Article Image

The best free streaming, education and fitness trials to keep you entertained right now

From streaming services to education to fitness apps

We may be stuck spending a lot more time at home, but there’s still plenty to keep you busy while social distancing with so many different free trials on offer right now. 

Whether it’s streaming services, education, fitness apps, or whatever else, these are the best free trials available now. Just don’t forget to set a reminder for when the free trials end if you plan to cancel!

New Roku device users get 30 days of free access to premium channels. The offer is part of the company’s “Home Together” initiative, which includes access to Showtime, Starz, EPIX, Smithsonian, and more kid-friendly content. 

Sling TV is offering its platform free for 14 days with no obligation. The 14-day trial includes 45 TV channels like CNN, Bravo, HGTV, Cartoon Network, TBS, Nick Jr., National Geographic, and more. 

For the next three months, you can stream free live TV without the need of a Plex Pass. The offer ends on June 30. 

Even Disney+ is offering a free 7-day trial right now, which is more than enough time to binge-watch a few Marvel movies or have the kids re-watch Frozen II. 

Amazon is opening up family-centric programming to all of its customers, regardless of whether or not they have an Amazon Prime subscription — you just need to have an Amazon account. Free shows include Pete the Cat, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Arthur, and movies like Stuart Little, Jumanji, and Elf. 

You can watch Showtime favorites like Homeland, Shameless, Black Monday, and more during Showtime’s free 30-day trial. 

The new short-form video streaming app is offering users a 90-day free trial. The offer ends on April 30.

Everyone, whether they are existing SiriusXM subscribers or not, can access the entire lineup of Premier Streaming content via the SiriusXM app, or the satellite radio’s website at siriusxm.com/streamfree. The offer goes until May 15. 

The music streaming service Tidal has paired up with brain.fm to offer scientifically curated playlists for sleep, relaxation, and focus during a 30-day trial. Expect content like recordings of rain and nature sounds, as well as relaxing classical and jazz compositions. 

Right now, ABC Mouse is offering a 30-day free trial with a one-year subscription also available at a reduced price of $60 (down from $120). There are over 850 different lessons with more than 9,000 individual learning activities included. 

Scholastic has launched a free “Learn at Home” program for students out of school during the coronavirus outbreak. The program has daily courses for pre-K and kindergarten, as well as students in grades one through six.

High school and college students ages 16 and over with a .edu or .k12 email can have two months of free access to Skillshare’s thousands of classes, which range from creativity to business and technology to lifestyle.

For those looking to get fit this quarantine, Peleton extended its app’s free trial to 90 days. For three months, you’ll have access to a full library of at-home workout classes ranging from yoga to cycling, strength training, and more. 

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Daily Burn tweeted that it was extending its free trial period to 60 days for all new members. Daily Burn offers workout programs like beginner pilates, high-intensity training, kickboxing, cardio strength, and more. 

Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.

https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911

YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.

What is AV2, and why should viewers care?

YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.

YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.