If you have built up a collection of movies via Google Play, the original Google movie and TV show store then you may have woken up to a surprise. Google has removed the Google Play Store. The company has been letting people know this day was coming for some time but it is easy to miss stuff when actual life things are happening.
You can still watch your purchased movies and TV shows
Don’t worry. You have not lost your content. It’s just in a different place than it used to be. There are two ways to watch.
The YouTube App
Google has been improving the YouTube app on television and mobile devices over the years including tabs and menus that help organize the content and expand its offerings. One of those changes included setting the app up as a store for purchasing and renting content. In order to access your content on YouTube:
1. Be sure that you sign in with the Google user name you created for the Google Play app. Hopefully it is the same you are using on all of your other Google accounts already.
2. Go to the Storefront section of YouTube which can be found here. Your existing purchases will be found in the purchased tab. From the mobile app, click on your profile and scroll down to “Your Movies & TV”. On the TV app it should be found either in your Movies and TV or the library section of the smart TV app.
On Android TV
The YouTube approach will probably work on Android TV as well but if you have the platform Google provides another avenue to your content.
From your Android TV settings click on the Shop Tab. From there you can buy, rent and find previously purchased titles. The content you have already purchased will be found in the Library section.
That’s it. Now will this the last change we see? I don’t know. Something tells me that eventually all of this will go straight through YouTube. But time will tell.
