It’s Popcorn Time Again: Slick Movie Piracy App Bounces Back After Shutdown

As expected, new developers have re-released Popcorn Time’s open-source code, once again making it extremely easy to illegally watch the latest movies.

Popcorn Time gained widespread attention last week for its slick design that took all the usual hassle out of movie piracy. Instead of dealing with sketchy torrent sites, users could stream new movies with just a couple of clicks.

But on Friday, the app abruptly shut down, with the developers saying they felt “in danger for doing what we love.” It seemed like only a matter of time before new developers started running with the old code.

According to TorrentFreak, the project is now being led by developers from YTS, the site that Popcorn Time uses to index its movie torrents. However, the site itself is trying to keep its distance. “Popcorn Time is a community driven project, not owned nor maintained by a single person or entity,” YTS said in an updated statement.

In any case, Popcorn Time is available for download again on Windows, Mac and Linux. As with before, using Popcorn Time does not leave you completely immune to movie studios, who on occasion have sued individual file sharers based on torrent traffic. The only sure way to avoid detection is with a VPN service, most of which charge a subscription for ongoing access.