Apple is loosening its device restrictions around movie rentals in the iTunes Store. Today the company released iTunes 12.6 for the desktop, and the update mentions what Apple calls “rent once, watch anywhere.” No longer are you forced to watch a movie on the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, or PC you initially rented it on.

“Now you can enjoy your iTunes movie rentals across your devices with iOS 10.3 or tvOS 10.2,” Apple says. However, iOS 10.3 hasn’t been widely released to consumers just yet and remains in late-stage beta testing. An official roll out can’t be far off since the software update is required for “rent once, watch anywhere.”

Same goes for tvOS 10.2; Apple has yet to release that update for the Apple TV, but you can expect it in the very near future. Hopefully by Friday for the digital release of Rogue One for those of us who foolishly missed it in theaters.

Watching across devices wasn’t impossible before — it was just a pain. As AppleInsidernotes, you could transfer rentals from a Mac or PC to iOS (and then it would disappear from your computer) or AirPlay movies from iPhone or iPad to Apple TV. The new approach seems far simpler and requires less from you, the person who just wants to relax and enjoy a movie.

Source: the verge