Frndly TV

Let me open by saying I LOVE this streaming service, and I loved the app up until recently when Hallmark Movies Now and Dove Channel were made available. I used to be able to search for a movie I recorded, and it would show up in the search results, almost always as the first option. Now, I search for a movie, and the majority (if not all) the hits are from Hallmark Movies Now and Dove, even though I may have recorded the movie as recently as a few hours earlier. It is so frustrating (and I have to PAY for Hallmark Movies Now, which I do not want to do, since I have the movies recorded that I want to watch

LOVE all the channel options (Hallmark, UpTV, GAC, Lifetime), but the app needs some major improvements. My recorded movies and shows always restarts while I’m in the middle of watching and decide to open up the app to either pause, rewind or fast forward. The app also doesn’t save our watch progress so if you want to continue watching something later, you’ll have to search for the show again and find where you left off. Very rarely does it actually save our progress. It would be great to have a “watched” check mark or some way to organize content we’ve recorded so we know what we’ve seen already and what we haven’t. The closed captioning also doesn’t work if we use Chromecast to stream to our TV. It would be great to have an option to access Frndly through our xBox or Playstation like other streaming channels.

The search leaves a lot to be desired. I searched for a movie because I wondered if I had it recorded, and it was buried in a list that started with multiple “on now” shows, including many that had nothing to do with the search words; why would there be any results other than what I’m specifically looking for? Then I looked for a movie that I knew was in my recordings, and got only a listing for Hallmark Movies Now, and not a hit on my recordings. Since I don’t even subscribe to HMN, it would be nice to exclude it. I know it used to be better at finding exactly what I was searching for, and now it’s like it throws up everything it has (except recordings) and expects you to weed through it all. Please bring back the ability to search only recorded items, and improve the general search to hit on a more exact result. If I want to see what’s on now, I can check the guide. Speaking of, a search option for finding something that’s listed on the guide would be great. It should not be this difficult to find a specific movie or show.

The app is great for affordability, the channels and recording. The problem is it never (or rarely) keeps your place while watching a movie or knows when you are finished watching them. I have about 8 movies I already watched ALL of and it still stays in my continue watching. I go in and try to force it to the end hoping it will disappear but only does about 50% of the time. Maybe you can add an option to delete from continue watching stream if you can’t fix the issue of it knowing when you are done. It would also be great if it would stay at the spot where I actually watched last. It rarely does that as well. I am constantly fast forwarding to find where I was. I know this is a low cost bare bones service but it would be great if the features you offer work well since there aren’t many of them and we do still pay for it. If it was free it would be a different story….

First off, reading other reviews a reminder to all: THIS IS LIVE TV. It isn’t like most of your mainstream services, this is live as in it airs the same things at the same time as other providers. So no, you can’t skip or jump ahead because it is, well, LIVE. Secondly, the price for the selection is unparalleled! It is more than worth it!! Their on demand section is awesome as it has 72 hour look back as well as movies that are just there. THREE HALLMARK CHANNELS as well as PixL (commercial free movies) and UpTV (original programs and movies) was my main draw. Curiosity Stream, Outdoor, Game Show Network... such awesome selection! And for those who think it’s not enough selection, take a moment and really think about what you watch. I mean, you can’t watch 500 channels all at the same time so... I save so much money and still have amazing things to watch! And yes, it’s available across multiple platforms so TRY THE FREE TRIAL YOU WONT REGRET IT!!!