Key Takeaways
- Hulu now allows paid, ad-free subscribers to download shows and movies for offline viewing, similar to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
- “Thousands” of TV shows and movies are eligible for download, but not everything on Hulu can be downloaded.
- Offline downloads are exclusive to paid subscribers of Hulu’s No Ads plan and have a limit of 25 titles across five devices. Downloads are only available in the US but can be watched anywhere once downloaded.
In the highly complex world of streaming, Hulu made a name for itself as the home for next-day network television and the occasionally intriguing original show or movie. Now that it’s fully-owned by Disney (and possibly getting incorporated into Disney+) it might not make as much sense as it used to, but there’s still plenty of shows and movies worth streaming, even if you already subscribe to Disney+.
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If you’re Hulu subscriber who lives in the US and plans on traveling, or you need a good insurance policy against in-flight boredom, you can now download shows and movies for offline viewing, too. Here’s how to do it and everything you should know about it.
What are Hulu offline downloads?
With offline downloads, Hulu is letting paid, ad-free subscribers save content to watch later when they’re disconnected from Wi-Fi or their cell network. The feature brings Hulu in line with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, both of which have offered offline downloads for a while now.
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Hulu said “thousands” of TV shows and movies will be eligible to be downloaded, but you can’t download everything that’s on the service, particularly content you can access through Hulu’s Premium Add-Ons (like Showtime or Max) or the Live TV plan.
How to download TV shows and movies from Hulu to watch offline
Downloading content on Hulu is fairly simple.
- Open the Hulu app on your smartphone or tablet.
- Head to the bottom navigation bar of the app and tap on the Downloads icon.
- Select See What’s Downloadable.
- Scroll through the available content and tap on it to see more details.
- From the Details page, tap on the Download button to start downloading it (this will be next to individual TV episodes in a series or at the top of the page for movies).
This will start your download off — you’ll be able to monitor it to see how quickly it’s coming along in the main Downloads section of your app. There currently isn’t a way to filter search results for downloadable content only, so if you’re looking for something in particular, you’ll have to dive into the Details page to check if you can download it for offline use.
How to access Hulu downloads
Once you’ve downloaded your choice of movies or TV, it’s pretty easy to find them and start watching.
- Open your Hulu app.
- Tap on the Downloads icon in the menu bar.
- Select your choice of movie or TV show to start viewing it offline.
How to change video quality on Hulu downloads
With storage space at a premium on plenty of people’s phones and tablets, it’s useful to be able to control the quality of your downloads on Hulu – since lower quality videos take up less space and therefore allow you to have more stored on your device.
iPhone
To change video quality on iOS, these are the steps to follow:
- Open the Hulu app.
- Tap on the Downloads icon in the bottom navigation bar, then the Settings icon at the top of the screen.
- Tap on Video Quality.
- Choose Standard or High quality.
Android
If you’re on Android, you can also access the quality options in a different way:
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- Tap on Profile in the bottom navigation bar.
- Tap on Settings, then Downloads.
- Tap on Video Quality.
- Choose Standard or High quality.
How do Hulu offline downloads work?
Hulu’s offline downloading system is a little bit complicated in some ways and simple in others, so here are all the details you should know before you get started.
No Ads plan required
First off, it’s worth knowing that offline downloads are exclusive to paid subscribers of Hulu’s No Ads plan – so you won’t be able to make any downloads if you’re on the base plan, sadly.
Download limit
There’s a limit on how much you can download, although it’s a pretty big one that is unlikely to affect you that much. You can download up to 25 titles across five different devices.
There’s also a bit of a time limit – you will have up to 30 days to watch the downloaded content. Once you start watching an individual piece of content (so a movie or TV episode), you’ll have two days to finish before it auto-expires.
When the video expires, you can renew it if the content is still available, so it’s not that big a barrier if you have an internet connection.
Geographic limits
Downloads on Hulu are only available to its users in the United States – although Hulu is primarily a US platform in the first place, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
However, once you’ve downloaded something on Hulu, you can watch it wherever you like, so it’s perfect for travel abroad where you want to be sure you have access to that big series you’re right in the middle of.
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