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Google Play Movies & TV has been enabling Android users to purchase, rent, and view films and TV programme content for years now as part of the wider Google Play Store. Now, this element has been made available on iOS - with some notable compromises.

While this iOS version allows users to watch previously purchased and rented content on their devices, it doesn’t permit them to actually do any of that purchasing and renting directly through the app.

Instead, you have to use your computer or Android device to obtain the material.

This is down to Apple’s stringent policies on such digital content, which would require them to take a 30 percent cut of any purchases made through the app. Google was always unlikely to be onboard with that.

More annoying is the app’s complete unsuitability for usage on the go - which is kind of what you want a mobile video app for. There’s no offline playback option, and you can’t even stream your video content over a network connection. It’s Wi-Fi-only.

There’s also no AirPlay support in this Google Play Movies & TV app, so you won’t be able to stream Google video content to your Apple TV. Instead, Google has incorporated Chromecast support for a similar effect.

All of which might have you questioning the purpose of this app. After all, we’ve been able to watch  (and stream) video content purchased or rented from Google Play on iOS for some time now, through Google’s own YouTube app.

The simple inclusion of offline playback would have justified this latest iOS app release from Google, but as it is we’re struggling to see the point without a sizeable update.