What is LocalFlix?
LocalFlix turns the video files already on your Android phone into a library that looks and works like a streaming service: movies and shows with posters, seasons and episodes in order, progress bars, and a Continue Watching row that resumes exactly where you stopped.
LocalFlix doesn't stream or download anything. It reads the folders and files you choose, plays them where they are, and never moves, copies or deletes them. There's no account, and the library and player work offline.
Getting started
- Add your videos. On the Library screen, tap + (Add to library) and choose:
- Add folder (recommended): pick a folder and LocalFlix adds every video inside it, including all subfolders. LocalFlix keeps checking added folders, so new episodes, moved files and missing files are handled for you.
- Add video files: pick individual files. Good for one-offs. Because these aren't part of a folder, LocalFlix can't find them again by itself if you move them later.
- Review what LocalFlix found. The Confirm import screen shows the shows and movies it recognised. Untick anything you don't want, then tap Add. Names LocalFlix wasn't sure about are flagged so you can check them.
- Optional: add a TMDB key for posters, descriptions and cast. See Posters and details.
- Press play. LocalFlix remembers where you stop in every video.
Tip: Put each show in its own folder inside one main folder (for example Videos/TV/Marshalls/) and add the main folder once. Everything you download into it later can be picked up with Rescan library folders.
Naming your files
LocalFlix works out the show, season and episode from each file name, and cleans away release tags such as resolution, codec and group names. These episode patterns are recognised:
Marshalls S01E05,S1E5,S01.E05,S01_E05,S01 E05- Multi-episode files:
S01E01E02,S01E01-E02 Marshalls 3x07Marshalls Season 1 Episode 5- Date-stamped episodes, for daily or weekly shows
For movies, include the year: Heat (1995).mp4 or Heat.1995.1080p.mkv.
LocalFlix deliberately doesn't guess from bare numbers such as 05.mkv or absolute anime numbering, because guesses like that file episodes in the wrong place. A file it can't place becomes its own flagged title, which you can fix with Organise or by renaming the file and rescanning.
Supported file types: MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, M4V, WebM and TS.
A tour of the screens
Library
- Continue Watching: what you're part-way through, newest first. Tap to resume.
- Recently Added: your newest titles.
- Filters: All, Movies or Shows; then optionally Unwatched, In progress, Completed or Has unavailable files; and sort by Newest, Oldest or Alphabetical. Your choice is remembered.
- Select titles: press and hold a poster to select several titles, then remove them from your library in one go.
- Titles beyond the free limit show a lock. See Free and Premium.
Search
Type at least three letters to search by title, cast member, director, studio or year.
Show page
- The big button reads Play, or Resume S01E03 when you're part-way through, with a progress bar for the whole show.
- Seasons can be collapsed and expanded by tapping their headers.
- Each episode shows how much is left, Watched, Unavailable (file can't be found), Linked manually, or a lock for Premium.
- The ⋮ at the top manages the whole show: Match with TMDB, Edit details, Organise show, Remove unavailable episodes, Remove show from library.
- The ⋮ on an episode manages that one episode: Mark as watched or unwatched, Link video file… (when unavailable), Use folder's copy (when linked manually), Move to another title…, Remove from library.
Movie page
A movie has one video file, so its ⋮ menu combines both: Match with TMDB, Edit details, Organise movie, Mark as watched, Link video file… (when unavailable), Use folder's copy (when linked manually) and Remove movie from library.
Settings
- Metadata (TMDB): add your key, and Match all with TMDB.
- Library: Clean up titles, Rescan library folders, Clear library; folders LocalFlix can't open (with Reconnect); Remove unavailable episodes and movies.
- Storage: counts of titles, files and unavailable files.
- Backup & restore: Back up library, Restore from backup.
- Premium: Unlock Premium, Restore purchase.
Watching
Tap anywhere on the video to show or hide the controls, which hide themselves after a few seconds.
- Volume: drag up or down on the left half of the screen.
- Brightness: drag up or down on the right half. This changes only the player, not your phone's brightness setting, and goes back to normal when you leave.
- Skip: double-tap the left or right side to jump 10 seconds, or use the back 10 and forward 15 buttons.
- Scrub: drag the progress bar.
- Rotate: the rotate button switches between portrait and landscape.
- Next episode: near the end of an episode, an 8-second countdown starts the next one. Tap Play now to start it straight away, or cancel. Autoplay only continues when the next episode's file is actually there.
Your position is saved as you watch and when you leave, so the next time you open the video it resumes where you stopped. A video counts as watched once you reach 95% of it.
Watched status and selecting episodes
- Mark a single episode from its ⋮ menu, or a movie from its page's ⋮ menu.
- Select several episodes: press and hold an episode. While selecting, the show's own ⋮ is hidden and the selection bar holds the actions: Mark as watched, Mark as unwatched, Move to another title… and Remove selected episodes. Tap Cancel to stop selecting.
- After marking several episodes, or after moving or merging titles, an Undo bar appears briefly. Tap it to reverse the change.
Posters and details (TMDB)
LocalFlix can fetch posters, backdrops, descriptions and cast from The Movie Database (TMDB). This needs your own TMDB API key, which is free. Without one, everything else still works.
Getting a key
- Open Settings → Metadata (TMDB) and tap Open TMDB, or go to themoviedb.org.
- Sign in, or create a free TMDB account.
- Open your account menu → Settings → API, request a new key and choose Developer.
- The form asks for an app website. It isn't checked, so anything works (even
http://localhost), and the key is issued instantly. - Copy the API Key (v3 auth) value, paste it into LocalFlix and tap Save.
Matching
- Settings → Metadata (TMDB) → Match all with TMDB looks up every title that doesn't have artwork yet.
- For one title, use Match with TMDB (or Re-match with TMDB) in its ⋮ menu. LocalFlix shows what it found and asks before applying it.
- Artwork is saved on your phone, so it keeps showing offline.
Editing details yourself
Choose Edit details in a title's ⋮ menu to change its name or description, or pick your own poster and backdrop images. Your edits are kept.
Organising titles
If LocalFlix grouped something wrongly, open the title's ⋮ menu → Organise show (or Organise movie):
- Change to show or Change to movie: fix the type. A show can only become a movie if it has a single video file.
- Move episodes: pick episodes and move them to another show, or to a new title you name.
- Move to another title (movies): move the movie's video file into another title.
- Merge with another title: combine two titles that are really the same show.
- Re-match details: search TMDB again for the right match.
Moves and merges can be reversed with Undo straight afterwards. Organising never touches your video files.
Folders and availability
LocalFlix keeps your library in step with your folders in two ways:
- Automatically, whenever you open the app: videos that have disappeared are marked Unavailable, and videos that come back become available again. This never adds new videos.
- Settings → Library → Rescan library folders: does the same, and also adds new videos it finds in your folders, and picks up files that were moved to another place within the same folder.
Unavailable videos
An Unavailable video's file can't be found right now: it may have been moved, renamed or deleted, or the storage it was on (such as an SD card) is removed. It stays in your library, greyed out, with its watch history. If the file comes back, it plays again. If it's gone for good, you can link it to the right file or remove it.
"Can't open folder"
Sometimes the problem is the whole folder: it was moved or renamed, its storage was removed, or Android withdrew LocalFlix's access. Then the show page shows a banner, Can't open "folder name", and LocalFlix changes nothing in your library until it can read the folder again. If access comes back by itself (for example, you reinsert the SD card), the banner clears on the next check. Otherwise, reconnect the folder.
Reconnecting a folder
- Tap Reconnect folder on the banner, or go to Settings → Library, where every folder LocalFlix can't open is listed with its own Reconnect button.
- Pick the folder's current location. If it moved, pick where it is now.
One folder can hold several shows and movies, so reconnecting it may also restore other titles. To keep your library safe, LocalFlix only accepts a folder that accounts for everything that came from the original:
- "Pick the original folder": you picked a folder inside the original, which doesn't contain all its videos. Pick the original folder.
- "Pick the folder that holds all of them": the folder you picked is missing some videos that came from the original, often because you picked one show's folder when several shows were added together. Pick the main folder you originally added.
When these messages appear, nothing in your library was changed.
Linking a video file yourself
If LocalFlix can't find a video on its own, for example a hand-picked file that you moved, link it yourself:
- Open the Unavailable episode's ⋮ menu (or the movie's ⋮ menu) and choose Link video file…
- Pick the right file. The episode keeps its watch history and shows Linked manually.
Folder scans never change a manually linked file, so your choice sticks. If you later want the folder to manage it again, choose Use folder's copy from the same menu. LocalFlix first checks the folder, shows you exactly which file it found, and only switches after you confirm. If anything doesn't check out, your manual link is kept.
Removing things
Removing something from LocalFlix never deletes the video file from your phone. To delete actual files, use your phone's file manager.
- One episode: episode ⋮ → Remove from library.
- Several episodes: press and hold to select them → Remove selected episodes.
- A whole show or movie: the ⋮ at the top → Remove show from library or Remove movie from library.
- Several titles: press and hold posters on the Library screen to select them, then remove.
- Unavailable episodes of one show: show ⋮ → Remove unavailable episodes.
- All unavailable episodes and movies: Settings → Library → Remove unavailable episodes and movies.
- Everything: Settings → Library → Clear library removes every title, episode and watch record. You'll be asked to confirm.
Removing an entry also removes its watch history. If the video comes back later, adding its folder again adds it as a new entry.
When a video won't play
If you see Can't play this video, the cause is usually one of two things:
- Your phone can't decode the format. Playback uses your phone's built-in video decoders, and some files (certain audio tracks, 10-bit or newer video formats) aren't supported on every phone. Tap Open in another player and choose an app such as VLC or MX Player. LocalFlix gives that app permission to read just that one file.
- The file can't be reached right now. If another player can't open it either, the file may have been moved or deleted, or its folder may be unavailable. Go back to the title to see whether it's Unavailable, then reconnect or link it.
A playback error never marks your video Unavailable or changes its progress.
Backup and restore
- Settings → Backup & restore → Back up library saves a backup file to a folder you choose. It contains your library and watch history, but not the videos themselves or your TMDB key.
- Restore from backup replaces your current library with the one in the backup file. You'll be asked to confirm.
The videos need to be on the phone for the restored library to play them. If you restore on a different phone, or your folders have moved, LocalFlix may ask you to reconnect your folders. The backup file isn't encrypted, so keep it somewhere private.
Privacy
LocalFlix collects no personal data. There's no account, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. Your library, watch history and video files stay on your phone. The app only goes online to fetch artwork from TMDB (if you've added a key) and to handle a Premium purchase through Google Play. Read the full privacy policy.
Frequently asked questions
An episode is in the wrong show or season. How do I fix it?
Use Move to another title… from the episode's ⋮ menu, or Organise show → Move episodes for several at once. If the name was misread, renaming the file using a pattern from Naming your files and rescanning also works.
I downloaded new episodes but they don't appear.
New videos are only added when you ask: go to Settings → Library → Rescan library folders. Make sure they're inside a folder you've already added.
Everything from one folder suddenly shows as unavailable.
The folder was probably moved or renamed, or its storage was removed. Look for the Can't open banner and use Reconnect folder. See Reconnecting a folder.
Reconnect says "Pick the folder that holds all of them".
You picked a folder that's missing some of the videos that came from the original folder. Pick the main folder you first added, the one that contains all of those shows and movies.
Why isn't there a poster?
Posters come from TMDB and need a TMDB key. Add one in Settings → Metadata (TMDB), then run Match all with TMDB. If the wrong poster appears, use Re-match with TMDB or Edit details.
A video plays in another app but not in LocalFlix.
Your phone's built-in decoders don't support that file. Use Open in another player from the error screen.
Does removing a title delete my files?
Never. LocalFlix only removes the entry from your library. Use your file manager to delete actual files.
What does "Linked manually" mean?
You chose that episode's video file yourself with Link video file…, so folder scans leave it alone. Use Use folder's copy to hand it back to the folder.
My SD card was out and everything went grey.
Reinsert the card and open LocalFlix. Videos that are back become available again automatically, with their history intact.
Premium isn't showing after reinstalling.
Check you're signed in to the same Google account, then use Settings → Premium → Restore purchase.
Does LocalFlix work offline?
Yes. Your library and the player work without internet. Only TMDB lookups and Google Play purchases need a connection.
Is there an iPhone version?
Not yet. LocalFlix is on Android first, and an iPhone version is planned.
How do I start over?
Settings → Library → Clear library removes everything from the app. Your video files stay on your phone.
Contact us
Email snap.appdev@proton.me.
To help us help you quickly, please include:
- Your phone model and Android version.
- What you were doing, what you expected and what happened instead.
- The exact wording of any message, or a screenshot.
- For file or folder problems: where your videos are stored (phone storage or SD card) and an example file name.
Please don't send us your video files or your TMDB key.