Apple now limits you 48 hours to watch a rented movie after starting it

Apple has extended the period of time that customers have to finish (or rewatch) a rented movie to 48 hours. That’s up from the previous limit of 24 hours. The clock starts when you begin watching rented content; you still have 30 days to hit the play button. Movies can be rewatched as many times as you’d like — or can fit in — during the 48-hour window.

The extension comes just as Apple launches the Apple TV 4K set-top box, which is capable of playing 4K HDR films from the iTunes Store and other providers. However, when rented from Apple, 4K titles can only be streamed and not downloaded locally; 1080p movies can be downloaded, and Apple says that some “HDR and Dolby Vision versions” of movies might be available to save locally, but 4K resolution must be streamed. That’s not a huge deal for a living room box that’s always connected to the internet, but it’s just something to be aware of. At least if you don’t make it to the end in one streaming session, you’ll now have more time to finish up later (or the next day).