Apple TV Plus has a fixed price of $4.99 per month, with a 7-day trial open to any newcomers. If you buy an eligible Apple device you’ll get an entire year for free, which is a nice bonus if you were going to upgrade anyway. Those who currently get the Apple Music Student subscription are also set to have Apple TV+ thrown in for free. With Apple Family Sharing, up to six users can access the service using their own device and accounts.
Based purely on price, this is an even toss-up between the two services, that is until content is taken into account.
At launch Apple is providing more of a tasting menu than any sort of comprehensive library. There’s just enough on offer here to binge during the 7-day trial. That being said, shows such as For All Mankind and The Morning Show sport star-studded crew and cast, with top production values. How much you’ll like Apple’s take on original content is entirely subjective of course. All we can say is that, right now, there isn’t much of it. Clearly this is a quality-over-quantity approach.
When it comes to the iOS app, Apple have taken the very straightforward route of simply using the existing Apple TV app. Apple TV Plus exists as a channel within the app users already know. While this is certainly expedient, it does have some downsides. The main one being that content not included in the Apple TV Plus subscription is mixed in with everything else. Everything you see is not automatically free to watch.
Neither are however as refined as Netflix’ app, which is the bar against which all streaming services must eventually be measured.
Apple should be applauded for making its Apple TV Plus content available outside of its own hardware ecosystem, but the lack of proper Android support is a big deal. Once that’s in place both of these providers could be considered equals in this regard. Until then, Apple is leaving money on the table.
The verdict
However, is Apple TV Plus worth the asking price? Given the quality of the original programming and the promise of more to come, it would certainly seem so. Since everyone has at least gets 7-days to try the product for themselves, there’s no real reason to give it a skip. If you do try and decide it’s not yet ready for a commitment, be sure to check our Apple TV Plus news from time to time as the service matures.
