Apple extends Apple TV+ free trial to end of February 2021

AppleInsider

The one-year free trial of Apple TV+ was set to end for many users on November 1, but Apple may be getting ready to extend all existing trials to February 2021.

Apple set to extend one year free trial of Apple TV+

Apple TV+ launched on Nov. 1, 2019, which means that those who were there for day one of the free trial would soon start paying. Apple has announced that they will be extending the free trial to the end of February 2021 for all users.

This means that those who started the free trial between November 2019 and January 2020 will receive some extra months -- up to three -- free. Anyone who signed up for the service prior to Nov. 1, 2020, will receive $4.99 in store credit through February, according to Variety.

Apple is giving many of of us a break on TV+. Because 2020.

Basically, up to 3 months free.

If you got the free year back in November of 2019, it'll run through end-of January now.

Same if you paid for an annual plan.

If you're on a monthly plan, you $4.99 through January.

-- Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)

October 8, 2020

Simply, Apple is giving everyone an additional three months free of Apple TV+, likely due to the effects of coronavirus slowing production of their original series.

Season two of "Dickinson" won't premiere until January 8, and For All Mankind received a trailer with no date. Apple offering a renewed free trial will enable users to catch up on old series and watch the premiere of season two before having to pay again.

Those paying annual rates will have three months added to the back end, and those paying monthly rates will have that amount refunded as store credit to the account. It isn't clear how this dovetails with the Apple One bundle roll-out that is going to happen "soon," according to Apple.

Those who started the free trial between January 31 and today will have a one year free trial with no additional time. The only people not affected by this change are those who never started a free trial that are also not paying for the service.

Apple TV+ is available to watch across all Apple platforms, on the web, and via some smart TV brands. The service costs $4.99 per month or $50 per year. Apple TV+ is also bundled with every tier of Apple One, which is set to launch later in 2020.

Updated with confirmation from Apple.

mike1

Any word on whether the free trial offer will continue with new purchases made now?

entropys

Apple should be practical and just extend the 12 months free with a hardware purchase. Given the (Low) amount of content available, free with hardware purchase is the right price and clearly will be for a long time.  If it did extend the free that way though, take up of Apple One might be not what Apple wants.

Shoulda bought in a back catalogue of content.

Apple TV+ is like paying for a feed claimed to be a Michelin meal and just getting a single Tim Tam. It might be the best biscuit on earth, but isn’t as advertised, and only one leaves you very dissatisfied and wanting more. A lot more. 

I won’t be paying a monthly subscription at the rate new content has become available. Sometimes I haven’t looked for so long I forget what’s there.

Beats

Just FYI. I haven't bought a new Apple device since October 2017 and was surprised to see that I qualify for a new year. And I just checked last month!

So "greedy Apple" is being very lenient with us here.

elijahg

How do you find out when the free year expires? I don’t pay for AppleTV+ but have access to it. Does buying AirPods count toward free year or is it only bigger purchases like iPhone or Mac? 

mike1

elijahg said:

How do you find out when the free year expires? I don’t pay for AppleTV+ but have access to it. Does buying AirPods count toward free year or is it only bigger purchases like iPhone or Mac? 

You must have activated the no charge subscription. It shows up in the Subscriptions section under Apple ID. Mine shows the next billing date as 11/17, so I now would expect that to move out soon.

CloudTalkin

entropys said:

Apple should be practical and just extend the 12 months free with a hardware purchase. Given the (Low) amount of content available, free with hardware purchase is the right price and clearly will be for a long time.  If it did extend the free that way though, take up of Apple One might be not what Apple wants.

Shoulda bought in a back catalogue of content.

Apple TV+ is like paying for a feed claimed to be a Michelin meal and just getting a single Tim Tam. It might be the best biscuit on earth, but isn’t as advertised, and only one leaves you very dissatisfied and wanting more. A lot more. 

I won’t be paying a monthly subscription at the rate new content has become available. Sometimes I haven’t looked for so long I forget what’s there.

I don't think Apple would offer ATV+ free with device purchase and offer it in an Apple One service bundle.  If it's already free with a device purchase, it wouldn't add value to any of the service bundles.

iOS_Guy80

entropys said:

Apple should be practical and just extend the 12 months free with a hardware purchase. Given the (Low) amount of content available, free with hardware purchase is the right price and clearly will be for a long time.  If it did extend the free that way though, take up of Apple One might be not what Apple wants.

Shoulda bought in a back catalogue of content.

Apple TV+ is like paying for a feed claimed to be a Michelin meal and just getting a single Tim Tam. It might be the best biscuit on earth, but isn’t as advertised, and only one leaves you very dissatisfied and wanting more. A lot more. 

I won’t be paying a monthly subscription at the rate new content has become available. Sometimes I haven’t looked for so long I forget what’s there.

Classy move on Apple’s part. Plenty new content has been coming out over the last few months looking forward to watching more.

Beats

elijahg said:

How do you find out when the free year expires? I don’t pay for AppleTV+ but have access to it. Does buying AirPods count toward free year or is it only bigger purchases like iPhone or Mac? 

Has to be an Apple TV+ compatible product like Apple TV, Mac, iPhone, iPad. You can't watch TV+ on your Watch or AirPods.

bestkeptsecret

I've gone through Mythic Quest and Ted Lasso. I'm watching Tehran, The Long Way Up and Tiny World. 

I think the content is slowly expanding to a wider range of stuff and there are more and more things that are grabbing my attention. 

It makes sense to offset the subscription cost for some more time.

pairof9

bestkeptsecret said:

I've gone through Mythic Quest and Ted Lasso. I'm watching Tehran, The Long Way Up and Tiny World...

Yeah, I love Ted Lasso, and Tehran, while familiar, is well done (so far). I've watched Greyhound probably 4 or 5 times. The Long Way Up is just so cool! 

As long as Apple keeps the level of the quality and variety of programs like these, I'll keep "buying" especially when considering Apple One bundle.

StrangeDays

entropys said:

Apple should be practical and just extend the 12 months free with a hardware purchase. Given the (Low) amount of content available, free with hardware purchase is the right price and clearly will be for a long time.  If it did extend the free that way though, take up of Apple One might be not what Apple wants.

Shoulda bought in a back catalogue of content.

Apple TV+ is like paying for a feed claimed to be a Michelin meal and just getting a single Tim Tam. It might be the best biscuit on earth, but isn’t as advertised, and only one leaves you very dissatisfied and wanting more. A lot more. 

I won’t be paying a monthly subscription at the rate new content has become available. Sometimes I haven’t looked for so long I forget what’s there.

Nah. For the price of one beer a month, it's certainly worth it for our household to subscribe to ATV+. There is always a run of a show we watch, so if you add up those hours in a given month and compare to TV or movie rental prices, $5 is worth it. It doesn't need to have an infinite supply of junk like Netflix does to be worth it. It's 5 bucks man. I blow that in any given day's happy hour. Quality over quantity is a thing.