United Airlines will begin rolling out an in-flight entertainment service for iOS devices next month. The service will be free of charge with more than 150 movies and nearly 200 TV shows on tap according to their airline.
The rollout will take place in stages although we are told that most domestic aircraft will have the entertainment equipment installed by the end of the year. Specifically, United said they will start with Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Boeing 747-400 and select 777-200 aircraft followed by additional fleets.
All said and done, all United-operated flights will have some form of entertainment streamable over Wi-Fi in the not-too-distant future.
In the event that your next flight is equipped with the new entertainment service, users are encouraged to download the latest United app from the App Store ahead of time (an app is not required for notebook users). Once onboard, you'll see two types of media. Simply tap or click on what you'd like to watch and you're off to the races.
As with a traditional DVR setup, users can start, stop, rewind, pause and switch to another movie or show at any time. Things should work seamlessly for mobile users but those with notebooks may need to install a browser plug-in. This can be downloaded at any time during the flight without the purchase of United's in-flight Wi-Fi access package.
United says Android and other mobile devices are not fully supported at this time, a statement that suggests that might change at some point.