Is Apple TV+ Still Worth Buying In 2024?

The golden age of streaming is over. Gone are the days when you could cut your cables and watch almost anything with an $8-a-month Netflix subscription — not that it's been that cheap for awhile. Every major network lunged in to get a slice of that sweet, sweet streaming pie and now, there are several baker's dozens to choose from. When you tally up all your sundry subscriptions and consider most now start with basic ad-supported tiers, you may start to get the eerie feeling we've already come full circle with cable. It's unlikely this situation will change, so all of us will have to carefully decide which streaming services to keep, and which ones to kick out of the nest. Apple TV+ is just another platform vying for your dollars, so is it worth?

Apple TV+ was a latecomer on the scene in 2019 (as Apple tends to be) and tried to undercut the competition with original programming at only $4.99. The company isn't exactly known for being cheap or providing a lot of value for the money, so this was a welcome surprise. Five years later, has the contender proven it deserves a part of your limited streaming budget? I've been using Apple TV+ for roughly the course of a year, and I have some thoughts. Let's discuss whether you should subscribe in 2024.

Apple TV+ started at a $5 a month, which was low even in 2019, but nothing good lasts forever. That price slowly crept up to $10 a month today, which doesn't feel so affordable. Netflix starts at $6.99 a month, Amazon Prime Video at $8.99, and Disney+ at $7.99. However, all of these lower tiers come with ads, lower streaming resolutions, and fewer features. You have to pay $15.49, $14.99 (plus $2.99 for no ads), and $13.99 respectively to remove ads, stream at 1080p and above, and so on.

Apple TV+'s $9.99 subscription tier is the only one it offers, and it comes with everything: offline, ad-free, 4K viewing, and subscription sharing. To really drive the point home, Netflix Premium (4K streaming, subscription sharing, etc.) runs you $22.99. There are also a surprising amount of free trials. Anyone can get a one-week free trial or a one-month trial (through Apple One). Just bought a new Apple device? Check Apple TV for a complementary three-month trial. I have personally gotten two separate three-month trials thanks to the devices I bought. Students even get Apple TV+ for free with their Apple Music. 

For the features, Apple TV+ is arguably the most economical option. More subscription price bumps are inevitable in the future, especially with the news that Apple TV+ is going the austerity route (more on that later).

For years, Netflix prided it itself on being the streaming service that let you share your password with anyone and everyone, even if they were at the other side of the world. Those days are over. The streaming giant's current rules for password sharing made users pretty mad when they came into effect, and inspired all its competitors to follow suit. I avoid patting Apple on the back as much as possible — after all, the company initiated the Great Headphone Jack Removal — but this time, I have to give it some credit. You can share an Apple TV+ subscription with five different people. Again, you have to get that $22.99 Netflix Premium plan in order to share your subscription with only two extra people.

There are some limitations, of course. Those five people have to be part of your Family Sharing group, and they must all be in the same region, but they don't have to be genetic, legal family members. You can make a "family" with your friend group. Sharing a subscription with 5 people for $9.99 (with 4K and no ads!) Is practically unheard of elsewhere in the industry. Those savings get even better when you look at Apple One plans, which bundle Apple services like Music, TV+, and iCloud storage into one package.

Using Netflix again as our prime example, the streaming service's programming is the epitome of the term "mixed bag." On one hand, you've got classics like "Mindhunter," "Bojack Horseman," and "House of Cards." On the other, you've got a fair chunk of shows and movies that are legendarily horrible. The service has made a name for canceling the good stuff and overpaying for the bad. It seems to employ the "throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks" methodology when producing content. There is a fairly high probability that whatever film or show you turn on at random will be steaming dog crap. With Apple TV+, that's less of a concern.

I can only speak subjectively here (both from my own experience and that of others) but Apple TV+ tends to produce fewer (but higher quality) shows and movies. So while your Netflix subscription means you'll get more new movies and shows every month, your Apple TV+ subscription ensures those new entries are have a higher probability of being decent — or at least, not complete hot garbage. This isn't to say Apple TV+ has only top-notch, unparalleled programming, but we'll get into that more later. If you don't watch a lot of TV (and you are a bit on the picky side), Apple TV+ may be for you.

Unlike most streaming services, Apple TV+ also lets you watch sports. These are live and scheduled events like Major League Soccer and Friday Night Baseball, as well as the option to follow your teams and listen to live local radio. Compared to the competition, you usually have to subscribe to ESPN (and the like) separately. Most sports streaming platforms are ones you either haven't heard of or probably won't ever want to subscribe to, like Paramount+ and Peacock. For sports fans who also love a good drama, Apple TV+ has the best of both worlds.

Apple TV+ doesn't have as much content as other services (something will get into later) but it does let you rent movies and shows if you're hankering for something outside the catalog. Further, you can access other streaming services through the app as long as they're supported, letting you consolidate multiple services in one place. Certain cable and satellite services may also be supported. If you're really lucky, you could watch everything from a single app instead of having to bounce through multiple apps and services.

I personally dislike almost every streaming app I've ever used. They almost always feel unresponsive, unintuitive, and buggy. Since we've been beating up on Netflix, I'll just keep going. The app constantly loses my place in a show, has a personal watchlist that's a major headache to add to and organize, and god-awful streaming quality even on a high-speed connection — and it doesn't even support anything above 1080p on iPad, for crying out loud. My experience has been similar on Amazon Prime, HBO, Disney+, Paramount+, and various other services I've dipped my toes in over the years. They're frustrating to use, often look dated, and seemingly do nothing to tackle the issues pointed out in the low reviews they get in the App Store. Apple TV has, surprisingly, been the most enjoyable of the bunch.

The app is available on all Apple platforms, even including a vanishingly rare Mac app. It's fast, relatively bug-free, simple, and intuitive. I never lose my place, and streaming quality is always rock-solid. It includes features that require third-party apps for other streaming services, like SharePlay. Perhaps you could attribute this to Apple secretly kneecapping competitors at a code-level to prop up their own app. In any case, the app experience is miles above the rest on Apple devices. We'll get into the others shortly.

Let's address the elephant in the room: Apple TV+ has one of the smallest watch catalogs of all its ilk. JustWatch says it clocks in at 243 titles at the time of writing. That seems like a lot until you look at the others. In 2023, Prime Video had 7,429 shows and movies, Netflix had 7,318, and HBO had 4,207. Unless you are the least picky person on planet Earth — as in, you will literally put anything on no matter what it is — that means there's vanishingly little for you to actually watch.

It isn't just that Apple TV+ had to play catch-up after starting so late in the game. The streaming service prioritizes original content over third-party, licensed media. Apple is adamant that you get to see that big Apple TV+ logo every time you play something. It occasionally will have a spate of free, non-Apple movies, but this is totally random and the movies often expire fairly quickly.

I've only seen these sporadic releases a handful of times, and each time the pickings were slim and the movies fairly low-rated. Compare that to Netflix and the rest, where there is always a massive catalog of non-Netflix movies ready to be watched, plenty with high ratings. Again, that may not be an issue if you find the programming to be high-quality and you don't watch a lot of TV in the first place. For most, though, it's not a very enticing value proposition.

I said the app experience it's great, but there's one big asterisk: It's only great on Apple devices. Apple being Apple, the company digs its heels in deep any time it even thinks about supporting Android or Windows. Apple TV is available on a number of smart TVs and streaming boxes, but aside from that, there is only a Windows app with pitifully low ratings — I've used it myself and I concur. It's janky, buggy, and slow, much like other Apple apps on non-Apple devices. Apple wants you in its ecosystem, so any effort outside of that is going to be lousy and half-hearted.

There's also currently no Apple TV+ support on Android. You have to watch in a web browser for it and platforms like Linux, which is fine until you want to download something offline for later. This might be about to change, however. Bloomberg reports that Apple is working on an Apple TV app for Android. A lack of non-Apple support won't be an issue for you if you use primarily only Apple devices, but it's certainly a bad move if their goal is to capture as much market share as possible.

I gave Apple a thumbs up for having content that's generally high-quality, but that comes with an asterisk. While Apple TV+ certainly has good content, none of it (in my opinion) is amazing enough to merit a second watch, much less discuss with friends. I enjoyed originals like "Ted Lasso," "Presumed Innocent," "Slow Horses," "Criminal Record," and "Masters of the Air,"  but none were so incredible I spent any time mulling over them after the finale. There's nothing on the service in the same league as "Better Call Saul," "Andor," "House of Cards," or "Mad Men." It's the same situation with movies; "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "Greyhound" were the only ones that stuck with me in any capacity.

To make matters worse, the rest of the catalog is mediocre at best and painful to watch at worst. The cringe dialogue in "Severance" was like being waterboarded, and Jennifer Aniston blowing a gasket every five seconds in "The Morning Show" got so old I never finished season one. And again, those are the "good" shows. I dare you to not roll your eyes once at the many gag-worthy zingers in "Shrinking."

Part of the issue, I think, is that Apple must be enforcing some of its own content guidelines in the background. There is an Apple taste to everything, sort of like how Disney movies all seem to share the same DNA. It's like Apple's trying to appeal to the widest audience possible without offending anyone — which is, to be clear, to its detriment.

Another problem with having such a small catalog is that there's less variety, and thus less content for each genre and demographic. Of those shows, there's a decent spread of drama, comedy, sci-fi, psychological thrillers, and the like — but with 243 titles, if you favor a specific genre, you have very little to choose from within it. Tough luck if you're a sci-fi nerd and the slim few sci-fi options don't appeal to you.

The lack of kid-oriented programming is another issue — most of what's on offer is M-rated for adults. That might not bother you all that much if you don't have kids, or don't watch with them, but kids shows have become a staple of every streaming service. Every parent knows the struggle of having a restless toddler that will raise hell until you give them a phone with a cartoon playing.

Even HBO MAX (home to the very-not-kid-friendly shows like "Game of Thrones") has a sizable catalog for kids, adolescents, and young adults. Apple TV+ just... doesn't. You can scroll through the whole of the content for 18 and below in just a couple of seconds. So if you're paying $9.99 a month for a service with limited options — one you'd prefer to share with your young family — the value proposition tanks even further.

One might look at everything we've discussed and assume that maybe it's just the early days. Apple TV+ started late, so it needs a bit more time to bulk up its catalog before it becomes enticing enough to draw in more users. But if you've been keeping up with the news lately, you know the past few years have seen all major streaming services laying off staff, killing projects, and finding other ways to tighten their belts. The golden age of streaming is now transitioning into a dark age, as it were. Apple TV+ was already on precarious footing and has the misfortune of belonging to a company that pinches every last penny.

The latest news out of Cupertino is that Apple has decided it's spending too much on its streaming service. While I believe the issues with Apple TV+ aren't necessarily budget-related, a significant budget cut won't do it any favors. In the coming years, we are likely to see fewer shows, or shows that are too strapped for cash to push the envelope or take risks. Apple TV+ may end up just being a marketing gateway: A shiny lure to grab you long enough to justify buying Apple's hardware.

If it wasn't obvious already, Apple TV+ is tough to recommend. Its 25 million user subscriber count (compared to Netflix's 269.6 million, or Disney's 153.6 million) contrasted against its U.S. iPhone dominance would seem to make my case for me. Basically, if you like its shows and you don't watch television voraciously, you'll probably be content. I'd also recommend it to someone who prefers to take the deepest dive into the ecosystem possible; remember, the app experience is stellar for Apple devices.

Otherwise, there's only one situation where I feel Apple TV+ is worth it: Getting it for ridiculously cheap through an Apple One plan via Family Sharing. For just $25.95 a month, you and five other people get Apple Music, 200GB of iCloud storage, and Apple TV+. That's less than $5 per person, per month. You really cannot get a comparable deal elsewhere in today's market. The streaming service's weak points cease to be an issue when you're paying a fraction of a Starbucks coffee for it. 

Of course, the value changes depending on your feelings about the other parts of an Apple One subscription. I tried Apple One and never touched the Arcade.

At the very least, I recommend taking advantage of the three-month Apple TV+ trials that come with a new Apple device. You can binge the shows you like before it runs out, and it's easy to cancel, so there's little worry about the shenanigans streaming services often pull to get you to accidentally pay the normal subscription price.