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One year free but I still need to pay for content??

MacFrag

MacFrag

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 24, 2015
74
33
The Netherlands
So I bought myself a brand new iPad 2019 :cool:

It came with a one year free Apple TV+ subscription, hooray!

Logged in, activated the one year free and I went on the look out for things to watch.

To my huge surprise I see a lot of movies that I wanted to see with 2 price tags. One for buying and one for renting.

I already have Netflix, Amazon prime, my own providers app full with movies and series and I probably going to get also Disney. Those are you pay a fee and watch all the content for free.

Perhaps I miss understand this Apple TV+ subscription but for me from what it looked like from the outside and how Apple advertised it, it looked like a subscription just like the other movies and series providers I just mentioned.

Am I missing something here? Is the content unlocked a day after activating your subscription?

I love Apple, so the next thing on my to buy list is an Apple TV little box.
 
Only the shows/movies in the AppleTV+ channel are included in the subscription, like The Morning Show and For All Mankind. The other content you might see in the Watch Now view is from other channels like HBO, Showtime, etc. There's also iTunes-buyable content.

Keep in mind that the health crisis has stopped production of additional episodes/seasons of AppleTV+ channel content. We can expect more new stuff in the future.

Get Apple TV+ - Apple Support

Subscribe to Apple TV+ and watch Apple Original TV shows and movies on your compatible devices with the Apple TV app.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
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TV app is a clusterf. On Watch Now page, only the contents in Apple TV+ channel is free (scroll down to find Apple TV+ under Channels).
 
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Due to lacking of content I like and what they offer is so small I canceled my free 1 year subscription.

Right now for me the service is not worth the monthly fee they are asking. Even Amazon is cheaper and has way more content.

Perhaps in the future when they add more stuff I will look at it again.
 
I got a free year when I bought my Pro Max last year. I looked it it early on and it had nothing so I lost interest pretty quickly. I will stick with Netflix and Prime Video. I don't plan to keep it after my year ends.
 
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MacFrag said:
Due to lacking of content I like and what they offer is so small I canceled my free 1 year subscription.
Click to expand...

You did not see what you wanted, so you cancelled your free year, OK.

Right now for me the service is not worth the monthly fee they are asking. Even Amazon is cheaper and has way more content.
Click to expand...

No one is offering you something cheaper than free for the year you had.

Perhaps in the future when they add more stuff I will look at it again.
Click to expand...

It was free. In a year, when you would have had to start paying, you could have decided if you wanted to pay. Instead, you cancelled your free subscription and now if you want to watch any of the shows they add, you will have to pay for them.

Seems like an odd decision. (Would totally understand not paying when the free subscription ended, but cancelling before that is confusing.)
 
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I find it a curious choice too to cancel before the free subscription year is over. I have enjoyed much of the original content, and I'll be interested to see what happens next. In general, I don't mind the UI either once I understood the navigation. I can only imagine it will get better.
 
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For me the current content is so bad and not interesting that I really do not see this changing any time soon and worth it to keep the subscription active.

Also running the risk of forgetting the subscription after a year and start paying for something I don't need and like is there. Happened allot with me in the past with online subscriptions.
 
There is nothing wrong with canceling the subscription an being done with it since, unlike Apple Music, cancelling the Apple TV+ subscription terminates the free period immediately. I wanted to cancel as well but decided to keep it active in case something interesting appears during the remainder of the free time. I have set up numerous reminders to cancel before the trial ends.
 
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On average I buy 1 apple device per year so this is essentially free for me :)

Yes, only TV+ content is included, but I've had some enjoyment out of at least some of that ("Servant" and "For All Mankind" for example)
 
MacFrag said:
For me the current content is so bad and not interesting
Click to expand...

Just out of curiosity, what of their current 20 series and 6 movies did you evaluate?


that I really do not see this changing any time soon and worth it to keep the subscription active.
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Wow, you must have really high standards! They have 29 new series and 8 new feature films that have been announced and you cannot imagine that they will even have one thing you will want to watch over the next 11 months?. Given the state of the film and television worlds, I expect that they will be able to pick up more features as they did with the Tom Hanks’s film Greyhound, that were originally supposed to be theatrically released.

Also running the risk of forgetting the subscription after a year and start paying for something I don't need and like is there. Happened allot with me in the past with online subscriptions.
Click to expand...

Here is a suggestion so you never miss cancelling a subscription, set several calendar reminders, starting two weeks before you need to cancel and set reminders up until the day before.
 
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Alan Wynn said:
Here is a suggestion so you never miss cancelling a subscription, set several calendar reminders, starting two weeks before you need to cancel and set reminders up until the day before.
Click to expand...
Though with most subscription on Apple devices you can cancel the same day you subscribe and the subscription stays in effect until expiration date. Not so though with this trial subscription, so the setting the reminder suggestion is a good idea. Even for those of us who may cancel (although seriously, $5/month? good deal), it's worth riding it out until close to the end date since we only get one chance for a trial.
 
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MacFrag said:
For me the current content is so bad and not interesting that I really do not see this changing any time soon and worth it to keep the subscription active.

Also running the risk of forgetting the subscription after a year and start paying for something I don't need and like is there. Happened allot with me in the past with online subscriptions.
Click to expand...

So what did you watch that you deemed everything they offer to be 'so bad'?

Let me guess: nothing.
 
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throAU said:
On average I buy 1 apple device per year so this is essentially free for me :)
Click to expand...

I doubt they'd let you sign up for multiple free trials. The whole purpose of the free trial is to get you to subscribe, not to get it free forever ;)
 
Namara said:
throAU is going to have a big surprise at the end of the subscription year. Not only is it a limited time promo, but as I posted above, it's limited to one per person/Apple ID/family.

Here's the promo T&Cs: https://www.apple.com/promo/pdf/EN_US_ATV+_Promo_TandCs.pdf
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Nah I’m not

I already paid for 6 months before I got my new device and got it for free.

if it’s not free again (after another device purchase) so be it. But I’ve already been paying before I got a free year.

Shrug
 
On Apple's website under TV, AppleTV+, scroll down a bit.

Screen Shot 2020-06-17 at 1.14.05 PM.png
 
mmomega said:
On Apple's website under TV, AppleTV+, scroll down a bit.

View attachment 924863
Click to expand...
This is not the way how it was advertised for me in the Netherlands and how it was suggested what it was.

It was suggested it was a premium service like the likes of Netflix, Amazon prime etc.

I watch what was on offer and I did not liked it. Perhaps others here do like it but I did not liked what I saw.

I love apple but this is not my cup of tea and for sure for me not worth it to fanboy about. You get to little what you pay for compared to the other providers.

29 new series and a little bunch of movies that are not my taste and not worth my money for now. This could change if they added more content I liked and added a whole lot of more free movies.

Kind of irritating that I have to have Netflix, Prime, Disney my own providers service with HBO stuff and when ever there is something for me that is worth watching on TV+ I need a subscription also for that.

Massive fragmentation :confused:
 
Sword86 said:
I tried to watch The Morning Show and had to pay for it. No way. S
Click to expand...

Color me confused, but what were you expecting?

Apple TV+ is a paid subscription VOD streaming service. Apple give out 1 year subscriptions with certain hardware purchases.

Not sure where the disconnect is.
 
usagora said:
I doubt they'd let you sign up for multiple free trials. The whole purpose of the free trial is to get you to subscribe, not to get it free forever ;)
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It's only a trial if you use it free for the year and don't buy another device. Then it becomes a paid subscription. Each purchase of an Apple device gets you another year of service from the purchase date. So if you buy a new device every year you'll never pay for AppleTV+.
 
chabig said:
It's only a trial if you use it free for the year and don't buy another device. Then it becomes a paid subscription. Each purchase of an Apple device gets you another year of service from the purchase date. So if you buy a new device every year you'll never pay for AppleTV+.
Click to expand...
That’s not true. It’s one free trial per family regardless of how many devices you buy. See the Promo Terms and Conditions I posted in post #16.
 
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