Those who signed up to Apple’s streaming service Apple TV+ are getting an added bonus this year with free subscriptions being extended again.
In 2019, Apple announced a one-year free trial for Apple TV+ for eligible customers. All you have to do is purchase a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV or Mac and activate your subscription. At the end of the free year, users are transferred to a paid subscription of $7.99 a month.
Apple has already extended this free trial once through to February 2021 in the wake of the pandemic. According to 9to5 Mac, it is prolonging this free period yet again to July 2021.
Who is eligible for the free Apple TV+ extension?
Any customers who are using Apple’s free Apple TV+ trial or have an annual Apple TV+ subscription that expires between February and June will now get these extra months free of charge.
This extension is for those who have redeemed the one-year Apple TV+ free trial offer, not those on a free monthly trial. But for those who are paying for a monthly subscription, Apple hasn’t left you out.
9to5 Mac reports that any monthly Apple TV+ subscribers as of January 15 will receive Apple store credit for the months between February and June to offset the cost of their subscription. The same also goes for Apple One subscribers who receive Apple TV+ as part of their bundle.
Emails should be going out from Apple to notify eligible customers of this change in the coming weeks. Subscribers don’t need to do anything for these changes or refunds to take effect.
This extension means if you activated your Apple TV+ free trial back in November 2019 you’ll technically have had free access to Apple TV plus for 20 months. That really does blow those 2-week free trials out of the water.
However, the content rollout for Apple TV+ hasn’t gone to plan with the pandemic interrupting production schedules. Many of Apple’s flagship shows, including The Morning Show and See, had their second seasons delayed. So it makes sense that Apple would compensate for this lack of new content by waiving subscriber fees.
Apple is still giving out a one-year free trial of Apple TV+ for anyone who purchases a new Apple device. You can read more about how to take advantage of this offer here.