Price: $6.99/mo.
Free trial: 7 days
On-demand library: 100+ original shows and movies, MLB baseball games
Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, Mythic Quest, Dickinson, Tom Hanks’s Greyhound and Finch—you’ve probably seen or at least heard of them. Apple TV+ is like a boutique studio with truckloads of money, producing high-quality series and movies to compete with HBO Max and Netflix, but for just $6.99 a month. The content and the platform are definitely good but still small.
Apple TV+ is an on-demand streaming TV service with a that’s-so-Apple twist: its content is all new and all original. Unlike Amazon Prime Video or Hulu, there aren’t many familiar shows or movies from other sources, but 100+ glossy in-house creations that Apple has spent millions on in hopes new, non-Apple-faithful subscribers will bite.
In other words, proprietary content available only through Apple. Aside from Apple TV+’s low price, it doesn’t get any more on-brand than that. Even its live Friday Night Baseball games take on a distinctly Apple appearance.
Looking to purchase some shiny new silver-and-white hardware? Of course you are. Buy a new iPhone, MacBook, iPad, or Apple TV, and Apple will throw in three months of Apple TV+ for free.
There’s also a seven-day free trial available to try out Apple TV+.
| Service | Price | Editorial rating | Streams | Video | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple TV+ | $6.99/mo. | 4.3/5 | 6 | 1080p, 4K | View plan |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Apple TV+ only offers one plan; at $4.99 a month, it won’t put much of a strain on your streaming budget. If you want to get mathematical, that’s about 20 cents per Apple TV+ show or movie. Not a bad deal, though not every Apple TV+ original is golden (more on that later).
| Service | Price | Editorial rating | Streams | Video | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple TV+ | $6.99/mo. | 4.3/5 | 6 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| Netflix | $6.99–$19.99/mo. | 4.2/5 | 1-4 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| Amazon Prime Video | $8.99–$14.99/mo. | 4.2/5 | 3 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| Hulu | $6.99–$12.99/mo. | 4.475/5 | 2 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| Peacock | Free–$9.99/mo. | 4.3/5 | 3 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| HBO Max | $9.99–14.99/mo. | 4.5/5 | 3 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| Disney+ | $7.99–$10.99/mo. | 4.4/5 | 4 | 1080p, 4K | View plans |
| ESPN+ | $9.99/mo. | 4.075/5 | 5 | 1080p | View plans |
| Paramount+ | $4.99–$9.99/mo. | 4.25/5 | 3 | 1080p | View plans |
| Discovery+ | $4.99–$6.99/mo. | 4/5 | 4 | 1080p | View plans |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Peacock, Paramount+, and Discovery+ offer plans in the $5 range, but those also feature, ugh, commercials. Apple TV+ is blissfully ad-free (unless you count the occasional promo for Apple TV+ shows). For an Apple product, Apple TV+ is surprisingly cheap.
Paramount+ carries decades of CBS and Paramount content, Peacock has thousands of NBCUniversal catalog shows and movies, and HBO Max and Disney+ have similarly deep legacy media pockets. Apple TV+ did it the hard way when it launched in 2019: with all-new content.
You won’t find any Marvel movies or classic crime dramas in the Apple TV+ lineup, just original TV shows and movies created specifically for the service from the past couple of years. Early entries like Dickinson, For All Mankind, and Mythic Quest generated some buzz, but it was breakout series like Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, and Servant that made a real streaming splash for Apple TV+.
In all, Apple TV+ has produced just over 100 original series and movies, including dramas, comedies, sci-fi thrillers, music documentaries, and children’s programming. Apple TV+ leans heavily into entertainment, but it’s starting to get into streaming live sports with the launch of its Friday Night Baseball programming.
As you’d expect from an Apple product, Apple TV+ over-delivers on the technical side. Its video and audio performance competes with or surpasses that of most other streaming services and has drawn rave reviews for its 4K stream quality, especially on Apple TVs.
| Service | Movies and TV shows |
|---|---|
| Apple TV+ | 100+ |
Apple TV+’s on-demand menu is broken into straightforward categories like Latest Originals, Drama, and Comedies, as well as themed sections like Finding Their Voice, Stories from Around the Globe, and Eerie Tales. Since there aren’t thousands of titles to search through (as with Netflix or Prime Video), Apple TV+’s minimalist menu works well enough.
| Service | Simultaneous streams | Offline downloads |
|---|---|---|
| Apple TV+ | 6 | Yes |
Apple TV+ allows for six simultaneous streams, double what most other on-demand streamers give you. There’s also no limit on offline downloads with Apple TV+ as long as you’re using your Apple ID.
| Device | Apple TV+ |
|---|---|
| AirPlay | ✔ |
| Amazon Fire Cube, Stick, TV | ✔ |
| Android phones, tablets | — |
| Android TV | ✔ |
| Apple TV (4th gen.) | ✔ |
| Apple TV 4K | ✔ |
| Chromecast, Chromecast with Google TV | ✔ |
| Facebook Portal | — |
| Echo Show | — |
| iPhone, iPad | ✔ |
| LG TVs (select models) | ✔ |
| Nintendo Switch | — |
| NVIDIA SHIELD Pro TV | — |
| PC, Mac web browsers | ✔ |
| PlayStation 4, 5 | ✔ |
| Roku Ultra, Express, Premiere, Stick, TV | ✔ |
| Samsung TVs (select models) | ✔ |
| Sony TVs (select models) | ✔ |
| TiVo Stream | — |
| Vizio TVs (select models) | ✔ |
| Wii | — |
| Xbox One | — |
| Xfinity Flex, X1 | — |
Data effective as of post date.
FYI, there’s no stand-alone Apple TV+ app: it’s part of the catch-all Apple TV app, minus the plus sign. It’s convenient to have all of your purchased-through-Apple movies, shows, and on-demand service all in one place, even if you have to clumsily say “Apple” and “app” together.
But, if Apple TV+ is going to overcome the misconception that it only works with Apple devices, it’ll probably have to make itself available on, well, more non-Apple devices. Maybe even some more gaming boxes and (gasp) Android gadgets.
We can’t emphasize this enough: Apple TV+’s content looks fantastic, with or without a 4K-capable television. Even Snoopy in Space is pristine, and it’s a flat cartoon.
Sound-wise, Apple TV+ content blasts in ultra-cinematic Dolby Atmos, if your system can handle it, as well as Dolby 5.1 surround sound and standard 2.0 stereo. We’re not Apple purists here, but Apple TV+ is definitely best experienced with an Apple TV 4K and a top-flight sound system. Go big or go to a friend’s Apple-fied home.
When it launched in 2019, Apple TV+ didn’t provide much bang even for its small bucks. But now, its 100+ shows and movies—many of which are premium-channel quality—seem like a steal at $6.99 a month. If you get it for free with an Apple product purchase, even better.
Apple TV+ isn’t a full-fledged contender in the on-demand streaming space yet (100 shows versus Netflix’s and HBO Max’s thousands is really no contest). Still, it’s tough to beat for the curated level of content and low price. Also, Apple TV+ is the only place you can get Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest, two compelling checks in our “Subscribe” column.
Apple TV+ works on several non-Apple devices, including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and some smart TVs. It’s optimized for the Apple platform, though.
Apple TV is the app you’ll find in your device’s app store; it curates all of your Apple content, like movies, premium channels, and Apple TV+. There’s no standalone Apple TV+ app.
Apple TV+ gives you 100+ original TV shows and movies for $4.99 a month. There are even live Friday Night Baseball games during the MLB regular season. But unlike on-demand streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, or Disney+, Apple TV+ doesn’t carry outside content or older series or movies—just its own exclusive productions.
Our TV experts spent hundreds of hours testing and assessing Apple TV+, rating the service on value, reliability, features, and customer satisfaction. Then we matched the service up against other premium streaming TV services head to head to give a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses. For more information on our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.
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