Torrent app Popcorn Time is dead again (again)

Pour one out for Popcorn Time today. The popular illegal streaming app has been deplatformed once again, it seems. Navigating to the service’s website displays its familiar cute little popcorn box — now dead — alongside a hefty “R.I.P.”

The death note is accompanied by what appears to be a Google Trends screenshot for the term “popcorn time.” Search interest, the screenshot shows, peaked between 2015 and 2016. Interest declined quickly after a string of intense legal action. In a conversation with TorrentFreak.com, the Popcorn Time team says a declining user base is indeed the reason for the application’s latest death.

An iconic, illegal life — It wouldn’t be a stretch to say Popcorn Time changed torrenting for good. The BitTorrent protocol that allows for fast peer-to-peer sharing had been around for more than a decade by the time Popcorn Time rose to infamy, but the process of using it — without downloading an extensive library of malware — wasn’t exactly easy.

Popcorn Time took that process and hid it behind an easy-to-browse graphical user interface. No longer was it necessary to scroll through endless forums and link sites to maneuver through the torrent minefield; Popcorn Time would do all the work for you with just a few clicks.

That once-revolutionary idea is now commonplace. Torrenting can still be tricky, yes, but plenty of low-effort methods exist by which to complete the process.

“The world doesn’t need Popcorn Time anymore,” the developers said.

The end… or is it? — Here’s the thing: Popcorn Time has been pronounced dead before. It’s been resurrected by the app’s official team on more than one occasion. There’s no telling whether or not its developers might decide to pick it up again in the future.

Though general interest in Popcorn Time has waned in recent years, there does remain a devoted fan base. It’s very possible a community member will create a new Popcorn Time from the official release’s ashes. The app’s source code lives still on GitHub, ripe for anyone to fork into something new. Plenty of unofficial Popcorn Time apps have sprung up over the years.

So yes: Popcorn Time is dead. The official version, at least. Its legacy — and its code — though? Well, that can’t be killed.