Midway through your free year of Apple TV+, will you pay up in November?

Apple TV+ Apple TV interface
Apple TV+ Apple TV interface (Image credit: Joseph Keller / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple TV+ offered a free year to buyers of Apple hardware.
  • We're more than half way through that year.
  • At this midway point, who intends to pay for Apple TV+.

When Apple TV+ launched in November 2019 it came with a free year for anyone who bought an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. Coming just after a big iPhone launch that means there are tons of people out there whose free year will be coming to an end this coming November. And that's when they'll have a decision to make – pay for Apple TV+ or cancel it completely.

That could be an interesting decision for many. Me included.

Apple TV+ has had a decent start to life. Not excellent by any stretch and I'd argue that there's only one, maybe two must-see shows right now – "For All Mankind" and "Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet" in case you wondered. If you've already seen those and nothing else tickles your fancy, why pay?

It's possible Apple will have the second seasons of big shows ready to drop just in time for November, enticing people to pay up so they can see what happens next. But the coronavirus pandemic has likely impacted that considerably with filming coming to a halt. That in turn means people might be left deciding whether the promise of new content is enough to make Apple TV+ a viable option. When there's so much competition in the marketplace, is that enough?

I still haven't decided what I'll do come November, but I wanted to know what you folks think. Will you pay up when Apple TV+ comes calling?

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

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.