Max: Stream HBO, TV, & Movies Ratings and Reviews

The app lags

Whenever it is time for a commercial break, instead of pausing the show and going straight into the advertisement, the show will pause and stay STUCK on whatever screen/frame it paused on for 2-3 minutes and THEN it will start playing the adverisements ; which last around an additional 2 minutes. So I’m waiting 5 sometimes 6 minutes between “Ad breaks” just for the show to come back. (And actually , it could be longer but I am just estimating, I never really timed it. )

Not only that, the lagging messes up the flow of the show and clashes with the auto play somehow and the next episode will try to start playing before the current one has actually ended; cutting off the end portion of the episode I’m watching. If I try to rewind, the rewind button/time stamp does not correspond with what part of the episode that it is supposed to.

I do like this streaming service for the content, but if you think that I, in an attempt to avoid the disruptive Ad’s, am going to pay $17 for THIS, this right here?!…. then you are mistaken. It’s bad enough that there are Ads on a streaming service. I should at least be able to view the show without having to fight and schffle against whatever causes the app to not run smoothly.

Developer Response ,

Hey, thanks for the review! Please try these troubleshooting steps to see if they resolve your crashing issues: help.max.com/troubleshoot An advocate would also be happy to reach out to you directly to help. If interested, fill out this form: help.max.com/AppReview and include your username where it asks for your Web Handle. Thanks, Max Support.

Troublesome with Ads

The streaming experience on iPad and laptop is unacceptable. When an ad break begins, the video pauses on the last scene of the show, and the ad countdown appears as usual. However, instead of transitioning smoothly to the ads, the video often remains frozen, with subtitles still playing, for the entire 1-2 minute ad break. In some cases, the ad never loads at all, leaving the screen frozen for up to 3-5 minutes before resuming.

When the show finally resumes, the subtitles are out of sync for another 1-2 minutes. With ads appearing so frequently during episodes, this makes the platform nearly unwatchable. I’ve followed every troubleshooting recommendation provided, but nothing has resolved the issue. This problem is particularly frustrating when watching series rather than movies.

Additionally, there are significant issues with rewinding. A single 10-second rewind works fine, but anything beyond that causes glitches. The video either refuses to load or rewinds much farther than intended. In some cases, an ad break corrupts that part of the show entirely, making it impossible to watch, even if you exit and reload or try rewinding again.

I’ve used Max in the past without these problems, but since resubscribing, the experience has been severely degraded. These issues need to be resolved immediately.

Developer Response ,

Hi, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We want to make sure that using Max is a great experience for you, and an advocate would be happy to reach out to you directly to help. If interested, fill out this form: help.max.com/AppReview and include your username -dubey_mann- where it asks for your Web Handle. Max Support

I hate this app

I have the HBO Max app on Roku and on LG TV. I absolutely hate them. There are no buttons for fast forwarding on the app and the fast forwarding with clicking on the remote goes so fast that you skip past where you actually want to stop. This happens on two different TVs and both apps. sitting here, I have quite literally watched five sets of commercials because every time it fast-forwards it goes so fast that it stops at the wrong spot and then I have to watch the commercials from that wrong starting point. Then I fast-forward again, it goes too fast, stop at the wrong spot, i have to watch commercials; it’s still at the wrong spot so I have to fast forward again and it goes way too fast so I have to watch commercials again. This is happened to me over and over and over again. I have had this app one week and I already want to delete it and stop my subscription. I like the content, but this is literally insane. I can’t even watch what I wanna watch which is the whole point of this stupid app. I have never written review in my life, but this is so horrible. PLEASE CHANGE IT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. slower fast forwarding, buttons within the app for fast forwarding, don’t immediately start commercials in 0.1 second WHILE I am trying to fast forward.

Apple TV app is complete trash.

Not to be harsh, but the Apple TV app is garbage. Ads are horribly placed and happen at random times throughout shows. Someone could be in the middle of talking and the whole screen freezes for about 30 seconds and then ads start playing. Sometimes a full screen ad with a cutout box will show up and you can only see 1/4 of the show the rest of the screen is ad and you’re missing stuff. Towards the end of shows there will be minutes left and the timer shows up counting down to the next episode and completely cuts out minutes of valuable programming so you miss things that happen at the end of every episode. This wasn’t always the case so whatever changes were made in the last update should be rolled back or remove ads until you figure this out. This is why and how people lose subscribers and once you drag your feet to address it - the value in the service is already lost and it’s harder to get people to come back because you’ve already blown your chance. Look no further than AT&T - who loses MILLIONS per quarter in the TV space and you have to spend A LOT in promotional dollars to lure these people back in and as AT&T is finding out - a good price doesn’t always result in a second chance.

Unwatchable

Some many Issues with streaming. When it comes time for an ad, it will pause on the last scene of the show and show the ad count down like usual, it will sit there with the subtitles still playing but the video paused until the 1-2 min. ad break is over, then it will switch to showing the actual ads for 1-2 mins. Then when it final brings me back to my show the substitute are all off for 1-2 min. With ads being so often on each episode, it is almost unwatchable. I have tried everything I can think of the fix this issue including all their troubleshooting recommendations, and it hasn’t helped. It is mostly a problem when it comes to watching series, rather than movies. It also often has problem when you try and rewind the film to a certain extent. With one 10 sec rewind it does fine, anything more and it will glitch out and either refuse to load or continuous back up far beyond where I told it. Sometimes when it serves an ad it corrupts that entire part of the show and It doesn’t matter if you exit out and go back in or try the rewind it, it won’t let you watch that part. I have had Max in the past and this was never an issue but then I canceled it and resubscribed again and now it is a problem.

Developer Response ,

Hi, thanks for leaving a review. It's really important to us that you have a positive experience using Max. Please make sure your Max app is up to date and that the devices you are streaming from and to are connected to the same network. If neither of those steps work, please reach out to us at help.max.com so we can take a closer look with you. Max Support

Too many unresolved bugs, the experience is not worth it.

HBO Max, or “MAX”, is probably the worst streaming application out there. It has various bugs on my smart TV and also the new iPad Pro. I used to pay for it and canceled it because I can’t stand how bad the application is. Then I got access to it again because it’s now included in my AT&T membership. I’m now contemplating about switching to another carrier so I can take this application out of my life, simply because of this one issue. It happens every other day; when I open the application, I have to connect my provider from scratch every single time.

This last time it was really infuriating. I downloaded a movie to watch while I’m traveling. Next, I’m traveling, and when I clicked on the application it asked me to connect my provider again. When I did it and went to downloads, it no longer showed the downloaded movie there. The funny part is the application still holds the space required for the movie, so it’s there, but I can’t watch it or delete it. I guess I needed a good excuse to delete the application altogether, and come here to write this rant. It’s a shame because I love HBO shows, but they must make their software product teams hate their lives to build an application like this.

Don’t like the app. Been adding bad content for a year or so now

The app doesn’t allow you to see further into what is leaving, compared to in browser. Used to work on iPad in browser. They removed the option. The app also wont allow you to save some shows and movies. It is also not as easy to navigate. It also malfunctions when trying to fast forward or rewind parts. It’s an app and most apps are garbage. Don’t know why they made it app only. I also don’t want to waste space for another app. Clutter. Plus they made that awful show Velma, and never made a second season of peacemaker. One show, Velma, got the worse ratings of any show that ever existed. They say they are making another season. While peacemaker got amazing ratings. The people running this network are moronic dog crp trash. I will be canceling soon and will probably never come back as they have not added anything worth watching in awhile. Our flag means death season 2 might be worth a watch but that is is. Avenue five was a millions times better than that Velma crud. Does anyone know that the chick who wrote that ragged about sxually assaulting people on the conan show. Max wants to support that mindy puke. Nope. Go woke go broke. I hope this goes the way of bud light.

App has SERIOUS GLITCHES!

Every time I stream the app on my tv from my phone it glitches. For example, I’ll put on a show I want to watch, put on an episode and it’ll work after I exit out of the app. But as soon as I turn my phone on and go into the app it completely restarts the episode of the show on my tv. I cant turn up the volume of what im watching from in the app, I cant fast foward or rewind the episode without the entire episode starting over because I entered in the app. It’s especially annoying when I turn my phone and the last app I was on was HBO so it’ll automatically restart after I enter my phone. The app has other glitches too, like not being able to turn the “read aloud” subtitles off that talk over the entire show I’m watching. Sometimes the option to turn them off will be there, and sometimes it won’t. I have great internet connection, my cache is cleared for the app, I’ve tested all the casting options on my tv, restarted my chrome casts, AND my Roku tvs, I deleted the HBO app and re-downloaded it but still the same problems. I’ve been waiting over a month for a new update that might fix these bad bugs. But nothing has changed. This app does not work how it says it should.

Developer Response ,

Hi, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We want to make sure that using Max is a great experience for you and an advocate would be happy to reach out to you directly to help. If interested, fill out this form: help.max.com/AppReview and include your username - KyaDutra - where it asks for your Web Handle. Thank you. - Max Support

Unnecessary

The new Max is terrible! It does NOT keep track of where you left off with a series so you better write it down, take a picture, or have a photographic memory. Also, if you want to watch a specific episode, you have to choose the episode prior to that, because it starts playing from the end of the episode you selected, and starts the next one from the beginning. For example, if I want to watch S1:Ep3, the app will play the credits from that episode, and start playing S1:E4 even though that isn’t what was selected. Very annoying! You no longer have the option to choose your own picture for your profile. I also can’t access everything on my list from the home screen. I have to use the left navigation and choose “my stuff” to access my entire list. I’m not sure what prompted these changes but the previous version of the app was just fine. These “updates” were completely unnecessary.

New update: For the past two weeks, my sitcoms are speaking FRENCH! It’s not every episode though… two episodes in English, then two in French. Idk how this is possible when French isn’t even an option for language settings. I sure hope they haven’t been hacked!

Developer Response ,

Hi, thank you for taking the time to leave a review. We want to make sure that using Max is a great experience for you and an advocate would be happy to reach out to you directly to help. Please visit help.max.com for tips to improve your Max experience or to contact us. Thank you. Max Customer Support

App has log in issues

I really liked the HBO app, it was easy to use and you could have it on your phone or tv and it would stay logged in. I don’t like that the Max app keeps logging out from every device and to log back in takes forever. Customer service asked me one to talk to my provider but that it’s not issue. The problem is the Max app. I would be watching a show and out of the blue it would crash. When I try to log back in it would display an error message of can’t verify subscription. If I continue trying to log in, it would display a message to create an account. When I do create a new account it says I already have an account and still it will not log me in. last time I call customer service, they asked me to delete the app and reinstall it. It work for that time. They told me the issue won’t return and what do you know it log me out again. Even reinstalling the app several times did not work. It’s so frustrating! I’m spending more time trying to log in to the account than watching something. The only good thing about the max app is that it has good content, that I want to watch, but if I’m going to spend more time logging in than watching then what’s the point.

Developer Response ,

Hi Maru, thanks for the review! We want to make sure that using Max is a great experience for you. An advocate would be happy to reach out directly to help. If you're interested, please fill out this form: help.max.com/AppReview and include your username where it asks for your Web Handle. Thanks, Max Support