Rent films on the go with LoveFilm’s iPhone app

In our society’s relentless drive to be able to do everything while sitting on our asses in our living rooms, LoveFilm is a spearhead. The UK’s largest DVD rental company – with over 67,000 films and over 1,000,000 members – has made going out to get a movie seem as redundant a notion as hanging out at the arcade or throwing rotten veg at prisoners in the stocks.

As if LoveFilm hadn’t already made life easy enough, you can now link your LoveFilm account to your iPhone courtesy of this official app. And this is no half-assed offering; almost all of the features from the PC version are there, and best of all it’s FREE (if you don’t count the fact that you need a LoveFilm account to benefit from it).

After an admittedly irritating 10-second wait during which I was forced to endure an ad of LoveFilm’s film of the moment, I reminded myself that the app is free and that beggars can’t be choosers. Thankfully, after those 10 seconds you’ve got access to most of the wonderful world of LoveFilm.

While there are no flashy menus, no user collections and no way of entering competitions for mega LoveFilm prizes (*sob*), you still have access to all the films and games on the site. After you add a film, you decide which of your lists you want to put it in and what its priority setting should be. For me, this is an improvement on the PC version, which just throws films into the default list on the default priority setting leaving you to sort through the mess.

After you click on a category from the brutally dull main menu, things get a little more colourful as you can see box-shots of films, their user ratings, user reviews and even the trailer. I’m yet to encounter any usability issues, which suggests to me that the app has undergone major improvements from its early days, which were filled with user complaints.

The LoveFilm app may not be as pleasing on the eyes as the website, and certainly lacks the magic of going to Blockbuster to rent a film, but it is does the job. While certain aspects are even more functional than on the PC, it’d be nice to see the inclusion of user collections, quizzes, and maybe one day access to LoveFilm’s ever-growing library of films to watch online.

These are thoughts for the future though. For the time being, this app is a quick and easy way of managing your films from the comfort of your bus seat, train seat, or a standing position on the aforementioned means of transport. And it’s free, so if you have a LoveFilm account you should try this no matter what I say about it.

Developed by LoveFilm. Free!