If you want to watch Korean dramas on your smartphone, there are a lot of apps available. Some of them offer dramas subbed and dubbed in regional languages to make it easy for people to watch in their local language.
Many of them provide a downloading feature to save dramas on your phone and watch them later. Here are the apps that provide streaming of Kdramas. All of these are available on Android, and some are available on iOS.
1. HiTV (Free)
HiTV is a new Kdrama streaming app that hosts all the dramas for free. You will be able to watch them in full HD quality with English subtitles and zero advertisements. It also includes the currently airing dramas.
This app is the only streaming service where you can watch all the dramas for free without any paid subscriptions or monthly fees. But it is not clear that whether it is legal or not, and dramas are not licensed for this app.
2. Loklok (Free)
Loklok is another free streaming app that lets you watch all Korean dramas and movies for free. This drama is an alternative to HiTV app and works the same.
The app has no ads and provides different servers for streaming and downloading episodes. It also has a comment section for each drama where you can share your views and opinions.
3. Netflix (Paid)
Netflix is the most popular paid platform, hosting a wide range of content, including TV shows and movies. It is also home to one of the largest libraries of Korean dramas.
You can watch most of the dramas that you know on Netflix with English subtitles. Some dramas that have been watched by most of the audience have been dubbed in regional languages.
4. Viki (Free & Paid)
Viki has the largest library of Kdramas, where you can watch almost all the dramas. Some of the dramas are free to watch at low quality and have few ads. To watch the currently airing dramas, you need to buy the standard plan.
The subtitles are crowdsourced, i.e., all the dramas are subbed by the community members in various languages, not just English. Viki also has a forum where you can connect with other members.
5. Kocowa (Paid)
Kocowa is a joint streaming service created by three major Korean broadcasters: KBS, SBS, and MBC. It hosts all the recent and old dramas that aired on these channels. The only demerit is that it is available only in America.
Kocowa is a paid platform that costs $6.99 per month for full access to all the content. Viki’s Pass Plus subscribers have additional access to Kocowa content without a separate subscription to Kocowa.
6. Prime Video (Paid)
Amazon Prime Video is an affordable streaming platform that includes a few popular Korean dramas with English subtitles. The availability of dramas varies from country to country.
Prime Video has Kocowa as one of the channels where you can enjoy all the content hosted on Kocowa. You can buy the Kocowa subscription and watch it on Prime Video.
7. Viu (Free & Paid)
Viu serves a vast library of dramas in Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East region. It also produces its original dramas. Several dramas are also available separately in localized audio dubs.
You can watch Kdramas for free on Viu but will have to suffer through ads. To watch the dramas in full 1080p HD quality and use features like unlimited download without any ad interruption, you need to buy a premium subscription.
8. WeTV (Free & Paid)
WeTV is a streaming service launched by Tencent, China’s largest streaming provider. It includes a lot of Korean and Chinese dramas to watch. Some are free to watch, while others are paid.
You need to have a VIP subscription to get full access to all the episodes of the Kdramas and watch them without any ads in high quality. The dramas are region-specific and may not be available in a few countries.
9. MX Player (Free & Paid)
MX Player is one of the top platforms where you can stream Kdramas for free in India. You can find some good dramas dubbed in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Bengali, and Kannada.
The worst thing are the ads. While watching videos, unskippable ads appear frequently that interrupt the enjoyment of watching. You can buy a gold subscription for Rs 400 per year to avoid advertisements and watch all the dramas in high quality.
10. Disney+ (Hotstar) (Paid)
Recently, Disney Plus has been releasing numerous Korean dramas on its platform and is investing more in them. It operates as Disney+ Hotstar in Southeast Asian countries like India, the Philippines, Singapore, etc.
For a small monthly or yearly plan, you get access to all the dramas along with other Disney, Hulu, and other content that can be watched with English subtitles. Some dramas have also been dubbed into English.
11. iQIYI (Paid)
iQIYI is another streaming platform from the Chinese company Baidu. It boasts an extensive content library, featuring a broad selection of Asian dramas, movies, and variety shows, including Korean content.
Most of the dramas are not available in many countries due to the licensing of the content. The platform offers high-quality shows and subtitles to its VIP users who have paid for the subscription.
12. YouTube (Free)
YouTube is the best source to watch Korean dramas for free. Some of the popular Kdramas of the channels SBS and KBS are available with English subtitles. You can watch the dramas on the SBS World and KBS World TV channels.
A few dramas that you can stream include Dr. Romantic, The Heirs, Pinocchio, My Strange Hero, I Can Hear Your Voice, Master’s Sun, Rooftop Prince, Fight for My Way, Hwarang, etc.
These are the apps that you can download to watch dramas. Some of them are region-specific like Viu, Kocowa, MX Player, etc. So, you can use a VPN to access them.
