Original Popcorn Time Team Backs Popular Fork

The original Popcorn Time team shut down its operation well over a year ago, but some members have now come out in support of the Popcorntime.io fork. As of today the original Popcorn Time domain name no longer links to the "goodbye" message, but to its popular successor.

In little more than a year Popcorn Time has become a household name on the Internet.

The software amassed millions of users by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.

A relatively small percentage of these users are aware of the bumpy start it had in 2014. A few weeks after its launch the original app was shut down by the original developers, facing pressure from Hollywood.

However, due to its open source nature the project was quickly picked up by others. This resulted in several popular forks that have each developed their own features, with most releasing their source code in public.

Over the past several months there has been some competition between the various forks. Several spin–offs have claimed the name “Popcorn Time” but thus far none have been endorsed in any way by the original team.

That changed today when some members of the original project began backing the popular PopcornTime.io client. Starting a few hours ago the original getpopcornti.me domain name was redirected to popcorntime.io.

The developers of the fork, who are still in contact with some of the founding members, are happy with this recognition.

“We recently went from the ‘unofficial official’ to just simply the ‘official’ Popcorn Time,” KsaRedFx announces.

“This doesn’t mean that the old developers have come back; They definitely have not… But it does mean that we have the backing and support from some of the original members,” he adds.

Aside from a seal of approval, nothing will change. The “official” fork will continue to operate from the .io domain and the original domain name remains in control of Popcorn Time’s founder.

“We won’t change from our current domain. In fact we don’t own the old Popcorn Time one, it’s just a redirect to our .io,” KsaRedFx tells TF.

It’s unclear whether all the founding members are backing the endorsement, but the redirect shows that some prefer the .io variant, perhaps because some of the fork’s developers also worked with the original crew.

Endorsement or not, it’s still up to the public to decide which variant they want to use. At the moment popcorntime.io and popcorn-time.se appear to be the preferred options and both have millions of users.