Today, Hulu announced that you"ll finally be able to download content from its service to watch offline, something that competitors Netflix and Amazon have offered for some time. In order to be able to do it, you"ll need to be on Hulu"s ad-free tier. You can download thousands of Hulu original shows and movies, as well as third-party titles.
There"s also quite a bit that you can"t download, none of which is surprising. For example, you can"t download anything with ads, and that includes live TV, even if you"ve recorded it. Another thing you won"t be able to watch offline is anything from Premium Add-ons, such as HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, and so on.
Compared to competitors, Apple is still the only one that will let you download HBO content. Amazon lets you download content from some add-ons, but not HBO.
On iPhones and iPads, you"ll find a new "Downloads" tab at the bottom of the screen in the main navigation. On that page, you"ll also see a "See What"s Downloadable" button, which is self-explanatory. Users can download up to 25 shows/movies on up to five different devices, and they"ll expire after 30 days. Once you start watching them, they expire in 48 hours.
While it"s available for iOS now, it"s coming for Android soon. Hulu didn"t mention other platforms, but presumably, it"s going to be available everywhere eventually.