Disney Pulls Hulu Even Tighter Into Disney+ but Company Says ‘No Current Plans’ to Phase Out Hulu App

Disney continues to add more features hitching Hulu and Disney+ together as it takes steps toward the goal of “fully integrating” Hulu into the Disney+ service.

The Mouse House has outlined plans to deliver a “unified” app experience for bundle subscribers of Disney+ and Hulu in 2026, and the company is moving toward a future where both will be merged onto the same back-end tech platform. However, for now, the Hulu stand-alone subscription in the U.S. will remain available and “there are no current plans to sunset the Hulu app,” a Disney rep said.

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Starting Tuesday (May 19), customers with the Disney+ and Hulu bundle will be able to sync their profiles — including watch history, watchlist and recommendations — from Hulu with the Disney+ app. Once Hulu profiles are linked to Disney+, viewers will be able to pick up where they left off and stream content from both services from the Disney+ app.

Currently, subscribers with a Hulu + Live TV plan; a Disney+, Hulu, Max bundle; or Hulu add-ons are not able to link profiles with Disney+. In addition, kids’ profiles on Hulu and profiles under 18 years of age will not link to Disney+.

In addition, eligible Hulu-only subscribers will now be able to sign into Disney+ using their Hulu login credentials — where they will be able to stream Hulu content along with a “small sampling” of Disney+ and ESPN content, on Disney+ “to get a taste of what is offered to bundle subscribers,” the company said. In other words: Disney wants to entice them to level-up and purchase the two-service bundle.

The latest integrated features build on Disney’s previous steps to integrate Hulu and Disney+. In the spring of 2024, the Disney+ app added the full complement of Hulu on-demand content (while Hulu + Live TV still remains separate).

According to Disney, users will need to link their Hulu profile to Disney+ only once. After that, your watch history and recommendations will be reflected directly in the Disney+ app. Titles watched on Hulu will appear in the “Continue Watching” section of Disney+, and titles saved to “My Stuff” on Hulu will appear on Disney+ in the “Watchlist” section.

Users with linked profiles will see their personalized watch history and recommendations, which include Hulu content, in the “For You” tab on the Disney+ home screen. Additionally, Hulu has its own dedicated Hub on Disney+.

Additional Hulu features, such as live TV channels and access to add-on programming packages, are still available in the Hulu app and will be coming to Disney+ at a future date.

According to the company, Disney+ will soon begin testing a new “live guide” for subscribers to find content that’s livestreaming at the moment. This includes streams for ABC News Live and Disney+ Playtime for all Disney+ users and ESPN networks for ESPN Unlimited subscribers.

To sync your Hulu profile with Disney+, you must first sign in to Disney+ with the same login you use for Hulu. You can choose if you want to create a new Disney+ profile based on your Hulu profile or link it to a current Disney+ profile. (If you have the bundle, you are supposed to see the Hulu banner show above on the “Who’s Watching?” screen, and then click on the “Link your profiles to Disney+” option.) After that, you can personalize the profile by choosing from a collection of avatars from Hulu, plus a selection of Disney+ favorites. The last step is to review and confirm your content-rating level for the profile.