Technologies

Max Streaming Service Review: A Wealth of Content, Everywhere at Once

MILF Manor and Batman now share the same address, and the neighborhood got more expensive. It might be time to move.

8.0

Max

$10 at Max

Like

Huge library that covers any era and viewers of all ages
Striking, eye-catching interface
Larger selection of 4K titles
Watch HBO shows as they air
Kids’ content lineup and parental control features

Don’t like

Glitchy user experience
Missing episodes from popular TV shows
High price, even with ads

Max is here. The refashioned streaming service replaces HBO Max and boasts more than 35,000 hours of content with a library twice as big as its predecessor. Blending Discovery Plus titles with the former HBO Max, the revamped service showcases the depth of the Warner Bros. catalog as befits a company that’s been in the entertainment business for 100 years.

HBO has long been considered prestige television with shows like The Sopranos, Game of Thrones and Succession. Warner Bros. Discovery chose to drop HBO from Max’s new name in favor of magnifying all of its brands and broadening its appeal to a larger audience — including kids. (It already has a top spot on our list of the best streaming services for kids.)

Merging all this content under one roof gives the platform a leg up on its biggest rivals: Netflix and Disney Plus. That said, Max is on the pricier side with a starting rate of $10 per month to watch with ads, going up to $20 if you want 4K and more streams.

If you already get access to Max for free, such as with an HBO cable subscription, you should definitely keep it. At the time of this writing, Max still has to work out some bugs with how the app functions to make streaming more seamless. But the breadth of the platform’s catalog and video quality makes it worth having, especially if you’re comfortable paying more money for a streaming service. You can always split the cost with someone outside your household and share your streams. And if you’re someone who only wants to stream Discovery Plus, it’s still available as a separate app.

Stream Max See at Max

Read more: Best Streaming Device for 2023

Streaming services compared

	Max	Disney Plus	Netflix	Prime Video	Hulu
Monthly price	Starts at $10	Starts at $8	Starts at $7	$9 (or included with $140/year Prime membership)	Starts at $8
Ads	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Top titles	Succession, House of the Dragon, Titans	The Simpsons, The Mandalorian, Bluey	Stranger Things, Queen Charlotte, Squid Game, Dahmer	Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, Rings of Power	Handmaid’s Tale, The Bachelor, Bob’s Burgers
Mobile downloads available	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
4K HDR available	Yes	Yes	Yes (on Premium plan)	Yes	Yes
Number of streams	2 (4 for Ultimate)	4	1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium)	2	2

How much is Max?

Prices for Max subscriptions are the same as the old HBO Max: With ads, it’s $10 per month ($100 annually) and ad-free is $16 a month ($150 annually). But the new Ultimate ad-free plan is $20 monthly and will be the only subscription to offer 4K content and Dolby Atmos on select movies and shows. For now, features like 4K access and Dolby Vision will be accessible during the first six months of Max’s launch for legacy customers with the $16 ad-free plan.

Max subscription plans

	Ad-Lite	Ad-Free	Ultimate (ad-free)
Monthly price	$10	$16	$20
Number of screens you can watch at the same time	2	2	4
Number of offline downloads	0	30	100
HD available	Yes	Yes	Yes
4K Ultra HD available	No	No	Yes

Though most of the major streaming platforms have raised prices, Max remains among the most expensive services. Its pricing is comparable to Netflix for the ad-free experience, but at least you can still share your password without paying extra. We spent time testing all three subscription tiers and noted any differences between Max and the previous version of the app. Each plan offers something different.

Max’s stable of TV shows and movies is its power

Max has a hefty catalog that carries a range of films and TV series across multiple genres, and there is something for every age group in your household. The marriage between the HBO Max library and Discovery Plus serves up a selection of food, drama, comedy, animation, crime, superheroes, nature docs and lifestyle. In addition to HBO titles and Max originals, you’ll find DC, Studio Ghibli, CNN, Sesame Street, Looney Toons, Food Network, Magnolia Network, TLC, TCM, The CW and more — including the massive vault of Warner Bros. film and TV shows that spans a century. Only some things from Discovery Plus are on the platform though — namely the most popular content.

Warner Bros. Discovery says it will roll out “40 new titles and seasons every month” on the service. At launch, the service debuted new Max originals like Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai and SmartLess: On The Road, along with HBO originals such as Reality (starring Sydney Sweeney). The catalog will continue to expand in the coming months, including platform exclusives.

gremlins-secrets-of-the-mogwai — Gizmo has an original series on Max that’s perfect for the whole family.

Max

The Justice League lives here with other DC properties, and Discovery’s stash of documentaries and reality TV shows is a click away. HBO favorites like Succession, The White Lotus, The Last of Us and House of the Dragon are available to stream as they air live on the cable network, with new episodes arriving each week. And you can still stream TCM classics such as Dirty Harry and National Lampoon’s Vacation on the platform.

Max’s offerings for kids are a highlight of the service, with plenty to stream from Elmo, Cartoon Network, Scooby Doo, Lego, DC, all versions of Teen Titans and a host of originals. That includes preschool content like Blippi, family movies and teen-friendly TV shows, animation and film franchises.

While exploring the content, I noticed missing episodes for some shows like Regular Show, which is a staple in my household. Steven Universe is seemingly intact, but other series like Amazing World of Gumball, Impractical Jokers and We Bare Bears are not. It’s unclear whether this is a temporary bug, a licensing matter or if Max is in the process of removing more content.

Huge bonus: More 4K titles

On HBO Max, there were less than 40 movies and TV shows available to stream in 4K HDR. If you have the Ultimate plan and a device that supports 4K, you’ll be able to stream more than 1,000 titles, including Avatar: The Way of Water, House of the Dragon, Dune, The Wizard of Oz, Goodfellas, And Just Like That…, Euphoria and all the Harry Potter films. If you type “4K” in the search bar, 27 shows and movies pop up, but you should look for the format in the title’s description.

Warner Bros. Discovery said the 4K lineup might change, but you can find a list of what was available at launch by visiting this page. Be aware the company will continue to remove titles from the Max service as part of its cost-cutting strategy.

Watch Avatar: The Way of Water in 4K on Max.

20th Century Studios

Early glitches

Before I dive into the experience of using Max, you should know my early testing was filled with glitches. Max arrived on May 23, days before Memorial Day weekend — prime time for streaming. I spent more than a week getting acquainted with Max, learning its strengths and flaws while comparing it to its previous incarnation and its competitors.

There were some hiccups. Just switching from the old purple HBO Max app on my Roku stick and Amazon Fire TV device to the new blue Max app was filled with frustration. And even after my week-long jaunt into Max, its performance was still less than smooth. Some of the glitches were minor e.g. a show host’s picture didn’t match the name in the description. Others, such as the TV app freezing and eventually kicking me out or some particularly wonky navigation, were more of an issue. For example, I found myself in a seemingly endless scroll of titles trying to reach the screen’s bottom, when suddenly the selector box got cut off, the app froze and my TV screen turned into a blue abyss.

But at least my profiles, watch list and Continue Watching rows all migrated without a hitch. I didn’t lose any playback progress for movies and shows that I stopped, either. And despite the bugs, the video quality on Max is top-notch. The phone app experience was considerably better, too. Max is actively working out any kinks on all platforms based on customer feedback, so the overall experience should get smoother. We’ll update this review with any progress in a month or two.

max app on TV screen showing movie and TV show tiles — I kept losing my place when scrolling up and down rows of content.

Max/Screenshot by CNET

User interface and navigation experience

For the most part, Max appears and operates similarly to HBO Max and other streamers like Hulu and Netflix. As promised, the rebranded service comes with some improvements and big changes to the user experience. The purple is gone (I miss it, and you may too), but even with the color palette switching to blue — like Paramount Plus, Disney Plus and Sling TV — the TV app is still crisp. The phone version seems darker but is still easy to follow. Among the added enhancements are an expanded set of profile avatars with more than 350 options, a default kid’s profile for new accounts and optimized personalization.

Screenshot of Max phone app interface displaying the title card for Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai. — Navigation icons on Max’s phone app are at the bottom of a show’s title page.

Max/Screenshot by CNET

Changes to the home screen, navigation and content organization are noticeable. The top rail has five tabs: Home, TV series, Movies, HBO and “New & Notable.” The prominent placement of the HBO tab is helpful as a direct path to finding all releases — new or old — from the network and a plus for those who only care a little about the Discovery Plus library.

On TVs, a new side panel has only three icons: Home, Search and My Stuff. The latter quickly took me to my Continue Watching section and watch list. On the phone app, this panel is located at the bottom and has a download icon if your plan includes them.

The top row on Max is Continue Watching (if you have one), followed by personal recommendations curated by the app and then My List (if you added titles). The home screen will become more personalized over time as the app learns your habits. In fact, all menu sections beyond the home page, such as Series and Movies, will become more personalized the more you use them.

The old hub layout on HBO Max (left) versus the new format on Max.

Max/Screenshot by CNET

Scrolling down the home screen reveals Warner Bros. Discovery’s content brand hubs — all 18 of them — including HBO, TLC, HGTV, DC, Max Originals, Kids & Family or Ghibli. One obvious difference is the row of genre tiles is now located all the way at the bottom of the home screen. It’s inconvenient as you need to scroll past all the other rows, including Max’s curated collections, to get to them. You can use the app’s search to find them, but simply putting them higher up on the home page makes more sense to me.

As far as playback, I only experienced a few problems with Max. For example, while streaming one TV show episode, the video kept playing when I tried to rewind a scene, ignoring my command.

Recommendations need time to get to know you

Because Max is an upgrade — or enhanced update — of HBO Max, the streaming service starts from scratch when it comes to recommendations. Your history from HBO Max will not import to the new version, and with all the merged content from Discovery Plus, there’s more to sift through to watch — or skip. The algorithm needs time to learn who you are, and what you like, and will eventually catch up with your preferences, rotating in fresh additions.

tv screen showing Max streaming app show recommendations — Brand new rows of recommendations in Max.

Max/Screenshot by CNET

The brand hubs will help you with the transition from HBO Max to Max, making it easier for customers to find content and fine-tune the recommendation machine. During testing, I noticed not all hubs are solely dedicated to their brands, so you’re likely to find some cross-hub suggestions. It goes deeper than that with related collections and links to other movies or TV series featuring a particular actor. For instance, you can select a Harry Potter cast member or other Warner-owned franchises and be whisked away to the land of Superman, Middle-Earth, The Matrix, James Bond and additional collections.

Using parental controls

I gave the default kid’s profile a spin to get a feel for the experience. It’s preconfigured with access to PG- and TV-PG-rated movies and shows. Parents can adjust the content ratings, and you’re prompted to do so the first time you click on the profile. You can only change the settings from a web browser, though.

Ratings range from little kids — which starts at TV-Y — up to teens, with the most mature options being TV-14 and PG-13. As long as you keep the profile set to Kids Mode, your child will only see age-appropriate content according to the ratings that you choose. If you toggle the kid-proof exit button, a four-digit PIN is required in order to exit the profile. The home screens look different depending on the age and content ratings, so you may want to create separate profiles if you have older kids and little ones in the family.

When I set my kid’s profile for teens, some of the titles that showed up on the home screen included Talladega Nights, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, 50 First Dates, Teen Titans Go! and the Harry Potter collection. Be aware that there’s a wide variety of content under the teen-rating umbrella if you’re a parent who wants to monitor what your child is watching.

Streaming Max with ads vs. ad-free

On the ad-based plan, the ad load is virtually the same as before, with 3 to 4 minutes of commercials playing per hour of content. When I watched one 90-minute episode of 90 Day Fiancé, I encountered five commercial breaks of various lengths that lasted a total of 3 minutes, 15 seconds. By contrast, when I streamed Shazam 2 (which runs for 2 hours, 10 minutes), the total ad time was just under 2 minutes, including a 25-second preroll.

While using the kid’s profile, I watched one 24-minute episode of Full House with no ads, and it was the same for a short episode of Teen Titans Go. There were no commercials during films either in this profile. Competitor Disney Plus does include ads while streaming in a kid’s profile, though Max and Netflix avoid it. Still, if you can afford the extra $6 a month, go ad-free.

Downloads are only available on ad-free subscriptions, and speeds are fairly quick. It only took me about 35 seconds to download one episode of Barry on my phone, and a little over 3 minutes for The Batman — a movie that runs three hours. You have the option to select video quality for downloads, choosing from “good” for faster speeds, “better” for higher-quality video that uses more data or “best,” which downloads at a slower rate. It’s one of the areas that the Warner Bros. Discovery team worked to improve.

When I tested the app with the premium Ultimate subscription, I noticed the experience was the same as the $16 ad-free version. There’s a short promo reel featuring Max movies and shows that runs before some content, but not all. It played before Shazam!: Fury of the Gods, but not when I streamed an episode of Titans. So, for $4 more, we get two more simultaneous streams, all the 4K content and 100 downloads versus 30.

Technologies

Anthropic warns investors of AI’s ‘existential risk to humanity’ in IPO prospectus, reports say

Anthropic’s IPO filing dedicates 80 pages to the risks of AI, nearly double the 48 pages it spends discussing its business plans, according to Reuters.

Your Privacy

On this service, we and our vendors use cookies and other tools (“Cookies”) to store and access information on your device, such as device identifiers, IP address, and your browser type. Your data may be used to save and communicate your privacy choices; ensure security, prevent fraud, and debug our products and services; personalize advertising and content; for advertising and content measurement; to conduct audience research and services development; so we can improve our services and develop new ones; to match and combine offline data with your online activity; and for social features. We may share this data with select vendors with your consent. You can adjust your choices any time through the “Cookie Preferences” link in the footer of relevant Versant sites or in-app settings.

We will also use other Cookies that are essential or related to our services, including for security and fraud prevention. To learn more about some of our vendors, see the IAB and Google Vendors under each purpose. Visit our Cookie Notice and Privacy Policy to learn more.

These Cookies and SDKs are required for Service functionality, including security and fraud prevention, and to enable any purchasing capabilities. You can set your browser to block these tracking technologies, but some parts of the site may not function properly.

The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.

Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.

Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.

Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.

– Use limited data to select advertising 791 partners can use this purpose Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).

– Create profiles for personalised advertising 637 partners can use this purpose Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.

– Use profiles to select personalised advertising 640 partners can use this purpose Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.

– Create profiles to personalise content 261 partners can use this purpose Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.

– Use profiles to select personalised content 234 partners can use this purpose Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.

– Measure advertising performance 916 partners can use this purpose Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.

– Measure content performance 405 partners can use this purpose Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.

– Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 579 partners can use this purpose Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).

– Develop and improve services 688 partners can use this purpose Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.

– Use limited data to select content 180 partners can use this purpose Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).

These Cookies and SDKs are used to collect data about your browsing habits, use of the Services, your preferences, and your interaction with advertisements across platforms and devices for the purpose of delivering targeted advertising content, both on our Services and on third party sites. Third-party sites and services also use Targeting Cookies to deliver content, including advertisements relevant to your interests on the Services. If you reject these Cookies or SDKs, you will see less relevant advertising.

Data collected under this category through Cookies and SDKs can also be used to select and deliver personalized content, such as news articles and videos.

Technologies

U.S., Iran hold separate mediator talks as Mideast oil exports hit war-time high

Iranian and U.S. officials reportedly met separately with mediators Monday to push for a ceasefire, as Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded to war-time high.

Iranian and U.S. officials reportedly met separately with mediators Monday to push for a ceasefire.

Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to around their highest level since the war began in February.

An outright export ban by Washington on diesel would keep roughly 1.2 million barrels a day at home, and risks overwhelming Gulf Coast storage, according to Kpler.

The building of the destroyed Shajareh Tayebeh primary school is pictured surrounded by rubble in Minab in Iran’s Hormozgan province on August 10, 2026. Six months on, a team of AFP journalists obtained rare access to the school which has remained largely in ruins, its collapsed walls and twisted steel now surrounded by portraits of the children killed as Iranian flags flutter above the rubble. Iran says the attack on the school involved two separate US Tomahawk missiles but neither the United States nor Israel has officially claimed responsibility for the strike. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images) /

Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty Images

U.S. and Iranian officials have reportedly held separate indirect talks with mediators on Monday, reviving efforts to end seven months of war as Tehran presses for a response to a revised ceasefire framework and Middle East crude exports climb to their highest level since the conflict began.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met Qatari mediators in New York, where he remained after the United Nations General Assembly, and reportedly said he expects Washington’s reply by Tuesday. “We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions,” Araghchi said, adding that he planned to return to Tehran once a response arrives. “Whenever the Qataris have a response, they know how to get it to us.”

Iran’s proposal, first presented on the sidelines of last week’s General Assembly, calls for a four- to five-day U.S. timeline to release frozen Iranian funds, lift sanctions on Iranian oil and end the naval blockade of Iranian ports, with nuclear talks beginning within seven days. Tehran has tied any reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to those steps.

President Donald Trump had on Sunday called the plan “unacceptable” and rejected it, telling reporters Iran wants a swift deal because of the economic pressure it is under. Speaking at the White House Monday, Trump said U.S. officials had spoken separately with mediators but gave no further details, adding: “We’re going to win. It’s going to go pretty quickly.”

The diplomatic push comes as physical supply data shows the war’s toll on the oil market easing. Middle Eastern crude exports rebounded this month to around their highest level since the war began in February, Kpler data showed. “Middle East crude exports at just under 80% of pre-conflict levels,” the tracking firm said in a note on Monday.

The Strait of Hormuz itself remains far from normal. Kpler’s real-time tracking showed total clearance through the strait at 10,591 kilobarrels a day on Saturday, against a pre-war baseline of 17,133.

Technologies

Oil prices fall as crude exports recover at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea ports

Saudi Arabia has restored flows through the pipeline to around 3.5 million barrels per day, according to media reports.

Your Privacy

Data collected under this category through Cookies and SDKs can also be used to select and deliver personalized content, such as news articles and videos.