Apple TV Plus vs. Netflix vs. Hulu: One Feature Makes All the Difference

Netflix might not be included in Apple TV Plus, but that didn’t stop the iPhone-maker from stealing one of its rival’s best features. Apple unveiled its new streaming service this week, and while details on the company’s lineup of original shows (along with an actual price or release date) are still scant, there’s one thing we know for sure: Just like on Netflix, Apple will let you skip the intro to your favorite show and jump right into the action.

That may sound like a small detail, but it was big enough for Apple to specifically call out the “skip intro” button that appeared during a demo for TV Plus during Monday’s event. And if you thought that button looked familiar you’re not wrong. It’s almost identical to the one Netflix has offered for years, making it easy to skip through the opening credits to your favorite sitcom after you’ve binged through your fifth episode and you can’t stand to hear that intro music one more time.

To be fair, this isn’t unique to Netflix. Amazon already offers the same thing with its competing streaming service. So Apple is really just following a larger trend. The only real outlier here is Hulu, which still doesn’t offer a “Skip Intro” option despite demonstrated user demand. (Maybe now that Disney basically owns Hulu it can fix this oversight.)

Clearly, Apple is onto something here, though there’s also something to be said for sitting through the intro music before each episode. This article actually sparked a heated debate on Inverse’s Slack chat over whether it’s ever ok to skip the intro, though from my perspective the answer is a pretty obvious: you do you.

So when Apple TV Plus launches this fall (exact release date, price, shows, and pretty much everything you want to know still TBA) you’ll be able to skip through the intro of your favorite new show. In the meantime, you can still do the same on Netflix and Amazon — just not on Hulu.