free stuff

All the Ways to Get Apple TV+ Without Paying

Illustration: Martin Gee

The fastest way to financial ruin is paying full price for every streaming service out there. To keep you solvent, we’re constantly watching for new deals, promotions, and full-on freebies. Check back here or follow us on Twitter for updates.

The Big Apple TV+ Deal

Yes, the biggest company on planet Earth has a streaming service, and if you buy an Apple device, you can probably get at least a few months of it for free. Apple TV+’s content stable features acclaimed series like Ted Lasso, Dickinson, and The Morning Show and movies like The Velvet Underground, Boys State, On the Rocks, and CODA — all of which you can commit to bingeing over the course of three months if you don’t want to pay a cent for the service. All you need to do is buy a new, eligible device with Apple’s shiny partly chewed logo on it: “any new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac,” per the company’s fine print.

It’s worth noting a couple things: (1) Apple doesn’t have nearly the massive library that streamers like Netflix and HBO Max do. What does it have? All the classic Peanuts specials and The Snoopy Show, one of the best animated series of the year. Choose your streaming fighter. (2) Three free months isn’t a bad deal, especially given Apple’s products are popular and largely well made, but this deal used to be good for a full year of Apple TV+. It may not last forever.

More Apple TV+ Freebies and Discounts!

There’s a standard free trial. If you’re not currently in the market for a new iPhone or Mac, you can still try the service out — albeit for a much shorter grace period of one week. It’s still enough time to finish a couple seasons of Ted Lasso if you hustle. That’s your first option.

… And a slightly longer free trial. Your second option is to try out an Apple One subscription for free. Apple One bundles not just Apple TV+ but also five other subscription services from the company: Apple Music, Arcade, News+, Fitness+, and iCloud+. With more services comes (some) more time; this free trial lasts for one month.

Don't have Apple TV+?

Students can also get it for free … with Apple Music. If you sign up for a student subscription to Apple Music, which costs $4.99/month — the same price as a regular Apple TV+ subscription and half the price of a regular Apple Music subscription — Apple TV+ comes bundled with the service. Depending on how you look at it, this is really a way to get Apple Music completely for free. All you need to prove your student status is a working .edu email address.

PlayStation 5 owners get six months free. This offer’s limited to owners of the hardest-to-snag game system of the current generation, but it’s good until July 22, 2022. You can check out the full details at PlayStation’s site, but redeeming it is pretty simple: All you need is a new PS5 and an Apple ID.

T-Mobile users get a full damn year for free. This offer’s one of many streaming perks now offered by phone companies. In August 2021, T-Mobile started offering yearlong Apple TV+ subscriptions to its customers on certain phone plans. It’s worth taking a look to see if yours is included.

BestBuy’s also got a three-month deal now. With the purchase of an NVIDIA Shield device from the tech retailer, new subscribers can get three months of Apple TV+ for free. Both of NVIDIA Shield units available are currently on sale for $20 off, run on Android TV operating systems, and support tons of other streaming apps.

While You’re Here

Don’t miss out on our other Apple TV+ features, resources, and coverage.

How to Gift Apple TV+
… and all the other major streaming platforms. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, all year long.

How to Download Stuff on Apple TV+
Here’s the one-stop shop for everything you need to know about how to download titles from all your favorite streaming services.

And as promised a few hundred words ago, if you follow Streamliner on Twitter, we’ll keep you posted on new money-saving bonanzas.

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All the Ways to Get Apple TV+ Without Paying