Disney Plus gets even better for families with Apple SharePlay on iPhone and iPad

The Disney Plus streaming service now supports Apple SharePlay, meaning subscribers can sync up TV shows and films on the platform through a host of different Apple devices.

This latest update to the Disney Plus app has come into effect on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS, meaning anyone watching on their iPhones, iPads or Apple TV 4K streaming devices can benefit. You will need to be running version 15.1 or above on these operating systems, though.

The update is a godsend for large families, or those hoping to connect virtually with friends and relatives over the holidays, supporting up to 32 simultaneous viewers. 

Each viewer will need to subscribe to Disney Plus separately, though, and obviously own a compatible Apple device. For those outside the Apple ecosystem, there's still a way to gain similar functionality.

Gather round, everyone

Disney Plus launched its own GroupWatch feature earlier in the year, which lets up to seven subscribers (or four profiles on the same account) co-watch a title at the same time – and it even works on non-Apple products.

The rise of co-watching has been a fascinating development in the world of TV streaming services. Platforms are increasingly offering their own official functionality, having seen after a surge in third-party browser add-ons that let users sync up their Netflix accounts and even message in a sidebar during streams.

Not everyone is catching up, though. Netflix has yet to support Apple SharePlay, despite no doubt being the most desirable place to get this kind of functionality. For big virtual gatherings, Disney Plus Christmas movies may have the advantage over Netflix Christmas movies.

Via Pocket-lint

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Disney Plus UK: how to sign up, movies, app links, Sky Q and more explained

Disney Plus is out now in the UK. For just £5.99 a month, you can stream a whole host of fantastic old movies for a reasonable price, with some classic TV shows thrown in for good measure. 

With Disney Plus, you can watch all the Star Wars, Disney, Marvel and The Simpsons you can handle. Think of it as like Netflix, but focused specifically on Disney-related and Disney-owned content, like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and more. Here's the full list of Disney Plus UK movies and TV shows that Disney released at launch, which will help you figure out if you want the service. 

The launch line-up was pretty good, even compared to the existing libraries in the US and Australia. Now we've spent plenty of time with the app, too, we can see it retains the Disney US feature of explaining when content is coming to the service in the future. 

That's how we know Frozen 2 will be on Disney Plus UK on July 17 2020, for example. We're less sure about Onward, which doesn't have a UK release date. 

If you were hoping you'd get to watch every episode of Star Wars show The Mandalorian at launch in the UK, episodes have only started to 'roll out'. Still, you've now got three episodes of this excellent show to enjoy. And let's not underestimate how awesome it is to have 30 seasons of The Simpsons available to stream.

Subscribe here, at monthly or yearly tiers:

Below, we'll talk you through everything we know about Disney Plus post-launch, including the price, compatible devices, free trial, shows, movies and more. You can also click here for our first impressions of Disney Plus UK.

Disney Plus UK release date: it's live!

Disney Plus is now live in the UK! You can start watching it now

How to sign up to Disney Plus

All you have to do is head to the Disney Plus website, create an account and enter your billing details to get started. With your login details to hand, you'll then want to download Disney Plus onto the device of your choice, say a smartphone, smart TV, games console or tablet. Scroll down for a list of compatible devices. 

Not sure you want it yet? Head here to grab a 7-day free trial of Disney Plus. It's easy to cancel if you don't want to commit (here's how you cancel Disney Plus). 

Disney Plus UK in April 2020: new movies and TV shows

As well as new episodes of all its originals, including The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars, April 2020 brings other new content to Disney Plus in the UK. That includes the Simpsons short film Playdate with Destiny (10 April), Edward Scissorhands (10 April), Descendants 3 (11 April) and Night at the Museum (10 April). A Celebration of the Music from Coco (10 April), Dolphin Reef (3 April) and Elephant (3 April) also join it this month.

Disney Plus app links: how to download Disney Plus

Below, we've added app links we've found so far for the UK launch, and we'll add more as they appear.

Disney Plus: UK price and subscription tiers explained

Disney Plus costs £59.99 for an annual subscription, or £5.99 per month. These are the two available tiers, and you can cancel at any time. Unlike in the US, where it's bundled in with ESPN and Hulu, in the UK Disney Plus is a standalone service. 

Either tier gets you four concurrent streams, unlimited downloads with a maximum of 10 devices and the option to create seven profiles. 

In the US, you can gift a year of Disney Plus either digitally or in the form of physical cards, but no such option has been announced for the UK yet.

Disney Plus supports 4K and HDR streams

Disney Plus indeed supports 4K and HDR. When you're in the app, head over to the 'details' tab of a given movie or show and you'll see a section that says 'available in the following formats', which will explain if the content in question features 4K Ultra HD and HDR. 

You now have every Star Wars movie to watch in 4K with HDR. Enjoy!

Disney Plus UK: compatible devices and apps

Disney Plus has launched on pretty much any device you can name in the UK, including mobile devices, games consoles, streaming media devices and smart TVs. You can take Disney Plus shows on the go, too, downloading as many movies and shows as you can fit on your device, as long as you have an active subscription and connect to the internet every 30 days.  

Disney Plus UK has launched on LG TVs, Sky Q, Apple TV, Roku streaming devices, Android (5.0 and later), iOS (11.0 and later), PS4, Xbox One, LG WebOS smart TVs, Samsung Tizen smart TVs, Google Chromecast and Amazon's Fire range of streaming devices. 

One notable exception is the Nintendo Switch, which is still pretty poor at supporting streaming services. 

Phillips' Android-based smart TVs support Disney Plus too. Your Samsung TV may be able to get Disney Plus, as well. Read our guide and discover if your TV can support it.

Disney Plus UK: shows and movies, including The Simpsons 

Click to see the full list of Disney Plus UK movies and shows at launch, and see what you can stream right now. Every Star Wars movie minus The Rise of Skywalker is on there, as well as a near-complete list of Pixar movies and Marvel movies. You've also got 2019's Aladdin and The Lion King movies on day one. Frozen 2, which just launched in the US, doesn't arrive until 17 July in the UK according to the app. 

Looking for recommendations? Check out our list of the best Disney Plus TV shows and best Disney Plus movies. Star Wars series The Mandalorian is the clear highlight of Disney Plus originals. Episodes are rolling out weekly, and the first two are available now. 

In the UK, all new episodes of original shows on Disney Plus will be released at 8am each Friday. Expect one new episode for each Disney Plus original show per week, except The Clone Wars, which will get two episodes per week until the show catches up with the US. 

Other originals include the live-action Lady and the Tramp, High School Musical: The Series, Encore!, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Togo, Diary of a Future President, Forky Asks a Question and The Imagineering Story at launch, too. Expect one episode for each original at launch. 

Disney Plus: future shows and movies

In the future, Disney Plus is getting plenty of big exclusive shows. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe side of things, new shows include The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (August), WandaVision (November), Loki (2021), Hawkeye (2021) and animated show What If?. Further off, expect TV shows based on Moon Knight, Ms Marvel and She-Hulk. Unlike Marvel's Netflix shows, too, these will canonically be part of the MCU, and feature actors crossing over between the movies and these TV series.

Lucasfilm has a second season of The Mandalorian coming in October 2020, then further off it's making shows featuring Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Diego Luna's Cassian Andor from Rogue One. 

It's likely you can expect recent Disney-associated movies like Pixar's Onward, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil on there before the end of 2020. In the US, Onward arrives early on April 3. Hopefully we'll see it in the UK before long. 

Disney Plus has launched with Sky Q and Now TV is coming at a later date

Disney Plus has made a deal with Sky to host Disney Plus on its Sky Q platform at launch. That means you can watch Disney Plus as well as your other Sky content – it'll just be added to your Sky bill. According to Pocket Lint, full integration into the Sky Q platform won't come until April, but you can watch Disney Plus through an app on your Sky Q box.

Disney Plus will be available on Now TV in the coming months, too. 

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Disney, Apple and Amazon join Netflix and YouTube in reducing streaming quality

Desperate times call for desperate measures – and Disney, Apple and Amazon have now joined Netflix and YouTube in reducing the video quality of their streaming services across Europe.

The idea is to reduce the strain on internet networks across the continent, and it's something the European Union authorities have specifically requested in order to keep the digital traffic flowing.

Disney Plus is opening its doors in most of Europe this coming Tuesday, March 24, though the launch in France has been pushed back to April 7. According to an official statement, bandwidth use will be cut by a quarter.

Amazon has taken a similar approach with its Prime Video service over the last few days, promising to "reduce streaming bitrates whilst maintaining a quality streaming experience" in the European countries where it operates.

Putting the brakes on

While Apple hasn't made any official announcement yet, 9to5Mac has spotted a reduction in video quality in Europe in recent days – quite an aggressive reduction in fact, though it may even out over time.

Netflix and YouTube were the first streaming services to fall in line with the EU directive, though it now appears that everyone with a video platform is going to be taking steps to tackle the huge increase in people stuck at home.

While network operators have said they are confident that there's enough spare capacity in the system to cope with everyone becoming habitual binge watchers, it would appear that no one wants to take any chances.

As yet there's no sign of similar movies in the US or elsewhere.  At the same time, tech companies are busy pushing out trustworthy coronavirus information through apps and sites that are easy to access.

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Surprise! Frozen 2 is coming to Disney Plus this weekend

Update: Disney will now release Frozen 2 this coming Sunday, March 15 on Disney Plus in the US. In Australia, you'll be able to watch it on Tuesday March 17.

Original story: Frozen 2 is coming to Disney Plus in the US on June 26, according to a new listing on the streaming service. This update was spotted by user jonnyslats on the Disney Plus subreddit, and it means that only two of Disney's big movies from 2019 lack release dates on the service now – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

On Disney Plus Australia, the listing page says Frozen 2 is coming on July 31. Since Disney Plus UK hasn't launched yet, we're unsure when the film will, ahem, show itself on the UK version of the service.

Over the last few months, Disney Plus has kept things ticking along with a mix of big movies from 2019 and the slow trickle of films arriving from other services as licensing agreements expire. Since January, the live-action versions of The Lion King and Aladdin have released on the service, as have notably-missing movies such as Black Panther.

Frozen 2 will likely be a massive draw for the streaming service: it was the third highest-grossing film of 2019 at $ 1.449 billion, only behind two other Disney films, Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King. Frozen 2 was released on digital home video on February 25 – so the waiting time for it to land on Disney Plus is almost exactly four months. 

What's worth watching in the meantime?

While Disney Plus continues to have new originals like Diary of a Future President, the movie Timmy Failure and the last season of The Clone Wars, its biggest originals are coming later in the year. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (August), The Mandalorian season 2 (October) and WandaVision (December) are still a little while away.

That's a long wait, but Disney Plus remains pretty good value at a flat $ 6.99 / £5.99 / AU$ 8.99 a month or $ 69.99 / £59.99 / AU$ 89.99 a year, particularly if you have children. They should really get around to fixing The Simpsons' aspect ratio, though. 

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Disney Plus in March 2020: new movies and shows, including Black Panther (updated)

Some big hitters are coming to Disney Plus in March 2020, including the fantastic Black Panther, which finally joins the collection of Marvel movies on the service.

Now Disney has revealed the full list of movies and TV shows on Disney Plus for March 2020, we've updated this list. You can check out Ice Age, for example, as more non-Disney animated movies from Fox start moving onto the service. 

We already of a few other releases on Disney Plus beforehand in March 2020, like the original movie Stargirl, which was previously revealed as March 13. And The Clone Wars' final season will continue throughout March 2020 after debuting on February 21. Dreadful guinea pig action movie G-Force also joins in on the fun from March 14. 

Other originals, like Shop Class presented by Justin Long, are more kid-oriented, but we've listed those below too in case they take your fancy. We've bolded out our personal highlights, and we've updated this list now we know everything on Disney Plus in March 2020.

Disney Plus in March 2020: movies and TV shows confirmed so far

  • Doctor Dolittle 2 – March 1
  • Ice Age – March 1
  • Black Panther – March 4
  • Bedtime Stories – March 5
  • The Finest Hours (Returning Title) – March 6
  • Three on the Run – March 6
  • One Day at Disney (new episode) – March 6
  • Disney Fairy Tale Weddings (new episode) – March 6 
  • Marvel Hero Project (new episode) – March 6
  • Diary of a Future President (new episode)
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode) – March 6
  • Shop Class (new episode) – March 6
  • Stargirl – March 13
  • Wicked Tuna (S3-8) – March 13
  • Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks (S1-6) – March 13
  • Zorro – Second Series (S1) – March 13
  • One Day at Disney (new episode) – March 13
  • Disney Fairy Tale Weddings (new episode) – March 13
  • Marvel Hero Project (new episode) – March 13
  • Diary of a Future President (new episode) – March 13
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode) – March 13
  • Shop Class (new episode) – March 13
  • G-Force – March 14
  • Big Hero 6 The Series (S2) – March 17
  • One Day at Disney (new episode) – March 20
  • Disney Fairy Tale Weddings (new episode) – March 20
  • I Didn’t Do It (S1-2) – March 20
  • Playtime with Puppy Dog Pals: Puppy Playcare (S2) – March 20
  • Vampirina Ghoul Girls Rock! (S2) – March 20
  • Marvel Hero Project (new episode) – March 20
  • Diary of a Future President (new episode) – March 20
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode) – March 20
  • Shop Class (new episode) – March 20
  • A Wrinkle in Time – March 25
  • One Day at Disney (new episode) – March 27
  • Disney Fairy Tale Weddings (new episode) – March 27
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (new episode) – March 27
  • Shop Class (new episode) – March 27

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