Apple Extends Free Apple TV+ 3 More Months (And Now There’s Actually Stuff To Watch)

Apple has extended Apple TV+ for free for three more months for customers who bought an Apple product and received their first year free. The good thing is: now there’s actually content worth watching on the service.

“We’re giving you extra time to discover the latest Apple Originals and catch up on shows returning for a second season,” my email from Apple says. “You don’t have to do anything — just keep watching for free until February 2021.”

I watched almost nothing on Apple TV in the first few months of free service.

And scoffers might argue that the free three months is due to no-one being willing to actually pay for the service yet, but that’s starting to be less and less true.

The Apple-exclusive See starting Jason Momoa was actually interesting, but there was so little of value initially on the streaming service that I suggested Apple shut it down in January. Just recently, however, I’ve been enjoying Long Way Up, starring Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman as they ride electric Harley Davidson motorcycles up from the southern tip of South America to Los Angeles.

(What a cop-out, by the way. They should have ridden to the top part of Alaska.)

That has been interesting, and Apple wisely added McGregor and Boorman’s earlier mega-trips Long Way Round and Long Way Down along with the new expedition, which is being released episode by episode. So I’ve actually had reason to visit the formerly lonely Apple TV+ app over the past few weeks.

Oh: and Tom Hanks’ Greyhound was simple excellent.

That said, there’s still a dearth of content on Apple TV+. It’d be hard to find something you want to watch every night.

Also, there’s user interface challenges. I have to do a full review of Apple TV+ one of these days, but briefly: it doesn’t currently seem to recognize when you’re watching a series. So for each of those Long Way Round/Down/Up series I had to manually find the next episode every single time.

Perhaps not shockingly, that gets old after a while.

In addition, Apple TV+ is presented alongside additional for-purchase content and multiple other streaming media services which, frankly, I found confusing at times. However, more on that in another post.

For now: I’ve got Apple TV+ free for another quarter-year, and so do you if you bought an Apple device in the past 12 months.

Here’s Apple’s email explaining the gift:

“We’re extending your free year of Apple TV+ until February.

We’re giving you extra time to discover the latest Apple Originals and catch up on shows returning for a second season. You don’t have to do anything — just keep watching for free until February 2021.

It’s been an incredible debut year. Audiences are loving the Emmy Award winner The Morning Show, the blockbuster WWII thriller Greyhound, the heartwarming comedy Ted Lasso, and so much more. Be on the lookout for new premieres, hit movies like On the Rocks, the eye-opening docuseries Tiny World, and Season 2 of Servant, For All Mankind, and Peabody winner Dickinson.

You’ll see your new renewal date in Manage Subscriptions soon.”