Showbox back online but free movie and TV streaming app could endanger people who try to use it
Even the safest version of the app comes with a whole host of dangers – and many are much worse
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Your support makes all the difference.Showbox, a mysterious app that allows people to watch new films and TV shows for free, is back after a strange outage.
But the circumstances around that return is largely unknown, and anyone trying to use the popular app might be endangering themselves and their computer.
Showbox is a hugely popular app that allows for a Netflix-like experience but includes apparently torrented versions of new movies and TV shows. More specifically, there appears to be a number of versions of the app, all of which present themselves as the legitimate app.
The service stopped working recently, prompting concerns that the service might have been taken down entirely – but it seems to have emerged once again.
It is not clear if any of them are legitimate, however, and even the safest version of the app can be used to break the law or attack people's devices. Searching for the name Showbox on Google shows a variety of different apps and APKs available to download, all of them promising access to the Showbox service – but there is no guarantee any of them are legitimate at all.
Downloading such an app requires allowing it access to various important parts of your phone, and so doing so could be dangerous even if the tool actually works. What's more, the file can't be installed like any other Android app: users have to download an APK and then force their phone to accept it despite being from an unknown source, which means it doesn't have any of the guarantees that come with the official Google Play Store.
Even the most prominent of the apps – the version that appears first on Google – makes clear that its legal status is questionable and that it is safer to use legitimate alternatives. A similar disclaimer is contained on many other sites.
"Show Box is NOT a legitimate software application for watching copyright protected movies," a warning on that page reads. "The movie studios will be able to see your IP address and your COMPLETE viewing history! (Do you really want the movie studios knowing the types of videos you like?)
"You will very likely be sued for copyright infringement. It is not worth the trouble! You can use Best Legal apps (alternatives) like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc."
Showbox is entirely free and seems to take its content from torrents and file-sharing links. As such, it gives access to many of the latest releases, but brings with it a whole host of dangers that could exploit users' phones.
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