Should you get the MX Player app?

What sets MX Player apart from most OTT players in India is the fact that it’s a free app that offers both local as well as international content (Turkish, Korean, among others). Here’s our review of MX Player so that you can make an informed decision about choosing to download the app.

MX Player is an Indian video streaming and video on demand platform developed by MX Media & Entertainment. On July 18, 2011, it was initially launched as a video player but it was relaunched as an OTT platform on February 20, 2019. It currently offers more than 2,00,000 hours of content across 11 languages (English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Bhojpuri), with original as well as licensed content from various Indian and international studios including FilmRise, Sonar Entertainment, Screen Media Films, Goldmine, Hungama, Shemaroo, Paramount Pictures, Sony Entertainment and Sun TV Network. It also offers content suitable for a mature audience after tying up with the Ullu App in 2020.

The app also includes a native video player, short-format video section (MX Takatak), online music streaming section (powered by Gaana) and a Games section. This review mainly focuses on the MX Player video OTT platform.

Available on: Android, iOS and web

Download and onboarding experience: The size of the Android app is 32 MB and the download and onboarding experience was smooth. The content language preferences can be selected to find the language-specific content on the app. Login is not needed to view content on the app but it is required to earn and redeem coins to get ad-free viewing coupons. One can login through Google, Facebook or one’s mobile number.

Subscription Plan:

MX Player app provides content for free, and operates on an ad-supported model.

What to expect:

In the video section of the app, one can find web shows, movies, TV, MX VDESI, news, music videos and ‘Buzz content’ (which includes music videos and popular movies available in the language selected). Multiple widgets like Popular, Trending, New releases etc. are offered in each content section.

The popular original web shows that would qualify as a big draw for many include Aashram, Bhaukaal and Queen. The popular A-rated shows on the platform include Mastram, Hello Mini and Bullets. The movies offered on the platform include a plethora of South Indian movies from SunNXT and Hindi dubbed versions of popular South Indian and English movies like Sarrainodu, Expendables 3, The Raid 2 and Mechanic. Popular TV shows like Bigg Boss, Roadies, Swaragini and Naagin are available on the platform. MX VDESI offers a wide range of Korean and Turkish shows dubbed in Hindi with the popular ones being ‘Our Story’, ‘The Untamed’ and ‘Under the Dome’. The ‘News’ section offers trending news and other news videos in English and Hindi. Live telecast of News channels like ‘India TV’ and ‘NewsX’, entertainment channels like ‘Epic TV’ and ‘Mastii’, and music channels like ‘9xM’ and ‘Jalwa’ is also possible on this app. The ‘Buzz’ section includes short video clips on food, fitness, dance, comedy, fashion & beauty and tech and auto.

Design and experience:

The design is simple and neat with lots of widgets like Top picks, Trending, MX recommended etc. in each section which makes it easier for the user to choose content. The white background color makes the content stand out and the black and blue text is clearly readable on all screens. The ‘See More’ option for the widgets in the app provides more options to the user.

I watched the Tamil show ‘Queen’ as part of this review.

The movie/show detail page has the following information:

• Language
• Release Date
• Content Rating (U, U/A, A)
• Trailer
• Option to subscribe to the channel
• Brief description of the movie/show

• Genre
• Cast and director
• Synopsis
• Add to ‘My List’
• Like the movie/show
• Share
• Episode list
• Similar movies/shows
• Download, in 4 different video qualities, for offline viewing

The standard features available on the video player include:

• Change screen brightness
• Change volume
• Forward/rewind by 10 sec
• Enable/disable subtitles
• Change video quality
• Playback speed - 0.5x to 2x
• Super Saver Data Mode for saving data by 50% during online viewing
• When a movie is playing, screenshots cannot be taken.

Search:

1. Recent and trending searches are shown before a search keyword is typed.
2. Voice based search is available
3. Search can be done within a category like Shows, Movies, Music, Live TV or Shorts
4. Language, Genre, Actor, Release Year, Downloadable content filters can be applied for discovering specific content.

Pros & Cons:

Pros

1. Wide variety of content across 11 languages, including A-rated content,Hindi-dubbed and 100+ Live TV channels.
2. All the content is available for free.
3. The app’s homepage is classified into widgets for various themes, making it easier for the user to choose content.
4. Option to download content and watch the same offline.
5. Option to subscribe to a channel and easily find content available only on the channel.
6. App supports split screen as well as Picture in Picture (PIP) mode.
7. Dark theme support, for reducing eye strain when the app is being used at night.
8. Safe content mode, to restrict minors from viewing inappropriate content
9. Kids mode, to show content for users under 12

Cons

1. High number of ads, with limited options to get rid of them.
2. No critic/user ratings to help users choose a title.
3. No chromecast support to enable users to watch the content on their Smart TVs.

Why should one subscribe?

1. Wide variety of content in 11 languages available for free.
2. Lot of A-rated content, Turkish and Korean shows dubbed in Hindi, which may not be available on other OTTs for free.
3. The option to watch Live TV, across 100+ channels.

Rating:

Based on the user experience, the pros and cons, the rating given to MX Player is 7 on 10.

Despite the high number of ads being a letdown, the MX Player app is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys watching movies in regional languages, A-rated content and Korean and Turkish titles which are dubbed in Hindi. Users can accumulate coins by completing the daily tasks or by playing games on the app and they can be used to claim ad-free viewing coupons.