The Exodus Kodi Add-on is an extremely popular, although somewhat dubious source for those looking to stream on-demand movies and TV shows. Exodus has a large library of content that continues to bring in new users. Yet is the Exodus Kodi add-on a safe and legitimate streaming option?
Exodus rose to fame as an add-on focused specifically on providing “free” content to Kodi users. In truth, many users who came to Kodi for the first time come because they hear about all of the content that’s available through the Exodus Kodi add-on.
However, Exodus is an unofficial add-on. It is what is considered “third-party,” and it does not receive any official support or recommendation from the Kodi development team. Although it is often recommended as a good pairing for those using Kodi on the Amazon Fire TV, retains no official backing from first-party sources. Read on to find out if you should use and what the alternatives are.
Comparitech does not condone or encourage any violation of copyright restrictions, including illegal streaming through Kodi. Kodi can be used for many excellent, legal online streaming purposes. Please consider the law, victims, and risks of piracy before downloading or streaming copyrighted material without permission.
How to use Kodi securely and privately
Regardless of the official or unofficial nature of the add-ons you’re using, Kodi comes with unique privacy and security concerns. Exodus, in particular, has been used for nefarious purposes by its own creator in the past, an action which, after getting caught, forced him to retire from Kodi add-on development.
When using Kodi add-ons, you incur some risks. Add-ons can be hijacked and used to spy on users through man-in-the-middle attacks. Because of the way add-ons work, as long as someone installs the right code in the add-on, they can spy on your activity, steal your private data, and potentially gain access to your system. Unfortunately, you might now know this is happening.
Additionally, ISPs are increasingly throttling video streaming data. Kodi streaming is not exempt. When your ISP can see your data traffic, it can block or throttle your video streaming.
VPNs mask your identity and the contents of your internet traffic, making your browsing activity invisible to prying eyes. VPNs can protect you from malicious like man-in-the-middle attacks. Using one will ensure that you don’t run into issues with an unapproving ISP (Internet Service Provider), or expose your data to just about anyone.
When it comes to VPNs and Kodi this really is one area where free products should be avoided. Go for a quality paid service that won’t risk compromising your security and privacy and is fast enough to stream uninterrupted. We recommend IPVanish: it fits these criteria, is very popular with the Kodi community and works with all Kodi add-ons.
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Alternatively, try one of the recommendations from our list of the best VPNs for Kodi.
Beyond security risks, a VPN can even allow you to access geographically-locked content. Content providers are increasingly locking content to different countries, and only offering it to the highest bidder. You can legally bypass many content blocks by using a VPN like IPVanish, allowing you to access servers in the country where that content resides and allowing you to fairly gain access.
What is the Exodus Kodi Addon?
Exodus is considered by many to be the best on-demand TV and movie streaming available. However, support for Exodus was recently dropped, so this add-on is no longer being directly supported by any developers. That lack of support means that any Exodus downloads you find may carry significant security risks, given that the download may be coming from a source that does not care about your privacy or data protections.
While it’s true that Exodus does not actually host the content you’ll find there, it provides access to content that is primarily pirated and offered up without legal copyrights. There are some legal video streams available through Exodus. For example, one can find 1949 Abbot and Costello film, Africa Screams, easily available through Exodus.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of video and TV streams available through Exodus are pirated. While you can filter out certain websites providing content in Exodus, all websites listed that the add-on scrapes content from deal in content pirating.
Due to its heavy reliance on pirated streaming, we do not recommend Exodus for Kodi users looking to stream content.
As an alternative, we encourage users to check out the options listed below.
Best Exodus alternatives
BBC iPlayer
On-demand content is the backbone for what makes Exodus a popular platform. Instead of turning to Exodus, however, UK users may find significant value in using the BBC iPlayer. The iPlayer add-on provides some of the highest-quality video streams of any add-on available on Kodi. Because it scrapes directly from the BBC iPlayer website, the service is legal to use so long as you have a valid TV License.
You can easily find the BBC iPlayer add-on available through the Official Kodi Add-on Repository by going to Addons > Package Symbol (top left) > Install from repository. From there, you can easily download and use this add-on to find great content.
Currently traveling? That’s not a problem. You can still access the BBC iPlayer by using a VPN. You’ll be asked whether you have a TV License when you try to access the content, in the same manner as if you logged in via the official website.
YouTube
The free content on YouTube is hard to understate. With hundreds of thousands of videos available, you’ll likely get lost in the search for great videos, but you’ll always turn up high-quality material if you know where to look. That includes many great TV shows and films that you might be looking for through Exodus.
YouTube allows users to even purchase popular films and TV shows for a low price. Once you connect your account to Kodi, you can access those purchased films easily through the media player. One of the benefits to using YouTube through Kodi? No ads! That, in and of itself, makes Kodi a unique platform for anyone who wants great content without the annoying wait created by advertisements. Particularly for YouTube, where ads are so common, using the free Kodi media player with YouTube is almost a match made in heaven.
Exodus Kodi addon: Overview and privacy concerns
Exodus is a highly popular add-on, making the allure of “free” movies a bit difficult to ignore. It’s important to understand the security concerns that exist with Exodus, however, so that Kodi users can better understand why we do not recommend this add-on.
Exodus maintains certain risks, especially now that it is not supported by any developers. As stated, some legal content exists in Exodus. Public domain films can easily be located through the search function inside of Exodus. These can be played legally, due to the fact that they are legally available and can be streamed from any source.
The public domain options are few and far between, however. Of the thousands of films and TV shows available through Exodus, the vast majority are pirated. This means that it may not be legal for you to stream content through Exodus. Even if you think a film may be legally available, it can be hard to make that determination through Exodus alone.
Providers can be turned off on Exodus. However, we have found that none of the providers listed are solely legal streaming sites. Among the hundreds of streaming sites that Exodus scrapes from to locate content, each site listed is of a dubious nature.
Known piracy streaming sites are clearly identifiable and easy to stream from through Exodus
Beyond just this issue is the fact that Exodus is highly insecure. Particularly due to its location in less-reputable repositories and the fact that it’s unsupported, Exodus is a prime target for hijackers. It has been used as a DDoS botnet before by its own creator. Given its popularity, it may also be a target for those looking to steal data through man-in-middle hack attacks or through malware inserted into the download file.
We highly recommend users avoid Exodus, stick to the primary, legal options, and utilize a VPN when considering any and all add-on downloads and streaming.
Kodi v17.3 “Krypton” is the latest stable version of Kodi available for download