Apple Brings TV to iCloud With Downloads of Previously-Purchased Episodes
Alongside today's Apple TV software update that brought the ability for users to stream TV episodes they had previously purchased through iTunes, Apple has also expanded the "Purchased" section of the iTunes Store as accessed via Mac, PC, and iOS to include re-downloads of purchased TV content.
The change adds TV shows to Apple's early-stage iCloud offerings, bringing the TV content in line with music purchases that received the same treatment back in early June following the iCloud announcement at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. With the change, users now have the ability to download purchased television content at-will to their various devices as long as they are linked with a single iTunes Store account.
Apple has also updated its iTunes Store terms and conditions with new text covering the changes, and summarizes the change as follows:
Notification of an additional type of previously-purchased content that may be subsequently downloaded to certain computers and devices as an accommodation to you, subject to existing association rules; and that such content may be played back on certain devices that are not subject to existing association rules, with limitations.
The majority of the relevant changes appear to be covered in the section entitled "Automatic Delivery and Downloading Previous Purchases Beta", which outlines two classes of downloadable content: "iTunes Auto-Delivery Content", which covers music and music videos and which can be automatically downloaded to associated devices; and "iTunes Eligible Content", which covers TV shows that must be downloaded manually.
Users have long been responsible for backing up their own content, with Apple only allowing limited re-downloads of lost content on a case-by-case basis. But with the move to iCloud storage of users' purchases, they will be able to freely delete and re-download episodes to whichever devices they wish to view the content on. Such a change generally requires that licensing deals with content providers be renegotiated, and thus Apple has had to work carefully toward deploying re-downloads for each media type and in each market.
Despite the new feature, Apple does still point out that users are responsible for backing up their own content, noting that all previously-purchased content may not be available for re-download at all times.
Popular Stories
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
With the fourth betas of iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS 26.1, Apple has introduced a new setting that's designed to allow users to customize the look of Liquid Glass.
The toggle lets users select from a clear look for Liquid Glass, or a tinted look. Clear is the current Liquid Glass design, which is more transparent and shows the background underneath buttons, bars, and menus, while tinted ...
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec).
The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
While the new iPad Pro's headline feature is the M5 chip, the device has some other changes, including N1 and C1X chips, faster storage speeds, and more.
With the M5 chip, the new iPad Pro has up to a 20% faster CPU and up to a 40% faster GPU compared to the previous model with the M4 chip, according to Geekbench 6 results. Keep in mind that 256GB and 512GB configurations have a 9-core CPU,...
iOS 26.4 is expected to introduce a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence, but not everyone is satisfied with how well it works.
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said some of Apple's software engineers have "concerns" about the overhauled Siri's performance. However, he did not provide any specific details about the shortcomings.
iOS 26.4 will...
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
With the fourth beta of iOS 26.1, Apple added a toggle that makes Liquid Glass more opaque and reduces transparency. We tested the beta to see where the toggle works and what it looks like.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
If you have the latest iOS 26.1 beta, you can go to Settings > Display and Brightness to get to the new option. Tap on Liquid Glass, then...
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year.
Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
