Looking for the best Samsung smart TV apps? You've come to the right place. Samsung makes some of the best TVs around, and one of its big advantages over the competition is its excellent smart TV platform that has a number of the best apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu and more.
Because it's both pretty slick to use and offers a wealth of apps, you really won't need to waste an HDMI port on one of the best streaming devices from Roku or Amazon. Every streaming service you might want to watch is almost certainly here, together with many you probably won't bother with. But there's more — because Samsung smart TVs also have games, music apps, smart home apps and others.
If you've just bought yourself a new set such as the excellent Samsung QN90C or Samsung S95C OLED, the first thing you'll want to do is load it up with some of these apps. Not sure where to find the best Samsung smart TV apps? Read on and we'll tell you where to start.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Samsung TV Plus
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This one will come pre-installed on your Samsung smart TV, and it's a seriously handy extra to have. Samsung TV Plus is entirely free (though you do have to put up with ads) and gives you live TV without the need for one of the best TV antennas. You get more than 200 channels in the U.S., including CBS, ABC and NBC plus music, sports and kids channels, and a bunch of much more niche options (The Bob Ross Channel, anyone?). In the U.K., it comes with CNN and Bloomberg, among many others.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Xbox Game Pass
One of the biggest recent additions to the Samsung smart TV app lineup is none other than Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass. Connect an Xbox controller and you can stream hundreds of games on your Samsung TV. You'll need to make sure you have a solid internet connection to get the games to play without latency (15Mbps or better is ideal) but if you've got the bandwidth for it, this is the best app for gamers.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Netflix
Obviously you'll want this one there, whether for Stranger Things season 4, Umbrella Academy season 3 or any of the other best Netflix shows. The service that invented the binge-watch may have experienced a few problems lately — and we really wish that Netflix canceled shows weren't so common — but for many people it remains a must-have.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Disney Plus
Another must-have for most, Disney Plus has all of the MCU (well almost — thanks, Spider-Man) and all of Star Wars, including the new Obi-Wan Kenobi show. That would be enough for many people, but throw in the entire Simpsons back-catalogue (though honestly you only need seasons 3-8) and the entire Disney movie roster and you have a pretty special line up for the reasonable price of $7.99 per month.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Max (U.S. only)
Our pick for the best streaming service, HBO Max, now simply called Max, just keeps on serving up the hits, from Euphoria to Barry to Hacks to Station Eleven to Succession to… well, we could go on. It's also well stocked for movies, with the DC Universe jostling for space with the likes of Free Guy and In the Heights. Add this to your Samsung smart TV and you won't be sorry.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Apple TV Plus
Not that long ago, Apple TV Plus was a slightly poor relation to the other streaming services, but it's had an excellent last year or so. Ted Lasso kicked things off of course — and season 3 is on its way — while the likes of Severance, The Afterparty and For All Mankind have kept the hits coming. Oh, and it has the Oscar-winning movie CODA, too. At just $5, it's the biggest bargain in streaming.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Prime Video
You likely already have an Amazon Prime account, in which case downloading the Prime Video app to your Samsung smart TV makes a lot of sense. The line-up isn't as good as most of the others in this list, but there are plenty of great shows and movies included in the price, plus Amazon Originals such as the superb The Boys. But the other reason why you'll want it is so you can buy shows and movies on demand, and in this regard it excels.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Hulu (U.S. only)
Hulu doesn't have as many great originals as most of the options in this list, but it does have next-day airings of cable and broadcast TV shows, which makes it a must-have for many cord-cutters, though you do have to put up with adverts. Hulu with Live TV — available as a $70 add on to the standard $6.99 Hulu plan — makes it a genuine cable replacement.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Peacock (U.S. only)
Peacock has a varied (or possibly slightly random) roster including a handful of originals and lots of classic TV fare (including all of The Office). That makes it well worth checking out given that it's available at the very low price of… zero! Yes, you have ads on the free tier, but that's acceptable. Going Premium ($4.99) gives you extra content, including live sports (Premier League soccer among them), while the $9.99 Premium Plus removes those pesky ads.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Plex
Plex is a streaming service with a difference: rather than providing you with the content, you bring your own. That's because it's a media server rather than a service, and a rather good one at that. The idea is that you put all of the videos you own in a folder on your computer, sync it with Plex, then watch it wherever you have the Plex app — including your Samsung smart TV. It's free to use, but a paid version adds extra features for $4.99/month
Best Samsung smart TV apps: YouTube
YouTube needs no introduction, unless you've been asleep for the past decade and a half. The app works just the same on a Samsung TV as it does on your phone or computer, so you can sign in to your profile and watch endless clips of cats doing cat-type-things until it's time for bed.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Spotify
TVs have sound too, you know, so it makes sense that Samsung smart TVs have a Spotify app. You'll appreciate it more if you pair it with one of the best soundbars, or maybe even hook it up to a Sonos set up, but either way it's another option for music listening around the home.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Samsung SmartThings
Another one that should already be installed when you first fire up the TV, SmartThings acts as a smart home hub. And it's not just for Samsung gear, either: you can also use it to link together kit from Ring, Ecobee and others, and use Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. If you've ever wanted to control your lights via your TV like some kind of futuristic god-like being, here's your chance.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: TuneIn
Radio, but on your TV! What kind of madness is this? It's the madness made possible by the excellent TuneIn, that's what. With thousands of stations covering music, sports and news, and on-demand content too, it's like the gogglebox never got invented.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: BBC iPlayer (U.K. only)
A must if you're based in the U.K., BBC iPlayer gives you access to all of Auntie Beeb's best shows before the government succeed in killing it off sometime in the next few years (probably). As well as offering live TV and recently aired fare, you'll find an extensive back-catalogue of classic shows going back decades.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: BritBox
BritBox pulls together classic TV from the BBC and ITV, so you can watch everything from Inspector Morse and Line of Duty to Fawlty Towers and Mr Bean. It's increasingly creating its own BritBox Originals, too, but we're yet to fall in love with any. However, as a repository of British telly through the ages, it's essential.
Best Samsung smart TV apps: Now (U.K. only)
Sky's Now service is the closest the U.K. gets to a HBO Max-style premium streaming service, and indeed it takes much of its entertainment content from HBO and other services. That means it's the place to go for the likes of Succession and Mare of Easttown, plus classic box-sets such as The Wire. But the Entertainment package is just one of three options; the Cinema subscription will get you the U.K.'s best selection of recent big-screen flicks (and lots of old ones too), while Sports gives you all of Sky Sports' offerings including the Premier League, F1, cricket and golf. It can get pricey though: £9.99 for Entertainment, £7.99 for Cinema and £33.99 for Sports.
