I don’t know if this applies to everyone, but I rarely ever go right to sleep after crawling into bed. I usually spend a good few hours on my iPhone, until I literally cannot keep my eyes open any longer. In that time, I like to catch up on YouTube videos from users that I am subscribed to, or challenge myself to watch an entire movie without falling asleep. Netflix is a great option for streaming movies on an iPhone, but the selection is not the greatest in Canada and sometimes I have to seek alternative methods to catch up on the latest films. Enters iTunes.

iTunes has faced its fair share of criticism over the years for being rather cluttered and cumbersome, but the media player has a useful option called Home Sharing that our own Jeff Benjamin briefly covered in his ultimate iOS music app guide. Home Sharing allows you to stream or transfer music, movies, TV shows, apps and more over Wi-Fi between up to five authorized devices in a household. If you like watching movies on your iPhone like me, it is a convenient feature. Read ahead for step-by-step instructions on how to stream movies on iPhone from iTunes…

How to watch iTunes movies on iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV

Step 1: Launch iTunes on your Mac and click on File > Home Sharing > Turn On Home Sharing in iTunes.

Step 2: Enter your Apple ID and password, then click the Turn On Home Sharing button.

Step 3: A confirmation message will be shown. Click on the Done button.

Step 4: On your iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV, navigate to Settings > TV > iTunes Videos. Sign into your Apple ID.

Step 5: Navigate to the Videos app and tap on Shared at the bottom right.

Step 6: Tap on your iTunes library from the list of shared items. Then tap Done.

Step 7: Under the Movies tab, your movies from iTunes will be available to watch.

If you followed the step-by-step instructions properly, you should now be able to play movies from your iTunes library directly on your iPhone. If you are using an iPad or iPod touch, you can follow the same steps to enable Home Sharing. For more information about Home Sharing, I suggest looking at the official Apple documentation for Understanding Home Sharing, Setting Up Home Sharing on an iOS Device and Troubleshooting Home Sharing.