Connect a Slingbox to your home TV setup and you can use it to stream live TV over the internet. It’s free to watch in a web browser, but if you want to use a mobile app to watch on a phone or tablet, you typically have to pay $15 or more. That’s how much the company currently charges for its Android, iOS, and Windows Store apps, for example.

But now you can use a SlingPlayer app for free… if you pay a for the right hardware.

slingplayer windows

Update: It turns out that the apps still cost $15 if you want to use them with older devices… but if you buy a new $199 SlingPlayer M2 you can download and install free versions of the apps on as many devices as you’d like. Since the M2 is $50 more than the older SlingPlayer M1 and has pretty much the same hardware, that might not be a great deal if you only plan to use SlingPlayer on a single phone. But it could pay for itself if multiple members of your household want to use SlingPlayer apps on multiple devices.

Blogger Dave Zatz reports that Sling Media is planning to stop charging for its mobile apps.

Instead, Sling will reportedly take a page out of the Amazon Kindle/Fire playbook and insert ads into the user interface. Want to remove the ads? You can make an in-app purchase to do that.

Since Slingbox hardware tends to sell for between $150 and $300, it’s always seemed a bit odd to me that the company charges higher prices for its mobile apps than most companies charge for apps that aren’t designed as companions to hardware products.

Zatz also notes that it looks like a new $150 Slingbox M2 model is on the way, although it’s not clear how it will differ from the M1.

 

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

4 replies on “SlingPlayer apps could bring live TV to your phone for free (Updated)”

  1. The only difference in the M2 from the M1 is the addition of Wifi. From the google cached page spec sheet, everything else appears to be identical. I’ve never had an issue with using RJ45 with my 350 or AV, but obviously that is not the norm for most folks’ setup, so it’s always been a mystery to me why Sling has decided that the minimum entry point for builtin wireless into their ecosystem was ~$300. At least this addresses that.

  2. Uggggg. Sling is such a frustrating company. They have ads everywhere for a thing that you already bought. Beyond annoying. Just charge more for the darn box! And leave the ads out!

  3. They need to get chromecast support that actually works. I am tired of having to switch the cast back to my phone and then re-cast it to my chromecast. Also – they really screwed over owners of slingbox by inserting ads after the fact. If I buy something that is ad free and then you insert ads you are going to piss off a lot of people.

Comments are closed.