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Downloaded movies won’t play on iPad when offline

I have added movies to my iPad through iTunes. But these movies were NOT purchased and downloaded through iTunes. I OWN these movie files. They are on my laptop. I’ve added such files for 5-8 years and always watched them on flights, trains, etc. without any issue.


I upgraded to the latest iOS a few days ago and now I cannot watch content that I own and added to my iPad, which is absolutely absurd.


I imagine no one from Apple will help, so maybe some fellow suffering customers have experienced this. I’ve seen questions from others about downloaded content through iTunes, which is also stupid...but this is content I own and have added to my iPad for years without issue.

iPad Air 3 Wi-Fi

Posted on Oct 31, 2019 2:09 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 1, 2019 8:20 AM

Hi, thanks for the reply. I have a MacBook Pro at home that I always use to add content before a long trip. I plug in the iPad and then go into iTunes, find the iPad, and start dragging and dropping movies onto it (or sometimes I'll go into my iTunes movie files and check the boxes of the movies I want to add). I then click "Apply" and it syncs. I've done this for at least 8 years with probably 4 different iPad versions and 3 different MacBook Pro versions. I've never had an issue viewing my movies anywhere, anytime, connected to WiFi or not. I used to watch the movies in the Videos app but a year or so ago it was changed to the TV app. So that's what I use now.


Last week, I added several movies and was able to access them during my 11-hour flight and on a train ride. This all changed when I downloaded and installed Apple's latest iOS update, apparently. A day later I took another flight and tried to finish watching a movie I was in the middle of and couldn't access it during the flight. When I got to my hotel room, I connected the iPad to WiFi and then went into the TV app. Everything looked different because it was connected to WiFi. I could watch all videos on my iPad.


One more thing I need to explain...during my 10-hour flight home yesterday, I went into the TV app again and noticed that every movie I purchased through iTunes and downloaded was available to watch. But videos that I actually have on my laptop (for example: I have video files that I either ripped from DVDs I own or video files that a friend gave me a few years ago) were NOT available. This is what makes no sense at all.


Why would Apple force me to be connected to WiFi to watch a file I own and added to my iPad?? This makes no sense.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 1, 2019 8:20 AM in response to QuickPost

Hi, thanks for the reply. I have a MacBook Pro at home that I always use to add content before a long trip. I plug in the iPad and then go into iTunes, find the iPad, and start dragging and dropping movies onto it (or sometimes I'll go into my iTunes movie files and check the boxes of the movies I want to add). I then click "Apply" and it syncs. I've done this for at least 8 years with probably 4 different iPad versions and 3 different MacBook Pro versions. I've never had an issue viewing my movies anywhere, anytime, connected to WiFi or not. I used to watch the movies in the Videos app but a year or so ago it was changed to the TV app. So that's what I use now.


Last week, I added several movies and was able to access them during my 11-hour flight and on a train ride. This all changed when I downloaded and installed Apple's latest iOS update, apparently. A day later I took another flight and tried to finish watching a movie I was in the middle of and couldn't access it during the flight. When I got to my hotel room, I connected the iPad to WiFi and then went into the TV app. Everything looked different because it was connected to WiFi. I could watch all videos on my iPad.


One more thing I need to explain...during my 10-hour flight home yesterday, I went into the TV app again and noticed that every movie I purchased through iTunes and downloaded was available to watch. But videos that I actually have on my laptop (for example: I have video files that I either ripped from DVDs I own or video files that a friend gave me a few years ago) were NOT available. This is what makes no sense at all.


Why would Apple force me to be connected to WiFi to watch a file I own and added to my iPad?? This makes no sense.

Downloaded movies won’t play on iPad when offline

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