Is Terrarium TV Safe and Legal in 2023? – Legal Alternatives

Ruheni Mathenge Last updated: May 17, 2023 Read time: 14 minutes Disclosure

Although Terrarium was closed indefinitely, there are still some versions available. But are they safe and legal? Read on to find out.

Terrarium TV is a free Android-based streaming app that provides access links to high-quality TV shows and movies. Despite its immense popularity among the streamers, the developers unexpectedly shut down the app, declaring no further support for the platform and users’ data. Moreover, the original app is no longer available on the Google Play store either. However, you may find many spoofed versions of Terrarium TV that can be malicious. That means using Terrarium TV today can impose serious cybersecurity threats. This guide explains how to enjoy Terrarium TV streaming safely and lists some secure app alternatives.

On-demand and live TV is becoming popular as people seek cheap alternative entertainment sources for overpriced cable subscriptions. That’s why hundreds of online streaming services surfaced online, including some like Terrarium TV, promising to offer free content.

Terrarium TV is a popular streaming application that allows access to a wide variety of movies and TV shows for free.

Precisely, it’s an Android-based streaming app providing links to high-quality streams without hosting any content. The idea is to avoid legal issues that other free streaming services face. However, its legality and safety have been controversial since its inception. The debate over the legality and safety of Terrarium TV continues to rage. And for good reasons.

The original website went offline in 2018 with no explanation. What’s more puzzling is that some Terrarium TV versions are still available for download online. It begs the questions — ‘is it a legal service?’ and ‘Will it harm your Android device?’

This article aims at answering these questions. Moreover, you’ll learn how to safely use Terrarium without compromising your security or privacy with a VPN.

A quick guide to access Terrarium TV anywhere safely

  1. Choose a reliable and trustworthy VPN service. We recommend ExpressVPN because of the high-speed servers for streaming and water-tight security.
  2. Install the VPN app. Go to the provider’s official website and download the suitable app for your device.
  3. Connect to a server. Navigate through the VPN to the server list and connect to whichever you want.
  4. Start streaming. Launch your Terrarium TV app and begin watching your favorite content.

Note: Terrarium TV developer discontinued it for good in 2018 and said he could even surrender user data if forced by authorities. However, there are still some Terrarium TV versions available online. We have delved into its safety status below but, being privacy advocates, we recommend you to uninstall it immediately if you still have this app on your device.

How Terrarium TV works?

Terrarium TV is an Android-based streaming app that offers the best free 1080p TV shows and movies. Subsequently, its popularity grew significantly, earning almost 30,000 subscribers on its active Reddit page and more than 140,000 Facebook likes.

According to its developer, the app only comprises links to other sites and doesn’t store or upload any media files. In addition, Terrarium TV does not host media stream links on its servers. Thankfully, all the links are aggregated in a convenient and user-friendly interface.

The above explanation may sound familiar if you know Kodi. Most popular Kodi addons like Exodus, Covenant, SportDevil, and Gurzil work similarly. Furthermore, you can use techniques to stream Terrarium TV on Kodi. However, it is an Android addon that functions similarly to the commonly used Android app Mobdro.

There are two major concerns about streaming content through Terrarium TV. First, is it going to compromise your security? Second, does using this app make you commit illegality? Let’s uncover each concern in detail.

Terrarium TV security risks

So far, there hasn’t been any hacking incident or discovery of malicious code in the legitimate Terrarium TV app. However, it is good to note that the download process has issues that can raise red flags.

Technically, Terrarium TV is illegal as it provides access to copyrighted content without permission from the copyright holders. Using Terrarium to stream copyrighted material may lead to legal consequences such as fines or even jail time if your country has a strong stance on piracy.

Another issue is that the Terrarium TV app is unavailable on Google Play Store. However, this doesn’t mean the app is illegitimate, although you may have to change your Android settings to allow unknown sources. Not all downloads that go through this route are bad news. But downloading apps via that channel means users need to download them from third-party sources, which increases the risk of downloading malware or other harmful software.

The APK Mirror website (www.apkmirror.com) contains a massive repository of Android apps not available on the Google Play Store. However, most apps are purely legitimate but have not made it to the app store.

The advantage of Google Play Store apps is that they are highly secure. That’s because the apps go through a more stringent review process. So, downloading apps outside the store can present substantial risks. For example, some apps are embedded with malware and viruses that can severely damage your device.