You can watch Disney+ via smartphone, tablet, notebook or in the classic way on the TV in the living room. As a rule, however, the app required for this is not pre-installed everywhere ex works. TECHBOOK explains how you can get Disney+ on your TV at home quickly and easily.
The first step is to clarify whether you are watching Disney+ directly on the TV or on external hardware. For example, it is also possible to install the Disney+ app on an Amazon Fire TV stick, Apple TV or Roku connected to the television. Content can also be sent to the screen via Google Chromecast. Since the installation differs greatly depending on the device manufacturer or operating system and we cannot go into all individual cases at this point, we will now show you the most common ways to install Disney+ on the television.
Hisense TV
Smart TVs from the Hisense brand are often found in the low price segment in particular. These are delivered with a specially adapted smart TV operating system Vidaa U or Vidaa Lite. If you want to stream Disney+ on it, you should take a closer look when buying such a device, for example, the Disney+ app was not available on our test device in the search function of the app store. Of course, it is still possible to connect any external streaming player to the HDMI port. Then the Disney+ app is installed via the Fire TV, Roku or Apple TV, for example.
Google Chromecast
Numerous well-known TV manufacturers such as Sharp or TCL rely on the Android/Google TV operating system. Anyone who owns such a device basically has two options. On the one hand, Disney+ can be downloaded directly to the TV from the device’s app store or, alternatively, you can use the TV’s built-in Chromecast function. The big advantage of televisions with Android or Google TV is that you don’t need an additional Chromecast dongle. All you have to do is press the rectangular Chromecast icon in the upper right corner of the Disney+ app (Android). Then you select the displayed television and can already start streaming.
Also read: What’s new on Disney+
Samsung, LG and Sony
Both Samsung, LG and Sony have a significant market share in Smart TVs. Both manufacturers rely on their own Tizen or webOS operating systems. The Disney+ app should also be either preinstalled or available in the Appstore on newer devices. Sony is an exception here: The Japanese manufacturer is also increasingly using Android TV. That’s why it’s also possible to install Disney+ on most Sony Smart TVs via Chromecast or as an Android app.
roku
Important apps are already pre-installed on streaming players from the US hardware manufacturer Roku or can be easily set up when setting up the player in the newly created user account. In addition, this is also easily possible manually. All you have to do is select the “Streaming Channels” option on the Roku homepage, and Disney+ will then be offered for download and installation directly under the “Highlights” option. However, we had the impression that the app ran a little more slowly there than on other platforms. On the other hand, Roku hardware is one of the cheapest ways to make a TV “smart”.
Amazon FireTV
With the Amazon Fire TV Stick, any television with an HDMI connection can be made fit for Disney+. Especially on Prime Day, Black Friday or Cyber Monday, the US mail order company keeps selling its streaming devices at low special prices. So you can usually access it without hesitation, because the Disney+ app runs on all Fire TV variants, i.e. both the cheapest sticks and the Fire TV Cube. There, too, Disney+ only has to be downloaded from the Appstore.
You can find more information about streaming services in our overview.
apple tv
The Apple TV remains the most expensive way to upgrade a TV for Disney+. This is not a streaming stick, but a box. There are also different variants here, but it is worth accessing the more expensive version with UHD or 4K support, since newer content in particular is available on Disney+ in 4K and, unlike Netflix, subscribers can access this content at no additional charge anyway. Of course, the prerequisite is that the television itself must also support UHD resolution.