Review Insights · App Store
BritBox: The Best British TV
BritBox, LLC · 18,840 ratings · ★ 4.6
4.6
★★★★★
18,840 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 66 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"britbox"
25 negative reviews mention this · 38% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Went south. Was a great simple app for years now it has ads and a premium subscription ! Hate when they ruin a good thing . Now I’m getting commercials for BritBox while watching stuff on BritBox ? Ridiculous" - BBoyce84
2
"watch"
21 negative reviews mention this · 32% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Went south. Was a great simple app for years now it has ads and a premium subscription ! Hate when they ruin a good thing . Now I’m getting commercials for BritBox while watching stuff on BritBox ? Ridiculous" - BBoyce84
3
"subscription"
14 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Went south. Was a great simple app for years now it has ads and a premium subscription ! Hate when they ruin a good thing . Now I’m getting commercials for BritBox while watching stuff on BritBox ? Ridiculous" - BBoyce84
4
"shows"
14 negative reviews mention this · 21% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Was good now it’s overpriced and greedy. When I first started using this app, it was like seven bucks now it’s 11$ I watched two shows only I like classic Doctor Who and red dwarf. Now all of a sudden certain Doctor Who episodes say that I have have subscriber access??? $11 a mont…" - TJPray
5
"show"
13 negative reviews mention this · 20% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Was good now it’s overpriced and greedy. When I first started using this app, it was like seven bucks now it’s 11$ I watched two shows only I like classic Doctor Who and red dwarf. Now all of a sudden certain Doctor Who episodes say that I have have subscriber access??? $11 a mont…" - TJPray
6
"content"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t bother. There is such limited content, Britbox is truly a joke. A tiny fraction of BBC content is on the app, and now there is even less available due to the introduction of a “premium” tier. App navigation is also quite clunky. Don’t waste your mo…" - Kay2075
7
"service"
12 negative reviews mention this · 18% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Great shows awful app. Fix it or lose customers. Never had so much stress with an app. My Bluetooth headphones don’t allow me to pause or play show. I have to physically touch the screen for these commands - iPad. This is an isolated issue only with britbox. All …" - epidendrum
8
"premium"
11 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Went south. Was a great simple app for years now it has ads and a premium subscription ! Hate when they ruin a good thing . Now I’m getting commercials for BritBox while watching stuff on BritBox ? Ridiculous" - BBoyce84
9
"apple"
11 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Broken since last update. Recently it started inexplicably asking for your Apple ID every time you open it (I’m not subscribed through Apple, I have a yearly plan through Britbox directly). You can cancel out and nothing happens, which makes their tech support rep’s…" - Cfevrfgrffv
10
"available"
10 negative reviews mention this · 15% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t bother. There is such limited content, Britbox is truly a joke. A tiny fraction of BBC content is on the app, and now there is even less available due to the introduction of a “premium” tier. App navigation is also quite clunky. Don’t waste your mo…" - Kay2075
11
"money"
9 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t bother. There is such limited content, Britbox is truly a joke. A tiny fraction of BBC content is on the app, and now there is even less available due to the introduction of a “premium” tier. App navigation is also quite clunky. Don’t waste your mo…" - Kay2075
12
"doesn"
9 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Broken since last update. Recently it started inexplicably asking for your Apple ID every time you open it (I’m not subscribed through Apple, I have a yearly plan through Britbox directly). You can cancel out and nothing happens, which makes their tech support rep’s…" - Cfevrfgrffv
📋 All 66 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
Went south
Was a great simple app for years now it has ads and a premium subscription ! Hate when they ruin a good thing . Now I’m getting commercials for BritBox while watching stuff on BritBox ? Ridiculous
AirPods play\pause no longer working only with this app.
Yesterday, the play/pause function completely stopped working, but only with this app. It’s not working on both the iPad and iPhone with AirPods Pro 2 & 3 and only with this app.
Was good now it’s overpriced and greedy
When I first started using this app, it was like seven bucks now it’s 11$ I watched two shows only I like classic Doctor Who and red dwarf. Now all of a sudden certain Doctor Who episodes say that I have have subscriber access??? $11 a month isn’t enough ??? That’s absurd This is unbelievable. I had a five star from the beginning rating now I’m gonna unsubscribe.
Broken since last update
Recently it started inexplicably asking for your Apple ID every time you open it (I’m not subscribed through Apple, I have a yearly plan through Britbox directly). You can cancel out and nothing happens, which makes their tech support rep’s claim it’s Apple’s fault absurd- Apple doesn’t need this information for the app to function. One out of hundreds on my devices does this.
Great shows awful app
Fix it or lose customers. Never had so much stress with an app. My Bluetooth headphones don’t allow me to pause or play show. I have to physically touch the screen for these commands - iPad. This is an isolated issue only with britbox. All other apps my headphones are fully functional. If I clicked play or pause headphones would play iTunes even when it wasn’t open and while Britbox was still playing. Again not an issue on other streaming apps. I deleted iTunes to avoid the issue when I click pause/play out of habit. I tried the troubleshooting suggestions with no luck only anger that I am wasting time and energy attempting a work around for something I pay service for. Fix your app don’t tell me how to stand on my head to try to fix your app problem. I tried logging in to the web to watch. Play and pause worked but picture wasn’t as good and I inadvertently deleted a few shows in my watchlist. This was due to trying to click on show in watchlist it wouldn’t play but had an x in the box that somehow removed show instead of playing when u clicked in box. Thought I was smart getting more content directly from Britbox instead of the Amazon add on. Instead I’m furious. Have delayed calling customer service to avoid being angry with more attempts to fix what I shouldn’t have to fix. Such great intellectual content. Get your app and streaming to catch up with it.
Constant Crashing, constant harassment
If I chose one particular plan maybe it’s what I could afford. I don’t need to be reminded over and over to UPGRADE. It’s not helping that the damned app crashes right after and sometimes during an episode. I am dissatisfied.
More Money
Now you have to pay for premium if you want to binge watch. Canceling my subscription.
Bait and switch
Britbox recently added a premium option but instead of adding more to update they took away content subscribers used to receive and forced them to upgrade if they still wanted it.
The best of British TV - the worst user experience
Not only the app is still buggy but it
Is now extractive - it is trying to force you to ‘upgrade’ for an annual premium subscription for content that was included before… yikes
Is now extractive - it is trying to force you to ‘upgrade’ for an annual premium subscription for content that was included before… yikes
Logging on fails again
Logging in worked twice- now I’m back to changing password, old password not recognized. Hopeless.
Shame on you💸💸💸💸💸💸💸
You’ve reached a level of greed that is untenable. And NO CLOSED CAPTIONS. No monthly binging. $150. a year and no closed captions. Shame on you greedy pratts. I’ll watch things on YouTube thank you.
TOO EXPENSIVE NOW!!!!
I’ve had BritBox since it became available in the US, it started at $69.99, then $89.99… I received a notice that the next renewal will be $109.99 AND now they added “PRIME” - they took seasons that were previously available and now they want an ADDITIONAL $40.00 to watch them - EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE OLD SEASONS PREVIOUSLY INCLUDED IN THE PLAN - I’m OUT, I can watch everything I see here on PBS. All eight households in my family and five of my friends will NOT be renewing. RAISING RATES AND REDUCING AVAILABILITY IS A HORRIBLE BUSINESS PLAN!!!
Horrible
None of the good content is available unless you upgrade to the new “Premier “ service. But it’s basically impossible to do that if you subscribe via Apple. Save yourself headaches and avoid this.
Your tvOS app is broken
Seriously, have you tried it on Apple TV whatever update your developers pushed out broke the app. It just loads and loads and loads. Nothing happens. I can’t even get to a video. Please yell at your developers and have them roll back to the previous build until they can figure out what they did to break it.
Garbage app
Why would I pay for premium service when you can’t keep the platform up and running. You’re a joke and disgrace.
Scammers
The scammers replied seemingly not understanding what I meant. I paid for a subscription and should have access to all shows. Not pay for a subscription and get one episode and to get the full season now I must pay MORE.
How is that NOT a SCAM!?!
I used to love BritBox but now their new shows are very few, and they are often new on BritBox but came out in 2019 on another channel. Now the scam is if you purchase BritBox subscription they have their own shows that come out but they NOW block you from seeing until a month later essentially stealing my money for a show I paid to watch in December 2025, but you hold it hostage until February 2026 unless I pay an the annual fee of like $150. The nerve.
How is that NOT a SCAM!?!
I used to love BritBox but now their new shows are very few, and they are often new on BritBox but came out in 2019 on another channel. Now the scam is if you purchase BritBox subscription they have their own shows that come out but they NOW block you from seeing until a month later essentially stealing my money for a show I paid to watch in December 2025, but you hold it hostage until February 2026 unless I pay an the annual fee of like $150. The nerve.
Horrible design
This app has no attention to detail. When browsing seasons of the same series, unless the cover art has the season number IN the graphic for the season, you cannot tell what season you are selecting.
Additionally, searching for “Law and Order UK” (how Siri dictation spells it) does not return the series “Law & Order UK”.
Also, if you gift someone a BritBox subscription, your recipient is required to give BritBox their credit card info in hope they will forget to cancel their subscription. (They don’t require this in other countries though. They’re only greedy in America.)
For a subscription that costs this much, a lot is left to be desired.
Additionally, searching for “Law and Order UK” (how Siri dictation spells it) does not return the series “Law & Order UK”.
Also, if you gift someone a BritBox subscription, your recipient is required to give BritBox their credit card info in hope they will forget to cancel their subscription. (They don’t require this in other countries though. They’re only greedy in America.)
For a subscription that costs this much, a lot is left to be desired.
$50 INCREASE IN SERVICE
Every other show now requires an “upgrade” fee to watch. What used to cost $109.99 now costs $149.99!!!!
THAT’S A FIFTY PERCENT INCREASE!!!
And it is NOT just to get an earlier release on shows. There are shows that aired/ended several years back that require the “upgrade to view”.
Greedy and not worth it.
THAT’S A FIFTY PERCENT INCREASE!!!
And it is NOT just to get an earlier release on shows. There are shows that aired/ended several years back that require the “upgrade to view”.
Greedy and not worth it.
Glitchy app and not all shows available
Having problems with the app. Get the message “not available in your country” and requiring sign in and passwords after you are signed in. Now info button not working so I am stuck on just one episode of a show. Dev should be ashamed to be so low tech. TUBI is free and better. Will cancel after promo.
Awful
This app asks for my password every time I open my AppleTv and it’s so annoying and frustrating. Also, there aren’t any separate profiles either, which makes watching series tough within the same household. My partner and I don’t always have time to sit and watch together, but we like to talk about the shows we watch. There’s no way to do this on this app. When opening the app on AppleTv, it takes you to the next episode instead of resuming what you were watching. In this day and age, just how and why? It’s just an all-around awful experience. Thinking of cancelling
Poor service
App doesn’t work on multiple devices. Always buffers and movies and TV shows will not start. Also no customer service.
App Has Fundamentally Changed
I used to love this app. Now I feel as though I'm walking onto a used car lot everytime I open it. There are ads now as well. Stop trying to "upsell" me everytime I use the app. Goodbye forever Britbox. Shame on you for not prorating refunds for your, now lousy, service.
Not all content available with new Premium
Very disappointing that Britbox has gone to a premium model so some content is just not available unless you pay more. The other services like Netflix don’t have that. Ridiculous.
Upset
Only gave a star to get to post review!The app won’t sign me in. I’ve had Brit box since 2021! They sure improved so much so it doesn’t work!!!!!!!
Just ridiculous
I paid for the yearly subscription to have access to the entire BritBox channel- before this new premium option was available.
The premium upgrade should have been automatically included for annual subscribers for the duration of their annual membership.
It didn’t bother me when it was just to have access to the new episodes ahead of time -but to block all of the Holiday videos for higher-tier members is just an absolute scummy move.
Even the videos that don’t specify premium-only are, in fact, premium only. How is this fair ?
I am seeing the responses from BritBox stating that the entire catalogue is still available and this is simply not true. One visit to your own app will prove that.
The entire selection under THE ART OF CHRISTMAS is for premier members only.
The premium upgrade should have been automatically included for annual subscribers for the duration of their annual membership.
It didn’t bother me when it was just to have access to the new episodes ahead of time -but to block all of the Holiday videos for higher-tier members is just an absolute scummy move.
Even the videos that don’t specify premium-only are, in fact, premium only. How is this fair ?
I am seeing the responses from BritBox stating that the entire catalogue is still available and this is simply not true. One visit to your own app will prove that.
The entire selection under THE ART OF CHRISTMAS is for premier members only.
Does NOT PLAY ON APPLE TV
Developers….. just try it from the USA.
Terrible
I’m a subscriber, but all of a sudden there is a new level premiere that you have to be a part of to see shows. At first, it was just to see all of a season all at once, but now it’s to even access some of the shows. This was already pretty expensive for what’s included, which isn’t all of the British programming, but now you’re making another tier to extract more money from people who are already subscribers. You’ve just lost this customer.
Poor Customer Service
Subscribed via AppleTV app, but when attempting to watch show it kept directing me to BritBox login/subscription page and said I needed to subscribe. Britbox customer service was not able to resolve the problem.
Stagflation why should I pay more for less
Early access has forced me to cancel. Let’s hope more subscribers do the same.
Subtitles Obtuse AT BEST
Why is it such a PITA to use subtitles on this app? Every app on Apple TV the subtitles come on if you have the set that way or at least when you use the voice prompt - not this one. You can’t even indicate it in the app itself for every show. Nor does it remember you used it before. Which means you can’t use the continue watching feature at all. You have to go to search, find the show, then go to the season you were one (because on main dhow screen it’s doesn’t remember that either) and start it from closed caption THEN indicate English in the actual episode. This app is obtuse anyway but doubly so if you need subtitles.
So annoying!
I subscribed to BritBox channel through Apple TV app on my ipad. Have watched this way for well over a year. Now, it is suddenly telling me I have to open the BritBox app and sign in directly with BritBox. I do not have a BritBox account because I subscribe through apple. I paid for an annual subscription that is now not working. People suggest just subscribing directly through BritBox, but then I will be out the money I paid to subscribe for a year through apple.
TV app is rubbish.
The TV app is absolutely unacceptable. When I go into the app to look at a particular season and select it and hit the OK button, it always goes to the 1st season, not the one I have selected. Periodically it will keep asking for my password, but if I hit Cancel five or six times then it will go into the app. I have gone back-and-forth with the Britbox customer service people three or four times, even sending them a video of the problem. What I mostly get is canned responses, I don’t know if any person has ever actually paid any attention to the problem. It always ends with somebody saying that they have sent the problem to technical support, and then after a few days I get a message saying that since they haven’t heard from me, my problem is marked as having been solved. Which I assume means they’re not going to pay more attention to me. Unbelievable. And now they want me to pay extra money to subscribe to an extra tier to watch the episodes a bit early. Not going to happen.
Fails often
The app fails often when trying to watch a BritBox show from the Apple TV app, taking you to a screen telling you to log in with an account you don’t have (because you subscribed via Apple TV). You can spend weeks talking to bots or customer support people with rigid scripts, who finally tell you there’s nothing to be done unless you’d like to pay extra money for an alternative subscription that won’t fail so often. Avoid if you possibly can.
Streamflation!!!
This review is about the new BritBox business plan with the new tier plans and not about its programs. The one thing I appreciated most about BritBox was that it didn’t have the tiers nonsense. Now there is the ‘Premier’ plan. It offers higher resolution viewing and downloads which most subscribers probably won’t use and a bunch of documentaries a number of which are 10 or more years old. It also offers earlier viewing for some new shows but with all the available streaming options most people will probably say I can wait it out. BritBox also uses language like premier, be the first, and exclusive to promote the ‘Premier’ plan. Isn’t there enough of this have and have not divide in our world? Especially now when prices are up everywhere for most things and people are struggling financially. There is also a new ‘Standard’ plan but with it you are getting less content than under the old plan. BritBox has removed older content at a faster rate than they are adding new content. Some things like Antiques Roadshow UK were available under the old plan but are now part of ‘Premier’. It’s understandable they may have needed a price increase but this is a poor way to do that!
Don’t do it!
The subscription is paid in advance for a year but once you start watching a series, they only show a portion of it and then tell you that you have to upgrade your subscription to finish watching! 👎
Trashing Loyal Viewers
The app is so-so. But recently, new seasons of old shows we’ve been watching for years, like Silent Witness, are only available with a premium subscription. This is an infuriating tactic - they think they have you so hooked that you must pay $150/yr to see them. I canceled.
Great content but useless buggy app
There is some excellent content on Britbox but sadly the apps to access the content are abysmal. The iOS apps are barely tolerable but the Apple TV app is a joke. Content that is promoted is inaccessible. Watching a series is sn exercise in frustration since the only way to get to the next episode is to search for the program, then choose the series, then find the episode. Again and again.
Oh and on my iPad? Well the video scales to about ½ the size of my display .. but those big thick black borders are very impressive and after all, why would I want to see the video fill my screen? What a stupid idea!
Finally, half the time the app gets stuck and wont even allow you to choose the episode you want to watch anyway.
Whoever is in charge of app development should be ashamed of this travesty.
Oh and on my iPad? Well the video scales to about ½ the size of my display .. but those big thick black borders are very impressive and after all, why would I want to see the video fill my screen? What a stupid idea!
Finally, half the time the app gets stuck and wont even allow you to choose the episode you want to watch anyway.
Whoever is in charge of app development should be ashamed of this travesty.
Doesn’t work on Apple TV
Have tried for months periodically to watch Britbox on my Apple TV. It just sits and spins. Have tried force quitting, deleting and installing again and restarting my Apple TV. To no avail. Google is telling me it has been discontinued on Apple TV and been moved to ITVX.
Doesn’t load, tech support hard to locate and not responsive
So I love the programs on BritBox; however, I cannot watch them on my TV. I live in a city in the American Southwest. First there was always lots of lag at the start and in the middle of shows. Then things improved awhile, but now for the past few weeks it hasn’t been loading at all. I tried reloading the app, and I scanned their website for a number to call - couldn’t find any. Finally found an email address, but it’s been days since I sent an email and I’ve gotten no response. BritBox is still talking my money. I had hoped to work with them, but now I’ll have to cancel - but I also want my money back for the weeks I was unable to watch anything. So I might contact the BBB. I haven’t had any difficulties with any other of my streaming services, so it’s not a technical problem on my end.
No customer service
I tried the 7 day trial and canceled before it ended. They still charged me. I couldn’t find a customer service number. I had to have credit card deny it. A month later, they charged me again. AI assistant is no help. It wants to charge to help me. I emailed and the answer I got was as if they didn’t read my complaint. How do you get customer service when you can’t talk to someone?
If you rely on closed caption, don’t bother with BB
We’ve had Britbox for several years. I’ve complained the past 2 years that new shows have small white closed caption and you cannot read it against light background. They said I could change caption on TV, yeah, I know that. That didn’t work. Next, my software was out of date. We bought a new TV, for nothing! Rather then having to look into this matter seriously and not blame customers equipment, they should find out why the captioning has changed! The white with black background, not white fonts on the actual screen image. We’re dropping this streaming channel when contract expires.
App on iPhone will not load
I couldn’t change my password (as didn’t remember it) on the computer as promised email didn’t arrive.
On tv, I hit forgot password over and over. Moved cursor and could not get response. Cannot use what I paid for!
Beware!
On tv, I hit forgot password over and over. Moved cursor and could not get response. Cannot use what I paid for!
Beware!
Frustrating
App crashes at least twice a show.
No Accessibly Options 😢
No matter how much you love British TV if you need audio descriptions this service is not for you. In the year of our Lord 2025, no basic accessibility features. SMH
App does not work
I’m now unable to log in on my iPad. Works on android phone and smart tv, but not on iOS devices. Just spins forever. It let me sign up of course but now I can’t actually use it. Tried restarting device, router, reinstalling app. Nothing works. I am sad.
App is glitchy
Signed up less than a week ago. Started watching a few days ago. Initially all was well, but now, a few days later the app is glitchy. Constantly having to log back in, often just faced with a spinning wheel, or just a blank screen when you click on a series. All our devices are the latest versions. Will be cancelling our subscription if things don’t improve.
Still waiting for password reset link
Anyone paying attention???? This is the 8th try to wake someone up there. Hellllooooo???
Fix this app
The app fails constantly. I cannot watch an entire episode before a dialog box comes up about the app losing the plot. Restart, resume, restart resume. Buffering, buffering.
I really used to love this app, before the glitches. It has many of my favorite British shows. But now it is so frustrating trying to watch a show.
Please fix this app!
I really used to love this app, before the glitches. It has many of my favorite British shows. But now it is so frustrating trying to watch a show.
Please fix this app!
Missing seasons
Last of the summer wine missing bunch seasons there’s 8 only on here not fully complete disappointing
Don’t bother
There is such limited content, Britbox is truly a joke. A tiny fraction of BBC content is on the app, and now there is even less available due to the introduction of a “premium” tier. App navigation is also quite clunky. Don’t waste your money!
+ 16 more in the clipboard copy
Sentiment summary
90%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
7%
Negative (1-2★)