Apple TV+ shows and movies will be free to stream for three days

The streamer has a limited library, but has managed to produce a consistently high quality of programming.

By Joe Allen Published December 30, 2024

The cast of Ted Lasso — Image used with permission by copyright holder

As anyone with an Apple TV+ subscription will tell you, there are plenty of great movies and TV shows available on the streamer. Unfortunately, at $9.99/mo., the cost of a subscription is just too rich for some people’s blood.

Apple is apparently hoping to bag an entirely new group of subscribers by making all of its shows and movies free for the first weekend of 2025. From Jan. 3 to Jan. 5, everything on Apple TV+ will be streamable for free with an Apple ID and password. That means that users can watch everything from Severance to Ted Lasso for free for a limited time, with the rather obvious goal of enticing users to sign up for a paid membership to the streamer.

Recommended Videos

Apple TV+ first launched in November of 2019, and does not disclose how many subscribers it has.

While Apple’s library is more limited than many of its streaming competitors, it has been known for its ability to churn out a consistently high quality of movies and TV shows, including the Oscar-winner CODA as well as other well-regarded series like Dickinson, Slow Horses, and Silo, which are set in a variety of different genres.

Given that Apple remains primarily a technology company that also just happens to have a streaming service, Apple TV+ has never been the company’s only or best way to make money. Still, it seems like they’re looking to see some growth out of the streaming service, perhaps timed loosely to line up with the second season premiere of Severance later in the month. That show has long been one of the streamer’s most well-regarded.

Topics

Streaming

Contributor

Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…

Culture

4 reasons Hacks is the best comedy on TV right now

The Max original comedy deserves all of the love it's getting and more

Jean Smart in Hacks Season 3

When Hacks took home the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2024, it might have been the first time many TV fans had heard of this incredible little gem. Starring Jean Smart as a fiery, washed-up comic who never quite fulfilled her potential, she hires a mid-20s writer (played by Hannah Einbinder) who has nowhere else to turn after her career starts going haywire. Together, the ladies form an unbreakable bond that propels them to new heights both on a personal and professional level. The show's foundation is stellar, but the execution makes it the best comedy on TV right now.

Hacks differs from other comedy series airing in the 2020s because it has new school dynamics that complement old school heart and soul. The series is a love letter to laughs, love, and strong female leads who are messy and not afraid to show it. If you aren't watching Hacks during its fourth season, what are you waiting for? These are the four reasons Hacks is the best comedy series you can watch right now.

Culture

The 8 best prison TV series of all time

Enter the slammer with these TV hits

The cast of Orange is the New Black

TV transports us to places we wouldn't be able to visit otherwise. Other times, it allows us to live vicariously through people who see the world very differently than we do. I can't think of a genre that gives us a peek into a life we should strive never to replicate more than the prison drama. Spending time in the slammer isn't as abnormal as you would think (about 5% of all Americans have gone to jail at least once in their lifetime). Still, the other 95% of us are always a little curious about what happens behind bars, even if we know it's unpleasant.

Many shows have put their characters in prison for a single episode or a small stretch of the plot (it feels like every sitcom from the 1990s had a prison episode), but we're not going to focus on those series. This list is solely to appreciate the niche genre that places its characters in jail as the main setting and catalyst for the plots. These are the best prison TV series of all time.

Culture

8 shows like Better Call Saul that will keep you hooked

These crime shows resemble the best parts of famous spinoff

Giancarlo Esposito in Better Call Saul

Better Call Saul started out as Breaking Bad's little brother, the prequel series that was supposed to be a nice companion piece to the best crime drama of the 21st century. After six seasons and a vivid vision executed by showrunner Peter Gould, the spinoff starring Bob Odenkirk became an equal to its predecessor and even surpassed it in some aspects of storytelling, acting, and direction.

The series follows the life of Jimmy McGill, a sleazy lawyer who slowly loses his morality as he evolves into the broken shell of a man we see in Breaking Bad. The complexity of the other characters and the way the show creates a grander universe that ties both shows together is something to behold. Somehow, Better Call Saul never won a single Emmy for its greatness despite being nominated 54 times throughout the 2010s. It often lost to shinier competitors like Succession and Game of Thrones.