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Should You Keep Using The Hulu App Now Disney+ Includes Hulu?

John Finn Avatar
New Aurora Disney Plus logo shown next to Hulu logo

Now that Disney Bundle subscribers have access to Hulu through Disney+, many homes won’t need to continue using the Hulu app. However, there are some good reasons to continue using Hulu’s app, including access to the full catalog, access to live TV, and access to additional subscriptions. Before digging into each of these individual reasons, there is a more temporary reason to continue using the Hulu app, and that’s your My Stuff and watch history.

While Hulu content is now available through Disney+, your existing content from My Stuff on Hulu and your Hulu app watch history are not available in the Disney+ app. The same is also true the other way, with Hulu watchlist and watch history content in the Disney+ app unavailable in the Hulu app.

We say this is more of a temporary issue as, over time, homes primarily using the Disney+ app to access Hulu are likely to build out their new watchlist and watch history. In the meantime, subscribers may want to finish watching their My Stuff content in the Hulu app.

The Hulu app is home to the full Hulu catalog

Hulu Originals TV

Disney+ currently doesn’t provide access to the entire Hulu library. In reality, this might not be as big of an issue as it sounds, but it is still a difference to be aware of.

Basically, there are some licensing restrictions that currently prohibit some content from appearing in the Disney+ app and this means Hulu subscribers can only access this content in the Hulu app. As Disney doesn’t specify which content is unavailable, it is difficult to decide in advance how likely this is to affect an individual home.

Here’s exactly how Disney describes the situation:

Subscribers with access to Hulu on Disney+ get access to a selection of the Hulu streaming library. This includes access to select hit shows, movies, and award-winning Hulu Originals, with new content being added regularly.”

Disney

With subscribers only getting access to “a selection of the Hulu streaming library,” there may be times when a title can’t be found in the Disney+ app but is available to watch in the Hulu app. For this reason, it is worth continuing to have the Hulu app installed on a device, even if primarily using Disney+ to watch Hulu content.

The Hulu app has live TV

Hulu LIve TV guide

There are more than four million Hulu Live TV subscribers and all of them will need to continue using the Hulu app for the foreseeable future. Disney previously confirmed that Hulu Live TV content won’t be available in the Disney+ app and there are no indications that’s going to change anytime soon.

For any existing Hulu Live TV subscribers, as well as those considering getting their live TV through Hulu in the future, the Hulu app remains an essential app to have access to.

As basic Hulu content is also available through the same app, it makes sense to continue using the Hulu app for all Hulu on-demand and live TV content and use the Disney+ app just for Disney+ content.

Stick with Hulu for additional subscriptions

Hulu Paramount+ with Showtime

One of the benefits of being a Hulu subscriber is the easy ability to add additional content through premium add-ons. Even though the list of add-ons is small, it does include popular streaming services like Paramount+ with Showtime and Starz.

If, for example, you subscribe to Starz through Hulu, then you won’t be able to access any of the Starz content through the Disney+ app. Even though the Starz subscription is linked to Hulu, and Hulu content appears in the Disney+ app, that courtesy doesn’t extend to third-party subscriptions.

Technically, those subscribers could just download the third-party app and use that instead. Using Starz as the example, stream content through the Starz app or website after logging in with Hulu as the TV provider. Even in this situation, however, the account will still need to be managed through Hulu, and if the subscriber wants to subscribe to more than one service through Hulu, they will need to download an app for each subscription.

Based on this, it just makes more sense to keep accessing all of this additional content through the Hulu app as before. Otherwise, it may be better to cancel those additional subscriptions and sign up to those services directly.

John Finn

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