Resource Review · Christian Streaming Apps
TBN+
The streaming home of Trinity Broadcasting Network, free on every major device — and surprisingly deep once you start digging.
- Editor rating
- 4.0 / 5
- Starting price
- Free
- Free tier
- Yes
- Platforms
- iOS · Android · Roku · Apple TV · Fire TV · Web
- Developer
- Trinity Broadcasting Network
- Launched
- 2020
The verdict
A genuinely free Christian streaming app from the worlds largest Christian broadcaster — with a deep Pentecostal/Charismatic catalog, live linear TV, and an originals lineup that has gotten noticeably better since the post-Crouch leadership transitions. Its not for everyone, but the price is right and the library is wider than most people expect.
Try TBN+ ↗Opens watch.tbn.org
TBN+ has quietly become the default Christian streaming app for households who grew up watching Trinity Broadcasting Network on cable and want to bring that same lineup to their phone, their Roku, and the TV in the kitchen. Its free. It does not ask for a credit card. It does not gate the live channels behind a paywall. It does not require a cable login. You install it, you pick a channel, and youre watching Praise or a Joyce Meyer rerun in under a minute.
That low-friction entry is the whole point. TBN — founded in 1973 by Paul and Jan Crouch — has spent five decades building one of the largest religious broadcasting libraries on earth, and the streaming app is essentially the consumer-facing storefront for that catalog. Live linear channels (TBN, TBN Inspire, Smile, Enlace, JUCE TV, Positiv), thousands of on-demand episodes, a growing slate of Christian films, kids programming, and a sermon library that leans heavily Pentecostal and Charismatic.
The honest framing matters here. TBN is editorially a Pentecostal/Charismatic network — its always been. That shows up in the preachers featured, the worship styles, and the prosperity-adjacent theology that has historically been part of the lineup. The network has been through significant leadership transitions in the last decade and the programming mix has broadened, but if youre looking for Reformed expository preaching or strictly Catholic content, TBN+ is not the app you want. If youre looking for the worlds largest Christian TV network on every screen you own, this is exactly that.
✓ The good
- Genuinely free, no account wall — you can open the app and start watching the live TBN feed without signing up for anything
- Six live linear channels — TBN, TBN Inspire, Smile (kids), Enlace (Spanish), JUCE TV (youth), and Positiv, all streaming 24/7
- Deep Pentecostal/Charismatic preaching catalog — T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Bishop Noel Jones, John Hagee, Jentezen Franklin and dozens more, organized by preacher
- Surprisingly strong originals slate — The Encounter, Praise, Better Together, and a growing roster of TBN Originals that look and feel like real production, not access-cable filler
- Christian film library is wider than youd expect — features, documentaries, biopics, and a rotating selection of theatrical releases TBN has acquired streaming rights to
- Kids content via Smile is solid — Veggie Tales, Superbook, classic and modern series in one place, no separate subscription
- Available everywhere — iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, web browser, Android TV, even Vizio and Samsung smart TVs
✗ Watch out
- Editorially Pentecostal/Charismatic — if youre coming from a Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic, or LDS background, much of the preaching catalog will not match how your tradition teaches scripture
- Prosperity-gospel theology surfaces in some of the historic programming — its less central than it used to be, but its still part of the catalog
- Search is functional but not great — no fuzzy matching, no transcript search, and the recommendations engine is unsophisticated compared to Netflix-tier apps
- No download / offline mode (yet) — everything streams, which matters if you want to watch on a flight or with spotty connectivity
- Some originals are clearly produced for broadcast first and streaming second — pacing, ad-style breaks, and runtime padding show up in places
- No closed-caption customization on most platforms — captions are on or off, with limited font/size control
Best for
- Households already loyal to TBN cable programming
- Pentecostal and Charismatic viewers wanting their preachers on demand
- Families looking for free Christian kids content via Smile
- Cord-cutters who still want live Christian linear TV
Avoid if
- You want Reformed, Lutheran, or expository preaching libraries
- You want strictly Catholic content (use Formed or EWTN instead)
- You want LDS general conference and church curriculum (use Gospel Library)
- You need a polished, Netflix-grade search and recommendations engine
What TBN+ is
TBN+ is the official streaming app for Trinity Broadcasting Network, the worlds largest Christian television network. It bundles six 24/7 live linear channels (TBN flagship, TBN Inspire, Smile for kids, Enlace en español, JUCE TV for youth, and the family-friendly Positiv) with a deep on-demand library of sermons, talk shows, Christian films, documentaries, kids programming, and TBN Originals. The whole thing is free — no subscription, no credit card, no cable login.
Under the hood its a fairly standard modern streaming app — channel guide, on-demand grid, search, and per-show pages — built and maintained by TBNs in-house digital team. The differentiator is not the technology. Its the catalog: five decades of religious broadcasting from a network that, for better or worse, has been the dominant Christian TV outlet in the United States since the Carter administration.
Why TBN viewers prefer TBN+ to YouTube
Most of TBNs preachers and shows are also available on YouTube — often on the preachers own channels — so the natural question is why bother with a dedicated app at all. The answer is curation and continuity. TBN+ groups the catalog the way a long-time TBN viewer actually thinks about it: by preacher, by show, by series, by film. You can pull up everything Joyce Meyer has done on TBN in one place, in proper episode order, without YouTubes algorithm pushing you sideways into clickbait clips and reaction videos.
The live linear channels are the other piece of it. There is no Christian YouTube equivalent of just turning on TBN and letting it run. The 24/7 feed — with its mix of revivals, talk shows, music, films, and preaching — is the experience that TBNs core audience has built decades of habit around, and the app preserves that without requiring cable or a set-top box. For viewers who never wanted to cut the cord but had it cut for them, TBN+ is the workaround that just works.
Free live linear streaming — no paywall, no account, no catch
TBN+ runs six 24/7 live channels straight inside the app, the same way youd get them on cable, and none of them are gated. Open the app, tap Live, pick a channel. The flagship TBN feed carries the marquee originals and the rotating preaching block. TBN Inspire leans devotional and music-forward. Smile is the kids channel, anchored by Veggie Tales and Superbook reruns. Enlace is the Spanish-language feed. JUCE TV targets youth and young adults. Positiv leans family movies and lighter programming.
The single biggest practical difference between TBN+ and almost every other Christian streaming app is this: theres no subscription wall in front of any of it. Most of the category — Pure Flix, RightNow Media, Formed, Hallow Plus — gates the good stuff behind a monthly fee. TBN+ is funded by donor support rather than subscriptions, which means the whole thing stays free in a way that genuinely changes who can use it. Grandparents on fixed incomes, families with no streaming budget, churches putting it on a lobby TV — none of them have to do paperwork to make TBN+ work.
The Pentecostal/Charismatic preaching catalog
TBN is editorially a Pentecostal/Charismatic network, and the preaching library reflects that. The bench includes T.D. Jakes (The Potters House), Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen (Lakewood), Bishop Noel Jones, John Hagee, Jentezen Franklin, Marilyn Hickey, Perry Stone, Jesse Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland in archival form, and dozens more. Each preacher has a dedicated landing page that organizes their broadcasts into series, with on-demand episodes going back years in many cases. For a viewer who already watches one of these ministries on Sunday TV, the app collapses the entire archive into a searchable shelf.
Its worth being honest about what this catalog is and isnt. Its the largest single home for charismatic and word-of-faith preaching in any streaming app, and that depth is a real feature for the audience it serves. Its not where youd go for Reformed expository preaching, Lutheran liturgical sermons, Catholic homilies, or LDS general conference talks — those traditions have their own homes (Ligonier, SermonAudio, Word on Fire, Gospel Library) that serve them better. Some of the historic prosperity-gospel teaching is still part of the back catalog, though the editorial mix has noticeably broadened under the post-2010s leadership transitions, with more apologetics, Bible teaching, and Israel-focused programming sharing the spotlight.
Christian films, kids content, and TBN Originals
Beyond preaching, TBN+ carries a genuinely wide library of Christian films and series. The originals slate has grown considerably — The Encounter (a long-running drama series), Praise (TBNs flagship talk/worship show), Better Together (a daytime panel program), Takeaways with Kirk Cameron, and a rotating set of biopics, documentaries, and Israel-focused docu-series. Production values on the newer originals are noticeably higher than the access-cable look TBN had a reputation for in the 1990s and 2000s; some of it could pass for mainstream cable.
The film library leans on theatrically-released Christian features TBN has licensed plus catalog titles from partners like Pure Flix and Affirm Films — youll see overlap with Pure Flixs subscription catalog, except here its free. Kids content lives on Smile and includes Veggie Tales, Superbook, classic Christian animation, and live-action kids shows. For families who want a single free destination for childrens Christian programming without a separate $4.99/month Yippee or Minno bill, Smile inside TBN+ does most of the job, even if the slate isnt as curated as the kid-first apps.
Pricing
Free
$0
Everything. Live channels, on-demand library, originals, films, kids — the entire TBN+ catalog is free with no account required to watch most content.
Free account (optional)
$0
Sign up to save favorites, sync watch history across devices, and get personalized recommendations. Still no paywall — the account just unlocks convenience features.
Donation-supported
Optional
TBN is a non-profit and funds itself through donor support, not subscriptions. The app surfaces a donate option but never gates content behind it.
TBN+ is free. Genuinely, completely free — not free trial, not free tier of a paid app, not ad-supported in the YouTube sense. The network funds itself through donor support the way it always has, and the streaming app inherits that economic model.
Theres an optional free account that lets you save favorites, sync watch progress across devices, and get personalized recommendations. You can use the entire app without it. Most of the live content streams without even prompting you to sign up.
The donate button is present and easy to find — TBN is a non-profit and the app is funded by viewer giving — but giving is never required to watch anything. This is the meaningful contrast with Pure Flix, RightNow Media, Formed, and Hallow Plus, all of which gate substantial libraries behind a monthly subscription.
If youre comparing the cost of a Christian streaming stack — Pure Flix at around $7.99/month, RightNow Media usually bundled through a church for $0 but sometimes $99/year for individuals, Hallow Plus at $69.99/year, Minno at $6.99/month — TBN+ sits at $0 with a catalog that overlaps meaningfully with several of them.
Where TBN+ falls behind
No download / offline mode (yet). Every other major Christian streaming app at this scale lets you cache episodes for flights or commutes, and TBN+ still doesnt. For a free app this is forgivable; for one that wants to be your primary Christian video destination its a real gap.
Search is shallow. You can find shows and preachers by name, but theres no transcript search, no fuzzy matching, and the recommendation engine is unsophisticated. Finding a specific sermon or topic across the catalog requires you to know which preacher to look under, which is fine for habitual TBN viewers but a wall for new ones.
Editorial breadth is narrow by tradition. TBN+ is excellent at Pentecostal and Charismatic content and weak everywhere else. A viewer looking for Reformed, Lutheran, Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, or LDS preaching will find slim pickings, and the apps recommendation surfaces will keep nudging them back toward the charismatic core.
Originals quality is uneven. The newer flagship shows look genuinely good. Some of the older or lower-budget programming still has the broadcast-filler quality TBN has historically been associated with, and the app surfaces both together without much signal about which is which.
No real community or study layer. Pure Flix has discussion guides for some films. RightNow Media is built around small-group curriculum. TBN+ is just a streaming app — watch and move on. For a viewer who wants the content to translate into group study or follow-up reading, the app doesnt help.
TBN+ vs. Pure Flix vs. RightNow Media
These three apps get compared constantly because theyre the most prominent Christian streaming destinations in North America, but they actually serve fairly different jobs. TBN+ is free, broadcast-network anchored, and editorially Pentecostal/Charismatic. Pure Flix is a paid subscription (~$7.99/month) built around Christian films and family-friendly entertainment, anchored by Affirm Films and the Kendrick Brothers catalog. RightNow Media is a subscription-or-church-bundle service (often free to members of subscribing churches) built around small-group video curriculum from Reformed and broadly evangelical teachers — Francis Chan, David Platt, J.D. Greear, the Bible Project, kids series, and a deep library of study videos.
Different strengths. TBN+ is better at live linear, charismatic preaching, and being free. Pure Flix is better at Christian feature films and family movie nights. RightNow Media is broader (small-group curriculum, leadership training, kids, Bible study series) and is the obvious pick if your church already provides access. None of them really replaces another; many households actually run all three, because the catalogs overlap less than the marketing suggests.
The honest recommendation: install TBN+ first because its free and the live channels are useful background entertainment. Add Pure Flix if youre a Christian-films household. Get RightNow Media through your church if your church offers it, because the small-group curriculum library is the deepest in the category and individual pricing is steep otherwise.
The bottom line
TBN+ is a free, no-account Christian streaming app from the worlds largest Christian broadcaster, with six 24/7 live channels, a deep Pentecostal/Charismatic preaching catalog, a respectable Christian film library, and a kids channel that does most of what families need. The editorial slant is what it is — charismatic, historically prosperity-adjacent, broadening under newer leadership — and viewers from Reformed, Catholic, or LDS traditions will find more aligned content elsewhere. But at $0 with no paywall on any of it, TBN+ earns a spot on almost any Christian households Roku regardless. Real gaps in search, downloads, and editorial breadth, but theyre worth knowing about going in rather than dealbreakers.
Alternatives to TBN+
Pure Flix
Subscription-based Christian and family-friendly streaming, anchored by Affirm Films and Kendrick Brothers catalog. Stronger on features and family movie night; weaker on live TV.
The Chosen App
The dedicated home for The Chosen series plus an expanding library of related content. Different category from TBN+, but the must-install Christian streaming app for most households.
RightNow Media
The deepest small-group Bible study and leadership video library in the category, broadly evangelical/Reformed. Usually accessed free through a subscribing church.
Minno
The kid-first Christian streaming app — curated, ad-free, parent-controlled. If kids content is the main reason youd install TBN+, Minno is the more focused alternative.
Frequently asked questions
- Is TBN+ really free?
- Yes — completely free, no subscription, no credit card, no cable login required. Trinity Broadcasting Network funds itself through donor support rather than subscription revenue, and the streaming app inherits that model. You can install it and watch the live channels without even creating an account.
- What devices does TBN+ work on?
- iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, Vizio and Samsung smart TVs, and any modern web browser at watch.tbn.org. Its one of the most broadly available Christian streaming apps in terms of platform coverage.
- What kind of preaching does TBN+ feature?
- Predominantly Pentecostal and Charismatic preachers — T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, John Hagee, Jentezen Franklin, Bishop Noel Jones, Perry Stone, and many others. The editorial slant has historically included prosperity-leaning teaching, though the mix has broadened under TBNs newer leadership. Viewers looking for Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic, or LDS preaching should look at Ligonier, SermonAudio, Word on Fire, or Gospel Library instead.
- Does TBN+ have kids content?
- Yes — through the Smile channel, which carries Veggie Tales, Superbook, and a rotating slate of classic and modern Christian kids programming. Its part of the same free TBN+ app with no extra subscription. Minno is the more curated kid-first alternative if you want a dedicated childrens experience.
- How is TBN+ different from just watching TBN preachers on YouTube?
- Two things. First, TBN+ has six 24/7 live linear channels — theres no YouTube equivalent of just turning on TBN and letting it run. Second, the app organizes the catalog by show and preacher in proper episode order, without YouTubes algorithm pulling you sideways. For habitual TBN viewers, the curation is the value.
- Can I download episodes to watch offline?
- Not as of this writing. TBN+ is streaming-only, which is the apps biggest functional gap relative to competitors like Pure Flix and RightNow Media. If offline viewing is important to you, factor that in.
- Whats the catch with it being free?
- No catch in the conventional sense — no ads inserted into on-demand content, no paywall partway through a series, no required account. The app does surface a donate option, and TBN is open about being funded by viewer giving, but giving is never required to access anything in the catalog.