Get Started with a Free Month of HBO Now On Apple TV and iOS Devices
Here’s a look at getting started with HBO NOW on Apple TV and iOS, in time for Game of Thrones, and how to cancel after the free month is over.
HBO launched its cable-free streaming service, HBO Now, on Tuesday, and you can sign up now for a full free month – just in time for the Game of Thrones season 5 premier. Here’s a look at getting started with it on Apple TV and iOS, as well as how to cancel after the free month is over.
Last month during the Apple Watch event, CEO Tim Cook also announced the Apple TV’s price was cut $30, down to $69. It was also announced that HBO, in partnership with Apple, is launching a standalone streaming app called HBO Now.
The HBO service is exclusive to Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch for the first 90 days, and will cost $14.99/month. It provides instant access to every episode of all HBO original programs, sports, documentaries, etc. And to kick things off, you get a free 30-day trial.
Free Month of HBO NOW
To start things off, you will need to create an account with HBO. You can do that by downloading the HBO NOW app to your iOS device, launching the app on your Apple TV, or if you have iTunes installed, you can sign up on the HBO NOW website.
After that, you’re good to go and can start watching your favorite shows. The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. Just select the movie you want to watch, or the TV series, season, and episode.
Playback controls are universal and basic. One interesting playback feature is the –10 and +10 icons that will skip the video back or ahead 10 seconds.
Here’s an example of how HBO Now interface looks on the Apple TV.
Cancel HBO NOW
One thing you might have missed when you installed HBO Now on your device is that you agree the subscription will auto-renew after the free month.
If spending $14.99 each month isn’t your cup of tea, then you’ll need to go into your account settings and turn off the auto-renew subscription.
Launch the App Store on your iPhone or iPad and tap the Featured tab, and scroll down and tap your Apple ID > View Apple ID and enter your username and password.
Then in Account Settings, tap Manage under the Subscriptions section.
Then turn off the auto-renewal option and verify you want to end it.
If you’re not planning on keeping HBO NOW after the free month, you should probably do this right away so you don’t forget about it. Turning off the auto-renew subscription doesn’t interfere with your free month at all.
In fact, as you can see in the screenshot below when turning it off, you’ll see a message that your trial won’t end until after 30 days from when you activated it.
Are you planning on giving HBO Now a try for the free month trial? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
9 Comments
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
Ron Lund
April 9, 2015 at 8:10 am
I’m sure glad I decided to cancel the renewal option for this HBO Now subscription I signed up for before I ended up having to pay for the “so called” service. I tried watching a movie for the first time last night with an IPad 2. I was not able to. The movie would start but would “freeze” after a couple of minutes and that would be it. I tried several times with the same result. I finally gave up and switched to Netflix and watched “The Search For Red October”, which worked perfectly over the same network. So much for HBO Now…….at least in my opinion…….foe me. It will be interesting to see if anybody else has the same results.
Ron Lund
April 10, 2015 at 8:11 am
I gave this HBO Now another try on my IPad again and actually was able to have it play a movie all the way through. Unfortunately, the video quality was terrible and because of that I figured the previous problems were caused by my Internet access speed. What I don’t understand is…….all the movies I play using Netflix work just fine and are displayed in HD. Netflix just doesn’t have the nice movie selections that HBO Now has available. Maybe HBO Now will eventually get their act together and and put out a better product down the road.
Kaybee
April 11, 2015 at 5:55 am
I’m a little confused as to why HBO didn’t go to Netflix or Amazon Fire in the first place. The services are already well established; many customers have (and are satisfied with) the services and they tend to perform very well. I suppose the cost of the stream would come into question; and there is the independence factor, but come on–Surely something could have been worked out. However, I am not an Executive looking to make big bucks. I just want to watch HBO. Yet, and still, since this IS so new, I’ll let the beta testers get the bugs out of the system before I make the decision to buy. I will definitely wait the 90 days exclusive on Apple TV as I do not want to shovel out $69 (or higher) NOR signup for ITunes.
Aaron
April 18, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Thankyou for showing me how tomcancel the auto-purchase function. I live in the Philippines and am unable to use this application in my region.
Bonnie
April 22, 2015 at 12:11 pm
WOW groovy post thank you for your great post of HBO NOW. I really appreciated all the information. Great job.
lizzette Rivera
May 4, 2015 at 10:04 am
cancel my HBO subscription
RainyTaxi
May 8, 2015 at 8:06 pm
Thanks for this article. My subscription was up for renewal tomorrow.
Just turned off the Auto Renewal option.
I couldn’t even get to play most of the stuff. Apparently it’s not available in my region.
So much for the 14.95 you pay for this crap.
Laura
May 19, 2015 at 5:35 pm
Thank you so much for this information on how to turn off auto renew. I’d have never figured it out!
Nancy
October 16, 2015 at 1:31 pm
I have followed your directions for canceling HBO Now and I don’t get the same cancelation screen on my IPad. It doesn’t give me the choice of ‘turn off auto renewal”. It only gives me “1 month $14.99”.
What can I do to cancel?
Nancy