How to Watch Amazon Prime Offline: Official Rules & a More Stable Way
Summary: Learn how to watch Amazon Prime Video offline on PC and iPhone, the limits of Amazon’s official download feature, why offline playback often fails, and how to get a more stable offline experience with your existing Prime subscription
Table of Contents
Introduction: My Experience on Prime Video Offline Playback Issues
Last month, right before a long flight to Singapore, I wanted to watch 1883 on Amazon Prime and download few episodes so I could watch them offline on the plane. I opened the Prime Video app as usual, however, it kept getting stuck on the loading page, and I restarted multiple times didn't solve the problem. When I arrived and back home, it worked again.
To figure out why this is happening, I did some in-depth research and reviewed a lot of user feedback and disscussions, then I wrote this article, hoping to compile all the situations I've seen, tested, and encountered into a clear guide to help you avoid the same offline issues.
In the following content, I will guide you through:
- How does the official Prime Video offline feature work: Which devices and content can be downloaded? Which cannot?
- Why can't I watch the downloaded content offline on the plane? What common limitations are easily overlooked?
- How to take advantages of Prime video subscription plan for a more stable offline viewing experience?
Hopefully, this article will help you enjoy watching Amazon Prime Video offline smoothly while traveling, commuting, on business trips, or in environments without internet access.
Explainations on Amazon Prime Video Offline Mechanism
1. Supported Plans and Devices to Accesss Offline Function
Amazon’s offline feature is not available on every plan or every device. In order to make it clear for us to know what can be watched offline, where, and how can we do it, I have listed the plans, devices, and content that support access to Amazon Prime offline features in the table below for your check:
| Supported ✅ | Not Supported ❌ | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Prime Premium Membership | Ad-Supported Plan |
| Device |
|
Mac, TVs |
| Content | most originals | part of rentals/purchases/channels, and few of originals |
Generally speaking: If your subscription is active and a "Download" button is available for the title, you can save it for offline watching.
However, Amazon's offline functionality is quite flawed, especially for iPhone devices, which I will explain in detail below.
2. Detailed Gudie on How to Watch Amazon Prime Offline
I tested Amazon Prime Video’s offline feature on two different devices—PC: my Lenovo ThinkPad (Windows 11) and Mobile: iPhone 16 Pro—to understand how stable the official offline experience actually is.
Here’s a detailed walk-through of how offline downloading works on PC, followed by some important notes from my experience on iPhone.
During my testing on the ThinkPad, the download process was smooth. I downloaded this 2-hour movie, with the quality set to Great and the subtitles set to English, and it took about 20 minutes.
The download process on mobile devices is almost same as computers, so I won't repeat it here. However, in my actual experience, I found a very serious problem with the Amazon offline experience on iPhones—something I think is worth highlighting.
iPhone version of Prime Video does not show the “Rent” or “Purchase” section at all. This means：
- We cannot buy or rent movies directly inside the iPhone app.
- We cannot see already-rented titles and cannot download rentals for offline viewing.
- Even purchased titles may not appear in iPhone Amazon app.
This is not a bug—it’s a known app limitation caused by App Store policy and Amazon’s avoidance of in-app purchase fees.
I can watch the rentals offline on my ThinkPad, but for my iPhone, it get inaccessible. This is what I think is the worst part of Amazon's offline feature.
Tips to Use Offline Features on Amazon Prime
Based on my testing on a ThinkPad (PC) and an iPhone 16 Pro (mobile device), I discovered many Prime video download limits and also found some useful tips.
1. Don't Save Downloads to USB Drive
Amazon has explicitly stated that it does not recommend download Amazon videos to SD card or USB drive. Out of curiosity, I tried setting the video download path to USB, and found that the video could not be watched offline, and even displayed an error message.
Therefore, I still recommend that when setting the video storage path in the Amazon app, you use the default storage location and do not change it arbitrarily.
2. Don't Chromecast or AirPlay the Downloads for Offline Watching
This is also one of the things that misled me about Amazon's offline viewing feature! I always thought, "If I download it offline and can watch it on my phone, then I can cast it to the TV for a more comfortable viewing experience."
However, the Prime video downloads cannot be played via Chromecast or AirPlay.
When I tried to watch a saved Amazon offline video on my TV, after pressing the screen mirror button, the TV screen was just black.
3. Kind Reminder: Download Fail to Play in Offline Mode
While researching this topic, I also checked feedback from other users—and surprisingly, what I experienced on my flight is not an isolated case at all.
On Reddit, several users have reported a long-standing bug in the official Prime Video app: Even after successfully downloading a video, the title refuses to play once the device enters offline mode.
In other words, even if I download the entire Yellowstone series, when I actually want to watch it offline, Amazon is very likely to give me some error messages, which frustrating me a lot.
A More Stable Offline Experience with StreamFab Amazon Downloader
After using Prime's offline feature multiple times, I found that the biggest problem wasn't download speed or offline storage limitations, but rather the lack of stability.
For someone like me who frequently watches videos on airplanes or while traveling, this is incredibly frustrating.
Leverage your existing Prime membership for a more stable and controllable offline viewing experience.
1. Official Offline vs. StreamFab Offline
To visually illustrate the differences in offline viewing experience between StreamFab and the Amazon App, I've compiled a comparison table, comparing aspects such as offline viewing quality and stability.
| Amazon Official Offline | StreamFab Amazon Offline | |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription required | Yes | Yes |
| Stable offline playback on airplane | Depends (authorization may fail) | 100% Yes |
| Chromecast for offline playback | No | Yes |
| Video quality | Great (720p) | 1080p |
For me, after using StreamFab to watch Amazon videos offline, I've never encountered "cannot play" or "stuck loading" issues after taking off on business trips.
2. Operation Steps
Taking my ThinkPad (Windows 11) as an example, downloading a 2-hour movie at 1080p quality took approximately 20 minutes. The overall process is as follows:
- If you are a mobile user, no worries. Once you have utilized StreamFab to save Amazon videos into the MP4 or MKV format, you may transfer them to your mobile device, gaming console, or television for offline viewing.
FAQs
This document summarizes some issues I encountered while using Amazon's offline feature, hoping to help you better understand the Amazon video offline ecosystem.
1. Why Can't I Play Prime Video Downloads via AirPlay or Chromecast?
Because downloaded videos are strongly encrypted with Amazon Prime DRM, neither AirPlay nor Chromecast can transmit this encrypted data stream. If you want to watch offline on your TV, you can try connecting the device directly to the TV using an HDMI cable, allowing the TV to act as a screen.
2. Why Can't Downloads be Saved on a USB Drive?
On Windows or other devices, Prime video downloads must be stored in DRM-protected secure local storage.
External USB hard drives/flash drives do not have this security mechanism. Therefore, videos stored on a USB drive will fail DRM authorization verification and cannot be played.
You can stream Amazon Prime Video on a maximum of three videos using a single Amazon account. but the same title can only be streamed on two devices at a time.
No. Once your subscription to Prime Video Mobile Edition expires or is terminated, you cannot watch any videos even though you already downloaded them, unless you have rented or bought the specific title.
But with StreamFab Amazon Downloader, you can save the Prime video downloads in MP4/MKV format, which allows you to watch offline even if your subscription expire.
Conclusion
After spending time experiencing Prime Video offline feature on both my Lenovo ThinkPad and iPhone 16 Pro—and after reading countless user complaints on Reddit—I’ve come to a very clear conclusion:
Amazon’s offline feature was designed for convenience, not stability.
If you are a regular user—official offline playback and reasonable playback time planning are sufficient. But if you're like me, a frequent traveler who encounters offline playback issues, StreamFab Amazon Downloader can be valuable.
It won't replace your subscription. What it does is: Ensure that the content you already own can be watched stably offline anytime, anywhere, on any device, and in any environment.
