Warner Bros. Discovery is launching Max today, the new streaming service that combines all of the company’s entertainment offerings in one place. The company is betting big on this one-stop destination, and HBO remains a key part of it — even if its name is gone. Starting today, (don’t forget to switch on that VPN if you are outside the USA) you can experience Max for yourself: the new app is available on various platforms — from streaming devices and smart TVs to game consoles and more — and Warner Bros.
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The Max app looks a lot like the HBO Max app that it’s replacing. The home screen, show and movie pages, and general user experience will be very familiar to everyone switching over. But appearances can be deceiving: Warner Bros. Discovery has largely rebuilt Max with a focus on simpler navigation, deeper personalization, and more reliable offline downloads. Looks like the company wants to showcase the breadth of additional content that’s arriving with Discovery without overwhelming customers.
Less is known about the migration from HBO Max to Max for current customers. The new app will at least include new login options like Wi-Fi Sign In and a QR code that users can scan to log in from a mobile device that’s easier to type on than a TV.)
The app offers more personalization than ever before across the content carousels and various collection pages, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. It uses a combination of human curation and algorithms to show you the best shows for your preferences. The app has twice as much content as the old app did, so Warner Bros. Discovery wants to help you find what you like. The company is also looking into adding live content and sports and news in the future.
The company is still exploring what to do with live content and sports and news, they plan to have more to share on that as they get later in the year.
The new app will let you create multiple profiles per account, just like HBO Max did. If you sign up now, you’ll get a kid’s profile by default, which only shows content rated PG or lower. You can change the rating limit or set a PIN to keep kids from switching profiles. If you already have an account from the old app, you’ll keep your existing profiles when you switch to Max.
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Max Platforms, pricing, and availability
You can watch Max on any popular device you want: there will be 15 options to choose from. You can still use AirPlay and casting features, but SharePlay from Apple is not available yet and neither are frame rate or dynamic range matching on the Apple TV. Also, Warner Bros. Discovery has its own player instead of the native tvOS one, so it’s not as easy to navigate through content with the Apple TV’s remote.
To enjoy the new app in the highest quality possible, you’ll have to sign up for the $19.99 Ultimate plan. Some customers are unhappy that they still need to pay for specific tiers to access 4K resolution and that it’s even more expensive than before on HBO Max.
The bright side for existing HBO Max subscribers is that they can keep all of their current plan benefits (including 4K) for at least six more months without any price changes.
The “Max” app for Android and iOS is already available. You can pre-register for the Max app on the Play Store, which will automatically install it on your Android device when it goes live today. For iPhone and iPad, you can do the same thing from the App Store.
Discovery has announced that “a large portion” of HBO Max subscribers will automatically switch to the new app with today’s software update. For some cases where that’s not feasible, you might have to download a separate Max app to begin. It might all look very similar to you. But if Warner Bros. Discovery has succeeded, Max should run more smoothly across the board than HBO Max did.
