incomprehensible responses blaming a users config , or local environment for their own software issues.

Application is incredibly poorly designed, not allowing users to delete queued recordings, not allowing user to easily modify order of queued recordings ( drag and drop doesn’t work if you have 100+ queued recordings )

Recordings always embed users name, email and IP in some faux attempt to circumvent piracy ( LOL ).

Recordings ALWAYS buffer for about 20 seconds, and when they start, EVERY TIME, have about 30-90 seconds of incredibly poor quality image ( like it’s buffering, image is jagged ).

Recordings cost a good deal, both in space and actual $$$.

Good luck getting ANYWHERE with this support team, or application. It’s garbage from the ground up.

by Lisa2118

I tried to use PlayOnCloud before a plane trip. Downloaded shows took hours to show up. I couldn’t get what did load to play and when I tried to get support they don’t get back to you. My plane trip was over before a third of my downloads showed up. I never did hear from support and it’s two days later. I had to buy more credits even with the “free trial “ to get a very small amount downloaded. PlayOnCloud is a rip-off and I will just purchase on board WiFi in the future. Thanks for not getting back to me. Save your time and money and use a different method.

by Benconsult

It’s ok - and makes a pretty good recording, but they should make it easier to watch by adding a channel in my *already purchased* playon application for the pc. Also, why is it so hard to browse titles of programs? I have to go to genre/then to “page number” selection/ then to first letter of program. Sheesh that’s terrible! Now you can say that’s Amazon’s fault because of how it’s arranged on their servers, but playon cloud could do a lot toward ease-of-use by aggregating some of those titles for me so I don’t have to page so much and so awkwardly to see the title names.

by Sabor De Soledad

Overall, PlayOn does what is promised once you get your accounts connected. However, it has not yet been updated to support IPad Pro 11 resolution, wasting almost a third of the screen on black bars. Other reviewers also mentioned the issues with resuming a recording where you left off. That works for me sometimes, other times I have to remember where I was and fast forward. Would be a five star review from me once these are resolved.

by Beatka Ka

Whenever I have a problem, for example, I duplicated my account (don’t ask how....:)), they respond and find a solution. Same when I could not login to some channels. If you want to build your library to watch things later I highly recommend PlayOnCloud. I wish it would be available for Mac laptop software.

by Ad2927

Recently moved to an area with no high-speed connection and limited cell/data service. PlayOnCloud has been a lifesaver. Almost bit the bullet to get satellite..but sure glad I didn’t. Simply record the shows to the cloud and download them to your phone when on wifi. It’s a bit costlier than I’d prefer, but still far cheaper than going with a 2 year contract for satellite, and miss out on some of the shows that are streaming only. It’s a bit misleading that they say more recordings are only 20c each, when in reality most are going to pay $5 for 20. Would be nice to be able to airdrop shows to family members, as you’re tied to one device, but all-in-all very much worth it.