Information technology's one of the mysteries of the cyberspace: you tin download Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ shows on your iPad or iPhone, and fifty-fifty a Windows PC, but you cannot download content from these services on a Mac.

You can lookout Netflix, Amazon Prime number Video and Disney+ content on your Mac, to do so you only need to log on to the website of each service. But downloading is forbidden (and if you lot see a service that seems to suggest it volition let you to do this then it may well be malware!)

If you but wanted to download some movies to sentry on your Mac during a long train journey, or an international flight, this will no doubt be frustrating. Your only option might seem to be to observe content on Apple TV+ or use Apple's own iTunes Store, where you can rent or buy movies or TV shows, and download them to your Mac. But why pay when you could get them for free on one of these popular subscription services?

Unfortunately there is merely one option if you want to download content from Netflix, Amazon or Disney+ and scout information technology offline: you demand to download information technology on your iPhone or iPad.

UPDATE: On 15 November 2021 Amazon Prime Video launched a native macOS app on the Mac App Store that will allow Prime number subscribers to stream and download Prime number Video content on their Macs for offline viewing. The app is free and requires macOS Big Sur (11.4) and later. Become Amazon Prime number Video for macOS hither.

You can get a 30-mean solar day complimentary trial of Amazon Prime number Video here.

Tin AirPlay help?

You might exist wondering whether you lot could then use AirPlay to stream the content from your iPhone or iPad to the bigger screen on your Mac. AirPlay is Apple's solution for streaming from your Mac, iPad or iPhone to a Tv set screen.

Y'all might be forgiven for thinking information technology would be possible to stream content from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac's screen using AirPlay. Later on all, AirPlay is bachelor on all three devices. Prior to iOS xv and macOS Monterey it was not possible to use AirPlay to stream content from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac's display.

At present the 2021 updates to the operating systems are hither you should be able to apply AirPlay to send content to your Mac from an iPhone, iPad, or another Mac. You lot volition also exist able to utilize your Mac every bit an AirPlay speaker.

In theory the change should make it possible to stream downloaded Netflix or Disney+ shows from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac. However, when nosotros tried to stream from Netflix to our Mac we saw this alert:

Netflix on Mac

When we tried to stream from iPlayer on our iPhone to our Mac it did play (although it was a fleck laggy) and then we remember this is Netflix prohibiting this, probably considering information technology would exist still could be violating Netflix's terms and weather condition. If you play downloaded content on your Mac this could lead to termination of your subscription.

As for AirPlay streaming, information technology will not piece of work with every Mac. If your Mac is pre-2018 you will not be able to savor the new characteristic. Y'all'll need a MacBook Pro (2018 and afterwards), MacBook Air (2018 and later), iMac (2019 and later), iMac Pro (2017), Mac mini (2020 and later), Mac Pro (2019), and an iPhone 7 and later, iPad Pro (2nd generation and after), iPad Air (third generation and later), iPad (6th generation and later), or iPad mini (5th generation and later). If your iPhone, iPad or Mac is older it may still exist possible to share content at a lower resolution if y'all set 'Allow AirPlay for' to 'Everyone' or 'Anyone on the same network'.

Alternatives

Alternatives

While you wait for the new operating systems to make it, there are other ways to stream from an iOS device to a Mac, but you will demand to install an app on your Mac. For instance, AirServer (£/$fourteen.99) or Reflector (£16.01/$14.99) are two Mac apps that can exist used to stream content from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac. We have a separate article nearly streaming from iPhone or iPad to Mac.