Popcorn Time’s new web app is already dead

Promising users access to as many free movies as they wanted via a torrent-streaming website, Popcorn Time’s newly-launched web app was as sweet as a bag of popcorn — and lasted about as long.

Launching just this week, Popcorn Time on Your Browser’s servers were apparently overwhelmed as the site went viral quicker than anyone had anticipated.

Yes, a site offering high quality streaming Hollywood movies for no money whatsoever proved popular — we’re shocked too!

In a message posted on the website, the creators of Popcorn Time on Your Browser write that:

Popcorn in Your Browser is no more. It relied on the free trial of remote torrenting service Coinado.io, which I used to stream YIFY torrents to an HTML5 video tag. This site went viral and seems to have completely overwhelmed Coinado’s servers, who in turn promptly discontinued the free trial. :-) It was fun while it lasted – cheers!

Whether this really is the end of Popcorn Time’s web app remains to be seen. Much like Pirate Bay, the service described as “Netflix for pirates” has shown a surprising amount resilience since it first launched in 2014 as an app for Mac, Apple TV and, later, iOS.

For now, that sound you hear on the breeze is probably champagne flutes clinking in Hollywood, though.

Luke Dormehl

Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.