Hulu has finally introduced offline viewing for its users… well, some of them at least.
In a blog post today Hulu announced that it would enable offline viewing of some of its most popular shows, specifically citing both Hulu Originals like The Handmaid's Tale and partner content like Family Guy, How I Met Your Mother and ER.
According to the post, users can download up to 25 titles across 5 different devices and will have up to 30 days to watch their downloaded content. Once you start watching it, that content will then expire in two days and will need to be renewed.
To put those numbers in perspective, Hulu’s plan is a bit more stringent than Netflix’s, which allows you to download up to 100 titles on one, two or four devices depending on which plan you use, but similar to Amazon who also allows you to keep videos for around 30 days.
The catch here is that Hulu’s offline viewing mode is only available to the folks who subscribe to the $11.99 ad-free version of the service, and only on iOS devices. Both those requirements are likely to change in the coming months when Android support arrives, but for now consider this a slightly limited release.
Take The Handmaid's Tale with you
According to Hulu, thousands of titles – both shows and movies – will be available starting today to watch and download, presumably with more to added soon.
To find something to download, press search for any title on Hulu and if it’s available for download, you’ll see a download icon on the details page. That sounds pretty similar to Netflix's system, and should make distinguishing between non-downloadable content and downloadable content pretty easy.
While Hulu's offline viewing mode is a bit late to the party so to speak, it is arriving a month ahead of Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus, two big streaming services that could swoop in and steal Hulu's number-three spot on the streaming service podium.
To enable downloads on your iOS device, head on over to the App Store to grab the latest version of the Hulu app – available to download starting today.
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