Amazon Launches Native Prime Video App for Mac | AirPlay and In-App Purchase Support

Amazon has just launched a Mac version of its Prime Video app, making it one of the very few streaming services to offer a native app experience on macOS.

With the obvious exception of Apple TV+, almost all the major streaming services — from Netflix and Hulu to Disney+ and HBO Max — only provide native apps for the iPhone and iPad. To view these services on a Mac, you simply open them up and stream through Safari or whatever web browser you prefer to use.

However, Mac fans of Amazon Prime Video now have a better option, thanks to the new Amazon Prime Video app, which is available today on the Mac App Store.

The app appears to be largely a port of Amazon’s iPad app, which of course, begs the usual question as to why other streaming services can’t do the same thing. However, with the ability to run iPhone and iPad apps on an M1 Mac, it’s become clear that not only are Netflix and the gang uninterested in bringing native apps to the Mac, but they don’t even want you running the iPad version — most of them have explicitly blocked their iPad versions from the Mac App Store, with HBO Max being the notable exception.

Amazon isn’t simply opening up its iPad app to the Mac. The new Amazon Prime Video app is a full macOS app, which means it supports all the standard macOS features without the need to resort to the UI quirks that result in trying to map a touchscreen-based app to a mouse and keyboard interface.

The app also includes full support for features like Picture-in-Picture and AirPlay, and it works on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, although you’ll need to be using macOS Big Sur or later. You can also download videos to watch offline on your MacBook, continue watching an in-progress show across your iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, and configure multiple user profiles for your whole family on a shared computer.

What’s particularly interesting is that, despite being on the Mac App Store, Amazon Prime Video not only supports in-app purchases for rentals and on-demand content but also lets you make payment via your Amazon account with whatever credit card you already have on file. Of course, this isn’t all that surprising, considering that this already came to the Amazon Prime Video app on iOS last year, but it’s still nice to see Apple’s willingness to loosen the purse strings a bit.

As with the iPhone and iPad apps, you’ll still need to go to the web to sign up for an Amazon Prime subscription in the first place, after which you’ll only be able to make rentals and purchases through your Amazon account if you keep a credit card associated with it. Otherwise, you’ll have to go through Apple’s standard in-app purchasing system.

Amazon notes that the service will also include live sports, “including Thursday Night Football and the English Premiere league” in those countries where these are available.