Hulu finally lets you download shows to watch offline (iOS first)

Well, better late than never. Today Hulu announced it was finally adding the ability to download shows to view offline, following the feature’s addition to Amazon Prime Video and Netflix years ago. The feature is coming to iOS first, and Android users ‘soon.’

While in an ideal world we’d all be able to watch streaming video at perfect quality at any time, the reality is often far from that. Whether you’re on an airplane, your gym has spotty wi-fi, or you don’t want to use your mobile data on the go, there is a myriad of reasons you might want to download videos to watch later.

For me, it’s often simply to be able to watch videos at maximum quality with no buffering. Few things are worse than when a show pauses to buffer in the middle of an intense scene.

There are some caveats. In Hulu’s own words:

Viewers can download up to 25 titles across 5 different devices and will have up to 30 days to watch their downloaded content.  For watched content, the download will expire two days after starting playback. After downloaded content expires, viewers can renew an expired download when online, if that content is still available on Hulu.

Additionally, the plan is only available for viewers on the company’s No Ads plan, so you’ll have to pay extra if you’re on the cheaper subscription.

Still, it’s a welcome update. Android users will have to sit tight for a while longer, but iOS users can update to the latest version of the app to try out the new feature.