How To Remove Ads from Terrarium TV

Anyone fed up with paying for TV will know that apps such as Terrarium TV offer access to a huge range of programming for free, or much less than cable or satellite. Free access is usually ad supported like terrestrial TV but if you pay to support the app, you get ad-free access. Terrarium TV offers such a feature that allows you to remove ads. Sort of.

Terrarium TV is an app that enables free access to paid and free TV and movies. It isn’t strictly legal and sits in a gray area when it comes to legitimacy. It isn’t overtly shady like other apps but does allow access to content you should be paying for. It’s a legal gray area that has yet to be properly challenged. Their website claims Terrarium TV is completely legal but we remain skeptical

The app is free and installed on Android, Windows, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and other devices. Depending on what device you install it on, you may have to sideload it as it isn’t available in app stores.

Remove ads from Terrarium TV

If you’re okay with using Terrarium TV and want to remove the ads, you can. Sort of. The developer offers a support option that allows you to pay an amount to help development in return for not seeing ads. The trouble is, this ad-free option is a little intermittent.

Previous versions of the paid app allowed you to enjoy a completely ad-free experience. Subsequent updates saw this feature removed for whatever reason. The latest update (1.9.10) has removed the ad-free option for now.

The reason is apparently Europe’s GDPR regulations. This new law changed the way companies could collect and maintain customer data. Rather than just collecting it and using it as they see fit as they do in the US, organizations have to request permission to collect the data, tell the person what data is being collected, only collect data necessary to use the app, securely store that data and provide a mechanism for that data to be deleted at the user’s request.

All this was apparently too much for the developer of Terrarium TV. The ad-free version of the app tracked transactions so it could provide the ad-free experience only to those who paid. This requires data retention and data collection which comes under the GDPR regulations. This has a huge overhead in terms of time, resources and effort.

Even those who have paid to remove ads from Terrarium TV are now having to sit through them. Until a workaround has been found or the developer reinstates the ad-free version, you will either have to use an older version of the app or sit through those ads.

Alternatives to Terrarium TV

If you just don’t like ads, there are alternatives to Terrarium TV out there. They may not be any more legal but they don’t all use ads as intrusive as Terrarium TV does.

Plex

Plex is an excellent media center app that offers similar levels of content along with the ability to manage downloaded media. It works on all kinds of devices and now has a cool Kodi plugin to combine the best of both worlds.

Kodi

Kodi is the current king when it comes to ease of use, features and range of content available. It will play on most devices, is open source, can manage your installed media and stream content from the internet. Once installed, it will change the way you consume content forever.

Popcorn Time

Popcorn Time is an Android alternative that is certainly not legal. It provides access to movies, TV and lots more besides. It needs to be sideloaded to get it working but if you want something with fewer commercials, this might be it.

Netflix

Netflix is a viable alternative to Terrarium TV that is both legal and helps support the industry. It doesn’t have screeners, cams or premium content from other providers but it does have a huge wealth of its own content as well as most TV shows from the past ten years. It is also legit.

Crackle

Crackle is also ad supported but those ads seem shorter and less intrusive than on Terrarium TV. Crackle is legally dubious the same as Terrarium TV but does have a huge amount of content and fast streams. I haven’t used it much but when tested, playback was fine even at peak times.

There are dozens of other alternatives to Terrarium TV but these are some of the best. If you can, keep it legal as the industry needs all the help it can get. I wholeheartedly recommend purely legal means of obtaining content. If you cannot, be careful and always use a VPN.