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About two weeks ago, a report surfaced alleging that Disney’s new streaming service that is slated to go live on November 12th won’t actually work with Chromebooks. We’ve all been pretty excited about the introduction of this new lineup of movies and shows that Disney+ will be offering and we’ve even written a few articles about the Chromecast support that will arrive on day 1, the current lack of Amazon Fire TV support, and shockingly-good bundles that will be available with the new streaming service.
With all that news coming from a publication like Chrome Unboxed that is dedicated to all things Chrome and Chrome OS, you can imagine the gut punch it was when we saw the initial report that Chromebooks wouldn’t work with Disney+ off the bat. Based on some trial and error from a user based in the Netherlands, it initially appeared that Disney’s new streaming service requires a form of DRM that isn’t fully supported on Chromebooks at this moment.
None of that would change the ability for users to leverage Chromecast or watch on their Android phone, but this news came with some pretty serious disappointment on our end. Chromebooks are great devices to watch streaming content on, especially with a decent set of headphones or fantastic speakers like those found on the new Pixelbook Go. The lack of Disney+ and all their fantastic content for Chromebook users felt like yet another reason for general consumers to not consider a Chromebook as their next computing device.
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This report turned out to be unfounded, however, and as Tom’s Guide reported, Disney reached out to clarify that Disney+ will work just fine with Chromebooks when it launches later this month. They did not go into great detail about the particular error the user from the Netherlands was getting, but their statement in retort to the original report seemed very definitive and final. Make no mistake, Disney+ and Chromebooks will be working just fine together when the service comes online November 12th.
As a user who plans on watching a large amount of content on the service over the next few months, this was a great reason for relief. In general, though, my bigger reason for excitement here is the knowledge that there won’t be another reason for new users considering Chrome OS to keep their distance. As our favorite OS continues to grow and mature, interoperability with large services like Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu are crucial to the long-term success and adoption of the platform. It’s great to see that Disney+ won’t be a black eye in that regard.
