How to Watch Netflix Movies on Your iPhone 4

By , Aug 3, 2010

A few weeks ago we learned how to watch Netflix on a jailbroken iPhone. Unfortunately this hack doesn’t work for the iPhone 4 but some smart guy over at ModMyI figured out how to tweak it so you can watch Netflix on an iPhone 4.

UPDATE: This post is outdated. Netflix now has its official iPhone app in the App Store. Click here for more info.

Step 1: Download the Netflix app for iPad to iTunes.

Step 2: Right click on the Netflix app you just downloaded and select ‘Show in Windows Explorer’ if you’re on a PC, or ‘Show in Finder’ if you’re on a Mac.

Step 3: Rename Netflix 1.0.4.ipa to Netflix 1.0.4.zip and extract the zip file to your desktop.

Step 4: Look for the Payload folder inside the extracted folder. In there you will find the Netflix.app folder.

Step 5: SSH into your iPhone and copy the Netflix.app folder to /private/var/stash/Applications/.

Step 6: Change the permission on the Netflix.app folder to 755.

Step 7: Reboot your iPhone.

Step 8: Now go to the App Store from your iPhone and download Perfect Browser. Open the app, go to the settings and select Safari iPad under Desktop Rendering.

Step 9: Still in Perfect Browser, navigate to Netflix.com, login, and find a movie to watch instantly. Perfect Browser will close and QuickTime will start playing your movie.

Done. That wasn’t too hard, was it?

[ModMyI]

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  • Jason masters

    Then why download netflix and do all that if perfect browser does the job?

    • Dadditude

      Because the netflix app is what handles the decoding, I would assume.

  • Takean

    what does it mean by change the permissions on the folder app…? sorry, but I’m new to this.

  • Root

    Didn’t work for me, just goes back to the springboard when I pick a movie. I’m on iPhone 4 iOS 4.0

  • SoCoMagNuM

    once you set it as 755 you check that box at the bottom left then hit ok. reboot phone then you should be good to go.

  • Chazz

    will it work outside the US? netflix doesn’t let me access the regular site for streaming movies outside the U.S.

  • Takean

    clicking that bottom left box did the trick for me

  • Pn2bade

    Ya, but do I really want to pay $2 for Perfect Browser when the Netflix App for the iPhone is coming out “this summer”? I mean it’s already august. Hmmm…

  • Root

    what box? I’m using transmit to SSH so not sure what you guys are talking about.

  • SoCoMagNuM

    Glad i could help. I too was hung up at the end when it would just revert back to springboard. I hopped back on my SSH and looked at folder permissions and it was already at 775 by default. So i knew i had to make some change in order to make it work. I seen the little persmission box at bottom and clicked it, rebooted phone and voila! Worked like a charm.

  • SoCoMagNuM

    I used WIN SCP for PC via iPhone Tunnel Suite. Not sure about other SSH programs. Sorry.

  • Root

    Thanks. My permission were already at 755 as well but I can’t see anything else to change. I even used cyberduck and changed permissions using the terminal but still no luck. Hopefully someone will know what’s going on.

    • SoCoMagNuM

      @Root

      Did you get yours working now?

  • Root

    Nope. now perfect browser gives me an error: ‘perfect browser cannot load this wrong url’. Then it takes me to the Appstore and shows a page that says Netflix is only available on the iPad. So not sure what’s going on.

    • SoCoMagNuM

      Try using iPhone Tunnel Suite, launch WIN SCP, login to iphone’s SSH then do all these steps exactly, once you get to change permissions folder check box at the bottom left. Reboot phone then it should work. Im not that savy on the jb stuff but thats how i got mines to work. Im also on iOS4.0. Might have something to do with it also.

  • Root

    I’m on a mac so that’ll be a little bit difficult. I’m gonna remove all the apps and start from scratch. I’m also on 4.0

  • Root

    Got it to work…tried a different program to unzip it and it worked. Thanks for your help though SoCoMagNuM.

  • Ez

    Hello,

    Sorry, I’m new to this.

    Do i have to jailbreak my iPhone 4 to make this work?

    Thanks!

  • AJ

    Ez: yeah it has to be jailbroken

  • Ez

    I see.

    Thanks AJ!

  • http://txt-po.com TheBeanstalk

    Im having a problem loading the movies also. When i tap the play button it exits the app and goes back to springboard. My netflix app will not open at all. Permission was default 755 so i didnt change it. Any suggestions? iphone 4 firmware 4.0. Comex jailbreak of corse. Thanks

  • http://txt-po.com TheBeanstalk

    ok i fixed my problem and got it working. Anyone who had the same problem all i had to do was on winscp click the box by :set group, owner and permissions recursivly. Then reboot again and try it.. Hope this helps somebody.

    • SoCoMagNuM

      @thebeanstalk

      I posted that solution already but glad you got it to work also.

      • http://txt-po.com TheBeanstalk

        My bad SoCoMagNuM

  • Xxtheantxx

    Does this work for any other iPhone models. Mainly 2g?
    Of not then why not?

  • jason masters

    worked perfect its been so long since i sshd i had to google instructions lol!!

    its perfect i guess if the app comes out illl undo but this is great and on a hd screen im not complaining one bit thanks jailbreak and thanks to the one who posted this hack now i can forego buying an ipad i guess….

  • JMurph212

    Ok, can someone HELP me plz ! i did everything, but i’m stuck on changing the permission. I dragged and dropped the “payload” folder into the destination but i DON”T see the “Netflix.app”. what am i doing wrong ? thank you soooo much !

    • http://txt-po.com TheBeanstalk

      The Netflix app should be in the payload folder.

  • 1012

    I’m having problems renaming the ipa and making get recognized as a zip. Do I need something other than WinRar for this to work?

  • SoCoMagNuM

    If using windows go to control panel > folder options. Once there Uncheck the option to “hide known file extentions” (leave open). Once that happens should refresh the explorer window that has the .ipa file. It should now show the .ipa at the end. Rename the file but only change the “.ipa” to “.zip”. Once done that go back to folder options and re-enable the hide known extentions box (for your safety..dont wanna accidently rename file extentions thus cause corrupted files). Now extract the zip file and continue steps as normal.
    If your using a Mac then i have no advice. Dont have a Mac yet.

  • 1012

    Thanks man. I got that figured out. Now… I go into Netflix via Perfect Browser and when I click to play a movie it just goes to a Netflix page telling me my OS doesn’t support playback. I even tried launching the Netflix app prior and it came up and just showed a tiny Netflix logo.

  • SoCoMagNuM

    Make sure you do step 8 and 9 properly amd you should be fine. Also make sure to reboot phone prior to that.

  • 1012

    Thanks again…. I skipped the setting in the browser. It works great now!

  • JMurph212

    Okay, I found it but now I don’t know how to change the permission. Help, someone…plz. Thank u sooo much XD

  • SoCoMagNuM

    Read previous posts for Windows help. I helped a couple people out aswell as thebeanstalk

  • tbone

    Instead of using the Perfect Browswer, you can download User Agent Faker from Cydia. Input this in the settings:

    Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 3_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/531.21.10(KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.4 Mobile/7B367 Safari/531.21.10

    That way you can still use Safari.

  • JMurph212

    Okay, i’m seriously not getting this…i drag and drop “payload” into /Applcations & i have NO idea where it is ! not to mention i have NO idea what permissions or w/e ur talking about. I’ll have to do it through WinSCP cuz iFile isn’t working. Someone please help. like if there’s a step-by-step video or something ? thank you sooooo much ! XD

  • Diego

    the video works but i cant get any sound unless i plug in headphones

  • jazz

    I am having the same issue as “Root”
    I unzipped with winrar
    I copied with putty ( pscp )
    I edited the Info.plist file ( unsure if required )
    I am on IOS4 on an iphone 3g – I did copy over the Media.framework

    Same issue. I use perfect browser, try to “play” and get “Perfect Browser cannot load this wrong URL”. I have not been able to find other info on this message – this is one of the few forums.

    Root – if your reading – what did you use to Unzip – I tried a few things ( windows, 7z, winrar ) and have the same issue every time.

    Any hints or tips – im happy to try!

  • Joker

    Unable to get Netflix 1.0.4 going here
    Below are the details.

    On Iphone 4.0.1 JB using WinRAR for extracting, WINSCP for SSH and permissions to 0755.
    Perfect Brower 4.5 with Safari iPad Desktop Rendering option.

    The Perfect Browser crashes and takes me to the Springboard. When I open the browser it says “Perfect Browser cannot load this wrong URL” for flash and disappers.

    Please Help.

    Joker

  • Arvin

    Worked perfectly, but now I can’t connect to iTunes…

  • Ryan

    Guys any idea how to download netflix from here in australia? When I go to iTunes store it tells me that I cannot purcheas this from my store. Any different locations from where I can get it??
    Phoneflix is the only one available here will it work the same way?

  • Phil

    ITS NOT WORKING!!!!, everytime i go to netflix.com there is no option to play. help me

  • Ari

    WOW! WORKED GREAT!! I had to SSH into my iphone VIA WINSCP because I couldn’t change permissions with DISKAID. GREAT STUFF!

  • greytone

    Got it working! Thanks a bunch! (3Gs ios 4.0.1)

  • tombstonefatty

    okay I can get it to start loading the video but it never starts playing the video.I used UA on safari, and I have tried everything listed above, but still no dice…. any advice?

  • Thomas Lee

    If Netflix is crashing on you (going back to the Springboard), chances are this will fix it: If using WinSCP, on the ‘change permissions box’ be sure to check the box that says “Set Group, Owner and permissions recursively.” That will do the trick…..

  • bob

    I got this working and it’s nice–however, while watching a movie, it tends to crash every 20 minutes or so. Anyone else experiencing this and/or anyone have a fix? It works, just you have to restart a move every 20-30 minutes or so.

  • Scott

    Holy Shit, i have been trying to do this for days now, and hasn’t worked, i come upon this tutorial and bam bam bam, worked in a minute. Thanx

  • http://enjoy3d.com dr3d

    This hack works fine on iPod Touch 3G too

  • Dax

    Sound through iPhone has stopped but I can hear it through my ear phones. Any ideas?

  • http://nope franco

    i have iphone 4 and used atomic browser ($1 app store) to identify my phone as an ipad

    it didnt work after i followed the turial until……

    I, to, had to use winscp to set the file permissions group, owner, whatever.. to recursively.. then it worked!!!

  • Dex

    Dax, make sure your phone is not on vibrate.

  • JMurph212

    Hi , I tried it on my 3GS & when I go to watch a movie , it’ll open the netflix app but then it’ll just close. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Thank u soooo much !

  • alloff

    Anyone have any idea why this would work fine on one iphone 4g ios 4.0.1 and not on another? Did everything EXACTLY the same and it crashes constantly on one phone but works flawlessly on the other. Help!!

  • Julio

    Hey Guys Check out my channel! I got a quick tutorial on how to do this without jailbreak!! its actually very simple!! it will take less than a minute to do! No BS!! will work with any Idevice 4.0 and up! youtube.com/mamba4590

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