ZERO RATING FOR TERRIBLE BUGS AND AWFUL SUPPORT
=== ZERO RATING ===
The only reason I opted to go for google play movies app (even though it is UGLY) is googles speed and ability to download movies and watch them OFFLINE and also watch on YouTube - which no other app offered to do.
It worked fine for a while except that it kept deleting downloaded movies randomly for NO reason (this issue still persists) - forcing me to re-download all the deleted movies painfully. Also downloading movies takes forever to START downloading and still does not always work/start/complete and need to try AGAIN AND AGAIN. Further, it does not work in the background like streaming audio apps such as Pandora, Spotify when the device is put to sleep - which is important - as we could listen to just the movies AUDIO at work. Not to mention, thumbnails on some downloaded movies DISAPPEAR randomly for no reason.
Googles app update during Dec 10, 2015 BROKE the VERY IMPORTANT offline playback feature with error code -11853. Reported it to google support who FAILED to even lookup error code -11853 in their code base where it was coming from. They vaguely advised me to contact apple but after I proved to them other issues such as deleting of downloaded movies for no reason, they had me DELETE the entire app which also deleted ALL my downloaded movies. I had to re-download and reinstall the app and re-download all the movies but it STILL failed to play downloaded movies offline.
Google then asked me VAGUELY to RESET my iPad which I refused as that would erase all my photos, videos and other app data. I proved to them the exact same issues manifest on my iPad Air 2, iPhone 6s and my kids iPad mini 3 - with screenshots of the error. Google took ZERO responsibility and said there was something wrong with ALL MY DEVICES!!! How can all my devices be bad when they were working fine with their same app up until Dec 10, 2015?? Also they failed to explain why their own app was having downloading issue and DELETING downloaded movies AGAIN AND AGAIN for no reason. How hard is it to search their apps project source code for error code 11853?? They did not even do that and closed my ticket rudely. Looks like a bunch of developers who dont have a clue how to track, analyze or resolve bugs or search their code for reported errors. 11853 error code is getting displayed by their app from somewhere In their code.
Another strange behavior I proved to them - while flying I found my iPad showed "NO SERVICE" but when I tried the app (cellular data for app was off), it MAGICALLY played movies offline!!! I turned Cellular Data to ON and then back to OFF for the app (NO CHANGE VIRTUALLY) and when I tried the app again, it reported 11853 error again!!! It was playing OFFLINE fine just a few seconds ago with the exact SAME setting but now it bombs. Also, during this process of turning on/off cellular data inside a flight with no signal, it deleted SEVERAL of the downloaded movies for no reason!!! So this is just some stupid switch that the app thinks wrongly is OFF. I reported this to Google as well but obviously their developers are not smart enough to understand this buggy behavior even after explaining to them in programming terms (Im a programmer).
After trying desperately ways to make this app work without their support, I discovered that it PLAYS downloaded movies OFFLINE if I turn ON Airplane Mode (no cellular, no wifi). Turn Airplane Mode OFF - it does NOT play movies offline!!! Are you reading this Google??? Or do you need me to FIX your code too? Since it works with Airplane Mode turned ON - do you still think all my devices need to be RESET and lose all my data??? How is that going to resolve it? This is as DUMB as your developers are who cannot even search source for error code 11853, vaguely suggest rudimentary steps even after proving it in several emails, close support tickets for no reason. If its an issue with Apple/iOS, GOOGLE needs to communicate with Apple and resolve it instead of expecting users to contact Apple.
I REALLY wanted to give this app 5-STAR RATING for its speed and offline playback but have to give it ZERO RATING due to these issues. If Google wants 5-STAR rating, they need to EARN it by taking responsibility and resolving ALL these issues. If the apps KILLER feature of playing downloaded movies OFFLINE is BROKEN, fully HALF of what is promised in the app is unfulfilled.
I would gladly give this 5-star rating if Google resolves these TERRIBLE/CRITICAL issues:
Make offline playback work as advertised.
Resolve download issues - takes forever to start downloading and doesnt download most of the time.
Resolve random deleting of movies bug.
Resolve missing thumbnails bug.
Implement background processing/playback.
Implement optional List view for quick scrolling of long lists
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Google TV: Watch Movies & TV