You'll only get Apple TV+ free once, no matter how many devices you buy

Tim Cook Apple TV+ (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Customers get free Apple TV+ with a device purchase.
All the family can watch for free.
Families can only get a free year once, regardless of devices bought.

When Apple announced that new device purchases would come with a free year of Apple TV+ many wondered if that was just for a single user. But it isn't, and Apple says you can use your free year across an entire family thanks to Family Sharing. But don't get excited – you can't stack those free years.

Apple's newly updated "About Apple TV+" support page confirms that users will get a free year of Apple TV+ if they buy an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV. And it also confirms that Family Sharing is supported, too. So that got us wondering – can one person buy an iPhone and get a free year, and then have someone else in the family do the same a year later? Would they effectively never pay for Apple TV+?

The answer to that is a resounding "NO" from Apple.

Only one offer per Family, regardless of the number of devices purchased. You can share your 1 year free Apple TV+ with up to 6 family members thanks to Family Sharing.

While not necessarily surprising that this is Apple's stance, it's something that is worth pointing out. Apple is using a free year of Apple TV+ to get people hooked. Not because it wants to do you a solid.

It's also worth noting that once your free year ends you'll automatically be subscribed for a monthly fee of $4.99. Although by that point you'll probably be hooked on all that juicy content anyway.

Apple announced pricing and availability for Apple TV+ during its September 10th media event. It will cost $4.99/month and it launches on November 1st.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.