Free CW network streaming application
The CW app for iOS is the dedicated CW network streaming service. The CW app allows you to watch all current CW network programs such as Walker, Batwoman, Nancy Drew, and more. The app has multiple competitors, but very few offer this service for free.
Pricing
The CW iOS app is free to download and use. Because of this, an excessive amount of advertisements play between each episode. Unfortunately, there is no workaround to remove the ads, such as an option to pay a monthly subscription fee.
Episodes
The CW iOS app runs current shows aired on the CW network. Although the app airs the latest episodes, only the last five episodes are available. This limitation is due to streaming rights. For this reason, viewers cannot watch past episodes both in the CW app, the CW Seed, and also with its competitors.
Competition
There are three main competitors of the CW iOS app: Netflix, YouTube TV, and Hulu. All three provide a similar service or even better, but for a monthly subscription fee. YouTube TV and Hulu also stream CW programs seamlessly.
YouTube TV and Hulu provides live TV streaming service that the CW app lacks. Both competitors offer both live tv broadcasting and replay. YouTube TV also allows the user to fast-forward through the unwanted ads. However, all competitor apps and including the CW app, all suffer from the limitation of the most recent five episodes.
Our take
Despite being a free app, the CW falls short of its competitors. The excessive ads, the restricted number of available episodes, and the non-friendly interface reduce the value of this app.
Should you download it?
No. There are better alternatives that are fully featured, even if they require payment.