The Three Best Video Apps for iPad
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Out of the box, the iPad will play many types of videos, but not all — and sometimes it is far from convenient. Here are some free and paid options that can make it better.
It's not true that the iPad is just a consumer device. But it's true that this is a fantastic consumer device — and especially for videos.
Apple doesn't want you to have to think about anything, it wants you to just pick up your iPad and enjoy watching whatever you want. It does this to such an extent that there isn't even an actual video player app, and instead iPadOS just plays the video for you.
Or at least he plays in many of them. While the iPad doesn't have a direct equivalent to QuickTime Player on the Mac, it's safe to assume that if the app can play video on your MacBook Pro, iPadOS can handle it too.
All you have to do is click on the video file and watch it. Or perhaps wait for it to load while iCloud unloads it, then click to watch.
Apple is oddly reluctant to reveal the list of formats that QuickTime Player or iPadOS can play, but its support pages say it doesn't support .avi, .wmv, or .mkv files. Apple calls them “legacy or custom formats,” but they can be quite common on the Internet.
Therefore, to play them, you will need a third-party application. There are many of them, but in reality only a small number of them are best suited for playing most formats.
The best of all is the round tool video for iPad — VLK
If you only have one video player app for iPad, this might be the one for you, and it's certainly capable of playing any video format. However, VLC is not perfect as it can be a little clunky, but at the same time it is the Swiss army knife of video players.
The question concerns how to transfer videos to VLC on iPad. VLC's first recommendation is a throwback to the old days: connect it to your Mac and sync.
VLC plays a very exciting movie. The controls on the side disappear after a few seconds, but return with one tap.
You can do this and it may be useful if you are going to play a lot of videos in VLC for iPad. . There's also the option of sharing over Wi-Fi, which may be suitable if you're streaming video from websites.
But today, if you just want to download a video to your iPad and play it, there's iCloud. And Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box.
It won't be fast, but you can browse the folders in these services, then select the videos you put there and load them into VLC.
Or in the Files app, search for videos, and when they open, you'll see a Open in VLC button. Alternatively, you can drag and drop videos into the VLC app on your iPad's dock.
However, for some unknown reason, opening them in VLC can take a long time.
VLC is free on the App Store. There is also a free version for Mac, but you must download it directly from the developer.
iPad version requires iOS 9 or later. This means that it officially supports iPad even before 2019, when iPadOS was separated from the iPhone operating system.
However, video playback is quite CPU intensive, so while you can theoretically use it on an iPad as of 2015's iOS 9, you won't have a good time.
The best video player for iPad for ease of use — InFuse
InFuse for iPad has the same limitations on transferring video to the device as VLC, but it does a better job of explaining the process — and is generally focused on ease of use. If you have videos in the app, organizing them is especially easy because InFuse will sort, say, movies from TV series.
This kind of automatic sorting and curation is used when InFuse is your main video player or you simply have a lot of videos.
InFuse has a clear and simple interface, as well as many controls.
There is a free version of InFuse that plays most video formats and supports without any restrictions such as image quality degradation. However, upgrading to the paid version adds additional formats, including the ability to play Blu-ray format without conversion.
The paid version of InFuse costs $2 per month or $13 per year with a subscription. Or there is a one-time lifetime license option for $100.
The best video player for film collections — Plex
Plex is interesting because instead of downloading videos to your iPad, you stream them from your Mac. You can even do this while away from your Mac, but you'll need good Wi-Fi first.
Additionally, to watch streaming media on your iPad when you're away from the Wi-Fi network your Mac is connected to, you'll need to pay a one-time fee of $4.99. This is an in-app purchase for iPad that enables remote streaming.
Plex has several remote streaming options, and overall it's a service that can be a little user-friendly. But this is really true on the Mac, where you set up streaming, and when you then use the iPad to watch, it's easier.
Plex can stream your own media and also supports live TV.
Plex also offers movies and TV shows from the company's own library. It can also stream selected TV channels live.
Besides the $4.99 remote activation fee, Plex is free to use whether you watch your media collection at home or away from home. Likewise, live streaming is free.
However, you can pay for something called a Plex Pass. Starting at $4.99 per month, Plex will work like a TiVo-type DVR — if you also have a tuner connected.
Choosing the right video player for iPad
Get everything — VLC, InFuse and Plex. Each of them has free versions, and in each case, those free versions may be all you ever need.
It's worth paying a one-time $4.99 to enable remote play in the Plex app for iPad, but only if you have a large media library on your Mac. And if you're going to be away from home, you can't rely on Wi-Fi, so Plex shouldn't be your only choice.
But you can also watch Plex through InFuse. So for a single app that allows you to store locally stored videos and access the Plex media server, InFuse is the most straightforward.
This means that VLC lags behind in features and ease of use. This is actually surprising since VLC has been around for so long, plays so many formats, and works on so many platforms.
Maybe it's just habit, but even if you like InFuse enough to get the paid version, it feels like VLC is worth keeping on hand just in case.
It's also the smallest at 62.7 MB (InFuse is 100.4 MB and Plex is 160 MB). So, having all these devices will not affect your iPad's memory much.
What will make a huge difference are the gigabytes of video you can end up storing in each of them. So to watch when you're away, be sure to spend time before your trip adding what you want — and removing what you have already seen.
At the end of the day, the iPad can be a fantastic device for consuming media, but it would be nice to give you some space to work on it.
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