Mobdro: What is the ‘new Kodi’ that lets you stream TV, films and sport for free?

The software has actually been around for several years

While Kodi has gone mainstream, Mobdro is unfamiliar to many (Mobdro)

Streaming app Mobdro has been hailed as the “new Kodi”, as legal issues continue to cast doubt over the future of illicit third-party addons.

However, in actual fact, the software isn’t new at all.

Mobdro has been around for several years, though it could grow increasingly popular as authorities focus on shutting down sites and repositories that promote the use of Kodi for streaming copyrighted content illegally.

While Kodi has gone mainstream, Mobdro is unfamiliar to many.

While you can use it to illegally access copyrighted content, it isn’t a like-for-like alternative to Kodi.

Kodi is a multimedia player that’s completely legal. You can use it play videos, music, podcasts and other digital media files from the internet, local storage or a home network.

You can, however, also use it to watch things like TV shows, films and sports fixtures for free, through illegal add-ons created by developers.

Mobdro, on the other hand, is far less capable. It scans the web for free video streams, and lets you tune into them.

According to the Mirror, it's "so far untouched" by authorities.

“Mobdro is an indexation tool, meaning it only looks [at] which streams are available,” it says.

“Mobdro doesn’t have any control whatsoever on the streamings. If the streaming that you are looking for was on the list before and now has vanished, it means that it was online but right now it is offline.”

It adds that the content of the streams is the "sole responsibility" of the pages where they are being hosted.

It has a reputation for being reliable, but not one for having the highest-quality streams.

It’s also tougher to download than Kodi.

Mobdro is available on Android versions 4.1 and above, but you have to manually download it, by enabling unknown sources in your phone’s settings – a somewhat risky move that can leave you susceptible to dodgy apps.