Tech giant Apple owns its own streaming service, and as you can tell from the headline, it's called Apple TV Plus. Launched in late 2019, this was the company's way of making sure it wasn't left behind in the ever-growing streaming market.
Several years on, Apple has carved out a niche for its video platform in two key ways. One is the list of must-see Apple TV Plus originals with Ted Lasso, Severance, Foundation and Slow Horses some of the shows everyone's talking about. That list is getting longer all the time.
Secondly is the surprising number of free trials that the company offers — if you buy a new Apple product, sign up to the right cell provider or sometimes just click the right link, you can get between a week and a year of streaming for free. Check our guide on Apple TV Plus free trials for all the current offers.
While Apple TV Plus doesn't quite reach the top ranking in our list of the best streaming services, it's collected a legion of fans who prefer it to bigger-name rivals like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Disney Plus, and maybe you'll want to join that collective.
Below we break down everything that you need to know about Apple TV Plus, from what’s on to how much it costs and how you can start watching it right now.
How much does Apple TV Plus cost?
Apple TV Plus costs $6.99 in the US and £6.99 in the UK, after a price rise in October 2022 which bumped that cost up from $4.99 monthly.
Whilst this does mean Apple TV Plus is a little bit more expensive than it once was, it's still pretty cheap, especially in comparison to some of the other top offerings on the market.
For example, it's cheaper than both Netflix and Disney Plus' cheapest plans, and only slightly more expensive than the ad-supported versions of services like Peacock Premium and Paramount Plus, even though Apple TV Plus does not come with ads).
If you want Apple TV Plus MLS, you'll pay a lot more, as that's $14.99/£14.99 monthly (with a $2/£2 discount for existing Apple TV Plus subscribers). That service doesn't offer the movie and TV service; it's just live MLS streaming, and you can find our full guide to it here.
If you're not just looking for a basic Apple TV Plus subscription, there's also the option to bundle Apple TV Plus as part of an Apple One subscription.
Apple One is a package that allows consumers to bundle an Apple TV Plus subscription with up to five other Apple services (between Apple Music, Apple Arcade, iCloud Plus, Apple News Plus and Apple Fitness Plus) in a single monthly subscription.
There are three different Apple One packages, but all three of them include Apple TV Plus. Pricing for the cheapest option starts at $16.95 per month, but the more expensive Family and Premier plans offer additional Apple Services and include the option of sharing your subscription with up to five other people.
If you're already subscribed to some of Apple's other services but want to pick up Apple TV Plus too, it's definitely worth considering whether an Apple One package might be right for you.
Whichever way you choose to subscribe, you can cancel an Apple TV Plus subscription at any time.
Is there an Apple TV Plus free trial?
If you aren't sure whether you want to commit to another subscription, Apple offers new customers a seven-day Apple TV Plus free trial. If you're in the market for a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV device, you can get also get a longer subscription to the service for free.
There are plenty more ways to get free Apple TV Plus though, so much so that we've written an entire guide on all the Apple TV Plus free trials, for you to get all the streaming you can without paying.
Students should also note that anyone with an Apple Music Student Plan gets Apple TV Plus for free.
We also should mention that Apple TV Plus often allows you to watch season premiere episodes for some of the platform's biggest shows for free, which is a great way of checking whether a show (and maybe the streaming service itself) is a good fit for you.
What's on Apple TV Plus?
Ultimately, the most important thing to consider (besides the price) when it comes to picking up a new streaming service is what's available to watch. Luckily, Apple TV Plus has a solid range to choose from.
As we mentioned above, the Apple TV Plus library is comprised entirely of original content. To compensate for that smaller library, Apple has splashed a lot of cash on developing original content and acquiring titles to serve as Apple TV Plus exclusives.
The offering was a little small when the service first launched in November 2019, the selection was a little thin. As new things have hit the platform, the offering has grown significantly larger and more prominent, and several series have managed to cut through to the wider pop culture landscape.
Recent big hitters include the psychological thriller series, Severance, Best Picture winner, CODA, spy drama Slow Horses, Cooper Raiff's Cha Cha Real Smooth, the M. Night Shyamalan drama, Servant, For All Mankind and warm-hearted comedy Ted Lasso.
Here's a list of some of the best Apple TV Plus shows you can stream right now; we've also listed several examples of the movies and TV shows you can find on the service below (a full list can be found on the Apple TV homepage).
Apple TV Plus Original shows
- The Afterparty
- Amazing Stories
- Bad Sisters
- Black Bird
- Dickinson
- The Essex Serpent
- For All Mankind
- Foundation
- Five Days at Memorial
- Invasion
- Loot
- The Morning Show
- Mythic Quest
- Pachinko
- Schmigadoon!
- Servant
- Severance
- The Snoopy Show
- Ted Lasso
- Tehran
- They Call Me Magic
- Trying
Apple TV Plus Original movies
- The Banker
- Causeway
- CODA
- Cha Cha Real Smooth
- Cherry
- Come From Away
- Finch
- Luck
- Mariah's Christmas: The Magic Continues
- On the Rocks
- Raymond & Ray
- Spirited
- Swan Song
- The Greatest Beer Run Ever
- The Tragedy of Macbeth
- Wolfwalkers
What's coming to Apple TV Plus?
Apple TV Plus subscribers are treated to new things roughly once a month. Some of the upcoming highlights include Tetris, a new movie starring Taron Egerton as Henk Rogers, one of the men responsible for bringing the titular Nintendo puzzle game to home consoles.
There's also the forthcoming third (and potentially final) season of Ted Lasso, which is dropping new episodes weekly from Wednesday, March 15, the action-packed romcom Ghosted starring Chris Evans and Ana de Armas, a second season of Prehistoric Planet, the highly anticipated new Martin Scorcese picture, Killers of the Flower Moon and the upcoming war drama, Masters of the Air.
Apple TV Plus devices: How to watch Apple TV Plus
So you've decided to pick up an Apple TV Plus subscription... now where can you watch it?
Apple TV Plus is available through the Apple TV app, which is available on all Apple devices. Subscribers can open the Apple TV app, click or tap Apple TV Plus and start watching the great stuff on offer. Subscribers can also download Apple TV Plus content to an Apple device to watch them anywhere with or without a Wi-Fi connection.
Here's a more specific breakdown of the other places you can watch:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Apple TV
- Google TV
- Hisense Smart TV
- iPad
- iPhone
- LG Smart TV
- Mac
- Panasonic Smart TV
- PlayStation
- Roku
- Samsung Smart TV
- Sony Smart TV
- Vizio Smart TV
- Xbox
- Xfinity/Sky devices (X1, Flex, XClass, Sky Glass and Sky Q)
An exhaustive list of model numbers and a full breakdown of supported Apple TV Plus devices can be found on the Apple website.
Is Apple TV Plus on Android?
Unfortunately, there isn't a dedicated Android app for Apple TV Plus available in the Play Store. However, you can still watch Apple TV Plus content if you navigate to the Apple TV Plus site in your web browser on an Android device.
Where is Apple TV Plus available?
Apple TV Plus is currently available in more than 100 countries around the world, including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Ireland and many more. You can find the full list below:
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- British Virgin Islands
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- Cayman Islands
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Fiji
- Finland
- France
- The Gambia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Guinea-Bissau
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Norway
- Oman
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Russia
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Zimbabwe
