iPad Pro iOS ability to play media (movie) files I have purchased through Apple TV from external drive

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Level 1

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iPad Pro iOS ability to play media (movie) files I have purchased through Apple TV from external drive

I have an iPad (2019) and I would like to buy an iPad Pro (2021) for work.

However, Apple Engineering has not been able to fix an issue with playing iTunes/AppleTV content on iOS devices when accessed from an external hard drive.

So here is the deal. If I have purchased, say 600 Apple Movies, and I don't want to have to download one of those from the iCloud onto my iPad to watch (like if I'm on an airplane?) but rather just want to watch the one I've already downloaded onto my hard drive, I CANNOT do it. iOS devices DO NOT let you play YOUR OWN apple media purchases from an external hard drive.

So does Apple want me to purchase a Windows Surface tablet? Because I can definitely play any of my Apple media purchases from an external drive and onto a Surface. I've done it.

How does that make ANY SENSE at all Apple?

Please help me find a solution.

iPad (6th gen) WiFi

Posted on May 6, 2021 4:59 PM

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Answer 1

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MichelPM

Level 10

81,004 points

May 6, 2021 5:10 PM in response to otishobbes

There is ONLY one solution to this.

You MUST copy the movie from the externally connected drive and load it into your iPad to be able to play the content from directly inside of the iPad and NOT from the external drive.

This is the way it has always been for quite some time, now.

There are no other workarounds.

I have lots of movies on both a Wireless, HotSpot USB Flash drive and a SSD with movies on them and the only way to play these is to copy them, one at time, into my iPad to be able to play them from my iPad.

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Answer 2

otishobbes Author

Level 1

8 points

May 7, 2021 1:09 PM in response to MichelPM

Thanks so much @MichelPM. As I’ve been doing some digging I realized that this is not Apple’s doing but a result of the media industry not allowing Apple to let mobile users access content except from one single media library source for DRM verification.

If humans weren’t so apt to be fraudulent with copyrighted content this wouldn’t even be a need.

I appreciate your response. Another workaround is to make the Apple media library DRM marker point only to the external hard drive with all the media files...but that means I would only be able to listen to or watch any Apple content from that hard drive only, plugged into whatever device.

I get that Apple’s hands are tied and this is what it is, but it does make it frustrating to be sure. Oh well. Maybe some day when humans stop being so fraudulent, purchased media content will truly be “free” to view on any device.

thanks for taking the time to answer.

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iPad Pro iOS ability to play media (movie) files I have purchased through Apple TV from external drive

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