These days, Apple offers a wide range of different subscription services, including everything from cloud storage to mobile gaming. If you haven't used one before, Apple lets you try out each of its services for free, but there are lots of different trials on offer.
Here we'll explain all the different free trial offers available for Apple's various subscription services, including how to unlock extended free trials with a new device.
An Overview of Apple's Free Trial Offers
Generally speaking, each of Apple's services is available for a one-month free trial, with three months available for Apple Music and only seven days available for Apple TV+. These trials are available to anyone, provided you haven't used the service in the past.
To start a free trial, open the relevant app and sign up for the service as you usually would. You should see an offer to start your free trial when you do so.
Occasionally, Apple announces limited-time offers that let you extend these free trials with a product purchase or by combining it with another service. By definition, these limited-time free trials occasionally change.
We've included all the limited-time offers from the time of writing in the descriptions below, but you can also view every current offer on Apple's promo page.
To activate one of these limited-time free trials, you usually need to visit the Subscriptions page in the Settings or System Preferences of your Apple device. Make sure you do so within 90 days of becoming eligible for the trial or you'll miss your shot.
Apple Music Free Trials
Apple Music is a music streaming service with over 70 million songs, along with music videos, Live Lyrics, radio shows, curated playlists, and more. And there are absolutely zero ads.
Apple Music usually costs $9.99/month, but if you've never used it before, you can get a three-month free trial when you first sign up.
Since there aren't ads on Apple Music, a three-month free trial is far better than listening to Spotify ads for three months. Check out our comparison of Apple Music and Spotify to see the other ways these streaming services compare to one another.
Apple Music Limited-Time Free Trials
You can get another two months for free—whether you already subscribe to Apple Music or not—by taking advantage of a promotion with the Shazam app.
All you need to do is install Shazam and use it to recognize a song, then tap the link to generate a code to redeem in the Apple Music app. This offer is only for a limited time.
Apple TV+ Free Trials
Apple's video streaming service is home to original Apple shows and movies like The Morning Show, Wolfwalkers, and much more. With a subscription to Apple TV+, you can stream or download these shows using the Apple TV app on an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or a range of streaming boxes and smart TVs.
Apple TV+ usually costs $4.99/month, but if you've never used Apple TV+ before, you can enjoy a seven-day free trial when you first sign up. Alternatively, get a one-month free trial by signing up for Apple TV+ as part of Apple One, which we'll explain in more detail below.
Apple TV+ Limited-Time Free Trials
Apple also offers a one-year free trial to Apple TV+ when you buy a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple TV streaming box. Although Apple says this offer is only available for a limited time, it has actually been on the table since Apple TV+ launched back in September 2019.
Students can also get Apple TV+ as a free add-on by signing up for an Apple Music Student plan. Again, this is a limited-time offer that Apple states may end at any time.
Apple Arcade Free Trials
With Apple Arcade you can play over 100 mobile games on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple TV. These games are expertly designed and not a single one of them includes ads or in-app purchases, making them a delight to play.
Apple Arcade usually costs $4.99/month but you can try it out on a one-month free trial if you've never used the service before.
Apple Arcade Limited-Time Free Trials
Even better, when you buy a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or Apple TV, Apple will give you a three-month free trial of Apple Arcade instead.
Apple News+ Free Trials
Apple News+ unlocks access to hundreds of magazines and leading newspapers in the Apple News app. You can download articles to read offline and even explore the entire back catalog of popular magazines like National Geographic or Empire.
As one of Apple's most expensive services, Apple News+ normally costs $9.99/month but you can try it out on a one-month free trial if you've never used it before.
Apple News+ Limited-Time Free Trials
Unfortunately, Apple doesn't offer any way to extend this trial.
Apple Fitness+ Free Trials
If you own an Apple Watch, you can sign up for Apple Fitness+ to get home workout videos on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Apple Fitness+ uses your watch to display live metrics on the screen, like your Exercise ring and current heart rate.
Apple Fitness+ is available for a one-month free trial, after which it costs $9.99/month.
Apple Fitness+ Limited-Time Free Trials
You can actually unlock an extended three-month free trial of Apple Fitness+ when you buy an Apple Watch Series 3 or later.
iCloud Storage Free Trials
Apple's cloud storage service is perfect for keeping current iPhone and iPad backups, syncing your photos across every device with iCloud Photos, and uploading files for online access with iCloud Drive.
Apple gives every Apple ID user 5GB of free iCloud storage forever, but you need to pay to get more than that. Payment plans start at $0.99/month for 50GB of storage.
If you want to try out more iCloud storage for free, you can use the free trial of Apple One to do so. Just make sure you sign up for a plan that gives you the amount of storage you need.
iCloud Storage Limited-Time Free Trials
Unfortunately, there's no way get more iCloud storage for free by buying another product or signing up for another service.
Apple One Free Trials
If you subscribe to more than one Apple service, you might be able to save some money on your monthly subscriptions by bundling services together with Apple One. This all-in-one subscription service includes:
- Apple Music
- Apple TV+
- Apple Arcade
- iCloud storage
With an Apple One Premium plan, you also get Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+.
Apple One starts at $14.95/month depending on which plan you sign up for. But you can get a one-month free trial of Apple One if you haven't used it before.
The Apple One free trial only includes services that you don't already have or that you haven't used another free trial for in the past. Check out our overview for all the details on how Apple One works with existing subscriptions and trials.
You can use the Apple One free trial to get any Apple One plan, so we suggest you sign up for Apple One Premium to get access to every service. Just make sure you switch to the plan you want to stick with before the free trial ends.
Apple One Limited-Time Free Trials
There's no way to extend your one-month Apple One free trial at the moment.
Cancel Your Free Trial to Avoid Paying
A paid subscription to each Apple service starts automatically when your free trial ends. If you don't want to pay for this service, make sure you cancel the subscription from your device's settings at least 48 hours before the free trial ends.
It's a good idea to create a reminder in your calendar or to-do list app to make sure you don't forget to do this.