Amazon Prime

Amazon's video streaming service has been online since 2005. It offers premium video streaming, rental and purchase for anyone with an Amazon account. Here’s everything you need to know.

What does it include?

Amazon Prime Video offers a huge range of films, TV shows, music and Ebooks. Some of the media is exclusive to Amazon, meaning that you can’t watch it anywhere else.

You can access it on multiple devices including online via Amazon.co.uk, iOS and Android devices, PS4, Wii, Xbox, some smart TVs, as well as Amazon’s own products including Fire tablets and phones.

You can rent individual films or TV shows (for various fees), subscribe monthly (for £9.99) or annually as part of Amazon Prime (for £95). There is also a student rate of £4.49 monthly or £47.49 annually with Amazon Prime.

Listen to Parent Zone's podcast, Tech Shock.

What do parents need to be aware of?

Parental controls

Finding parental controls is a little difficult, but you can set them up by going to ‘Help and Customer Services’. Here, you find instructions on how to set up controls for both purchasing and viewing restrictions by creating a PIN code.

You can’t set restrictions centrally for all devices. For Android devices, Amazon Fire devices, XBox and some others, parental controls need to be set on the individual device themselves.

Playback restrictions

Viewing restrictions give you the option to block certain video content by age-rating. You can choose which age categories you’d like to restrict and on which of your registered devices you’d like these restrictions to apply. When you try to watch a video that falls under a restricted category, you will be prompted to enter your Amazon Video PIN. This can help prevent children from viewing content intended for an adult or more mature audience.

Sign up to our newsletter and get the best of Parent Zone to your inbox. Find out more

Extra costs

It’s also worth bearing in mind that certain programmes or movies are not included in your subscription package. You will have to pay extra if you wish to watch them.

Spot something that doesn't look quite right? You can email librarian@parentzone.org.uk to submit comments and feedback.

This article was last updated on 03/08/22.