Apple TV Plus: should you subscribe to the Apple streaming platform?|Techradar

Launched on November 1, 2019, the video streaming platform already has dreams of glory and aims to become the equal of Netflix.We will already have to pass Amazon Prime Video.And above all not to be distanced by the latest arrival on the market: Disney Plus.

Price of the Apple TV Plus subscription and special offer

To achieve its goal, Apple adopts a completely unprecedented strategy: to offer its lowest price service on the market!You will pay € 4.99 per month for a unique formula giving you the right to view all Apple TV Plus programs.Up to 6 simultaneous and non -commitment devices.

By way of comparison, Amazon Prime Video costs € 5.99 per month for access to 3 screens simultaneously.Netflix Essential, the most economical formula in Netflix, goes to € 7.99 monthly for a single broadcast screen.Finally, the Disney Plus subscription will be brought to € 8.99 per month with a sharing on 4 simultaneous screens.

Apple original productions are broadcast in 4K / Ultra High Definition resolution.To which the basic version of Netflix does not give you the right.

Update: a new Apple streaming device has arrived, with the Apple TV 4K 2021.The new device adds a reworked SIRI remote control and a high image frequency capacity, as well as color calibration functionality via compatible iPhones.Read our Apple TV 4K test.

Apple intends to keep a maximum of subscribers in its database, and has just extended the expiration date of its 2019 promotional offer - which opened a year of free streaming for any purchase of an Apple device.An offer that should have expired from November 1 for the first beneficiaries.From now on, if you are one of these lucky users, your free Apple TV+ subscription is widened by three months.Until February 1, 2021.

The good news also affects Apple TV+ subscribers which did not benefit from the offer (because they did not buy new Apple products between November 2019 and today).Indeed, anyone who has started to pay an Apple TV subscription more before November 1, 2020 will receive a credit of € 4.99 per month automatically applied to their account, until February 2021.Which will compensate for the cost of the service.

And for those who subscribe now?New users will have a free 7 -day trial period, not one more second.On the other hand, if they have just bought an Apple device, such as the iPhone 12, this free period is extended until November 2021.

Apple TV Plus compatibility and interface

Apple streaming service is automatically included within the Apple TV application, itself made available on all iOS and MacOS devices.To target the widest possible audience, Apple TV Plus is also integrated into many Smart TV mainly LG, Sony and Samsung.Other third -party devices are compatible, like the HDMI Amazon Fire TV Stick key.

To access Apple TV Plus, simply launch the Apple TV application and locate either the "Discover Apple TV+" headband, or the Apple TV+ section in the middle of the application.On the mobile app, you can zap from one program to another by carrying out horizontal scrolling.Which will save you any thumb cramp, which has become recurrent with the sacrosanct vertical navigation.

More simply and if you have no time to waste, press "search" at the bottom right of the application.And enter the title of the film or the series you would like to watch.The "Library" section, it appears useful - it will allow you to find your favorite content - but it is currently limited to your iTunes purchases.

There are also multiple categories allowing you to access content responding more precisely to your interests.Note that for each selected theme, the proposed choice is much larger than the minimalist lists of Netflix.Where the Reed Hastings service wants to take you immediately to content, Apple lets you explore its catalog and invites you to discover new programs.

Because the Apple TV Plus user interface never wants to force your hand.It lets you go from one episode to another manually, personalize the appearance of subtitles as you see fit, even activate the audio descriptions of contents being viewed.

Finally, be aware that if the Apple TV Plus application seems too large and long to explore, the browser version should satisfy you.It offers direct access to Apple TV content more than you have added to your favorites before.

Films, series, programs and other exclusives Apple TV Plus

Speaking of content precisely, what offers Apple TV+ of innovative compared to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video?An original collection of talk-show type movies, series and shows.With an additional constraint: retain your subscribers by imposing a weekly dissemination rate.A new episode per week as on the good old television of the 2000s.What if it worked?

To help him win this bet, Apple can count on talented and internationally renowned ambassadors.The first of them is Steven Spielberg who will resuscitate, on the platform, fantastic stories: a series of horror and SF short films, in the vein of Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone, which knew its hour of glory in the80 years.Another unstoppable director of Apple TV+: M.Night shyamalan who, after Split and Glass, gives us serving - a psychological thriller in 10 episodes.A mysterious project led by Damien Chazelle (La la Land, First Man) should also be born soon.

On the actors side, there are also beautiful people.Jason Momoa, seen in Game of Thrones and Aquaman, carries at arm's length See, a dystopian and green series.While Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell are exchanging scathing replicas in the credits of The Morning Show.Also note the presence of Netflix defectors, like Jane Krakowski (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) in the Teen Drama Dickinson.Or Joel Kinnaman, unforgettable headliner of The Killing Us and Altered Carbon who returns to represent for All Mankind, a space epic with very large potential.

Finally, Oprah Winfrey, named Best Walk Shows Animator for decades for decades, comes to bring her know-how in terms of societal programs and entertainment in Apple Grille.In addition, presenting herself as potential candidate for the presidency of the United States against Donald Trump in 2020, she could create a voluntary buzz (in) favorable to the video streaming platform.

In the youth department, we find a few ersatz of series like Helpsters, a sort of 1 Modernized rue Modernized.But also of snoopy signing his comeback and the secret of the pen, reboot of a competing series of Faire-Moi in the 90s.

On paper, the offer is more than allentant.Also viewing.However, the Apple TV+ catalog consists of a majority of unrepected programs.It is therefore impossible to attach to characters such as the bunch of intrepid kids of Stranger Things or the detestable horse Bojack Horseman on Netflix.In addition, Apple TV+ remains in smooth and politically correct fiction.Far from the media trash of Amazon Prime Video with The Boys or Hulu / OCS with The Handmaid’s Tale.A unifying strategy close to Disney+.Except that Disney+ already has mastodons like Marvel and Star Wars universes.

Difficult to Apple TV+ to exist then in a content ecosystem far too limited.In 2020, we were able to add three cult series to the catalog: Mythic Quest: Le Festin du Corbeau (which is in its 2nd season), Ted Lasso (whose season 2 arrives soon) and defend Jacob.

Video quality on Apple TV Plus

Little content certainly.But content broadcast with video quality much higher than average.Because Apple TV Plus supports 4K streaming and the HDR standard on most of its programs.A quality you can benefit from if you have the right equipment: an excellent 4K TV and a fiber optic connection.

If you are used to viewing your Smartphone Streaming content, an optional option allows you to optimize video quality so as not to be short of mobile data from the 5th of the month.

To conclude…

The Apple TV Plus streaming service is a very nice critical test which has the sole wrong to arrive a little late.His arrival echoes that of Amazon Prime Video four years ago: a platform offering unprecedented content at low cost to encourage the user to consume paying content (in the case of Apple TV+, the programs offered on iTunes)).The last bastion of Apple unfortunately interferes in a market which has become very competitive.With new actors as aggressive as the Cupertino firm.Let us mainly cite Disney Plus.

Apple TV Plus is not defeated for all that.Its interface enjoys elegance, simplicity and above all the customary quality of Apple.The entertainment industry seems to follow the crazy bet of the apple company - even if Disney partitions today the latter.The fact remains that it will take a colossal effort in terms of production of original content, and even more in investment in cult franchises, to hope to survive Netflix and on Mickey television.