Mark D. MarekMay 25, 2023
Abandoned America
A lot of people have been really critical of HBO's rebranding as "Max", but I have to hand it to them about one thing: nothing makes you more excited about the renaming of a service than being automatically logged out of all your devices and having to spend over half an hour of your one and only life bouncing around broken phone apps, websites, and TV apps trying to reset your password to get in again
May 25, 2023 at 3:36amMastodon for Android
Show threadocdtrekkieMay 25, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica The fact you have to install Max and uninstall HBO Max is wild. And the fact that I had to install HBO Max and uninstall HBO GO like two years ago is also wild.

Like, I understand rebranding the product, but why torch your entire install base every two years?

Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@ocdtrekkie this is why you and I aren't paid over $39 mil a year like David Zaslav. We just don't see the Big Picture
Show threadocdtrekkieMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica I think you, me, and 37 of our closest friends could probably do a meaningful impersonation of David Zaslav for a million a year each, don't you think?
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@ocdtrekkie for a million a year I'll even get plastic surgery to look like him if that's a requirement
Show threadocdtrekkieMay 25, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica You can have the job. It's clear you're more committed to it than I would be.

But I'd let the people see Batgirl.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@ocdtrekkie oh yeah I'd do that too especially if it was as bad as people say
Show threadDB SchweinMay 25, 2023

@ocdtrekkie @AbandonedAmerica
Weird. I only had to update, not install/uninstall this time.

None of the websites worked for me either, but tortuously entering my password on the 🔥 stick did.

Show threadocdtrekkieMay 25, 2023
@deirdrebeth @AbandonedAmerica On which platform? I think smart TVs tend to be stingier, but I know on iOS it's a separate app.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@ocdtrekkie @deirdrebeth the app just updated on my TV but I had to install a new one on my phone. I had to reset my password though and there was no way to log out on the phone app and it just kept crashing. The website directs you automatically to the app and then I finally had to re-enter the new password on the Roku controller which was cool
Show threadDB SchweinMay 25, 2023
@ocdtrekkie @AbandonedAmerica
Fire stick
Show threadLouie 🦭May 25, 2023
@ocdtrekkie @AbandonedAmerica
It’s absolutely bonkers to me because I have definitely seen plenty of app rebrands on even bigger scales than this and they’re always able to just update the existing app!

Is it that hard to be competent enough to overhaul your existing app??
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@justyourbud @ocdtrekkie if you're Max, the answer to that question is yes.
Show threadmattgMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica sounds like i cancelled my HBO subscription just in time.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023

@mattg but like now you'll never know the amazing new stuff* that Max has to offer

* actually just the same old stuff and slightly less of it

Show threadDaniel Tuttle 🌵🤘May 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica I don't get it. They've some this... quite a few times. HBO Go, HBO now, HBO max. And they've done that thing with whole new apps for at least one of them
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@DanielTuttle the ten year plan is change it to "Max Up" then just "Up" then "HBO Up" then "Max Go" then "Up Now" then 🤖👊🐶
Show threadDaniel Tuttle 🌵🤘May 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica "Up Dawg"
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@DanielTuttle oh man how did I miss that you're hired
Show threadOlavMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica @DanielTuttle
The penultimate iteration will be "Up Yours"
Show threadDaniel Tuttle 🌵🤘May 25, 2023
@olavf @AbandonedAmerica "ow my balls"
Show threadHutchMay 25, 2023
@DanielTuttle
Ha! I was just thinking "go away, batin'!"
@olavf @AbandonedAmerica
Show threadSeaFury ALTMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica That's half an hour you can't get back. 😩
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@SeaFury well Max isn't giving it back to me that's for sure
Show threadJoyce Bell 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇬🇱🚫🧊May 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica Dreading having to do this so putting this off as long as possible.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@joycebell my best advice is to make sure you have the password or do the reset on a desktop/laptop
Show threadJoyce Bell 🇺🇦🇨🇦🇲🇽🇬🇱🚫🧊May 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica Thanks for the tip!
Show threadDB SchweinMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica
I read your post aloud to my family and they all got a chuckle after *watching* me fighting with it last night. So thanks for the giggle :-)
Show threadThe Cat HerderMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica Thank you sir, may I have another?
Show threadtaxetMay 25, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica having to re-login to all devices sucks, but imagine this: they had HBO Nordic for a while here where I live, but then they changed to HBO Max or whatever and not only did you have to login to all devices, you also lost your entire watch history and user profiles.

That was especially fun since I was in a middle of a series that I didn’t have time to watch for a while before the change and I’ve still not resumed it because it’s too much of a hassle to search where I left it.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@taxet yep, that is definitely establishing a pattern of how not to do things
Show threadmaniajackMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica And losing a show you were in the middle of watching (Metalocalypse) 👎
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@maniajack oh noooo that sucks
Show threadideaPDishMay 25, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica

Mad Max?

Show threadMarie GreeneMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica We've just experienced this fun at our house, and yes. It really drives home the joy of mergers and rebrands. Yay, capitalism.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@oliveknits it was definitely cool losing that little bit of unwinding time we had before bed to zipping back and forth between broken apps and websites
Show threaddecoMay 25, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica @Timdmackey OH OH OH

I know this one. Just went through it last night.

And THEN.... only to be confronted with screenfuls and screenfuls of absolutely atrocious looking shows like - okay, I mentally blocked most of them - but one that I can't seem to rid from my brain is "1,000 pound sisters."

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT?

Why is this a good thing to have all of this crap I now have to wade through?

Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@deco @Timdmackey it's honestly embarrassing. It's like watching someone soil themselves in public and they don't even know they did it but everyone else does
Show threadkaupMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica
I don't believe I will even try.
Show threadFord EytouMay 25, 2023
Doesn't seem to be a problem on the Pirate networks. 🏴‍☠️ 🙃
Show threadArthur WyattMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica @swizzlevixen hinestly wondering if I should just unsubscribe so as not to bother.
Show threadMonkeboiMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica and its not available in the country you're in! Yay!
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@monkeboi oh no that's even worse
Show threadTokyotigerlilyMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica not to mention the credit debacle https://deadline.com/2023/05/max-credits-controversy-directors-writers-guilds-1235378437/
Max Reverses Credit Controversy After DGA & WGA Blasted It As "Insulting"

Warner Bros. Discovery has corrected changes it made to director and writer credits in its rollout of Max after receiving harsh blowback from the Directors Guild and the Writers Guild. In a stateme…

Deadline
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@tonton right? Yikes 😬😬
Show threadElizabethMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica You'd think companies that big could handle a change like that. When Anchor became Spotify for Podcasters recently, I ended up locked out of my app for weeks because the login still tried to send me to Anchor's URL that didn't exist anymore. Just clearly hadn't been set to redirect to Spotify yet.
Show threadAbandoned AmericaMay 25, 2023
@OrHelpOneFaintingRobin I'm sorry that happened - it didn't happen to me and I would have been so upset if it did 😕
Show threadElizabethMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica Eh, it wasn't a huge disaster, it was ONLY the app that was broken, so I just used the web version for a few weeks. It was an irritation, but it didn't cause any huge issues. It just, like here, seemed ridiculous that a company as big as Spotify couldn't get something so simple right.
Show threadGraham PenroseMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica not to mention having to find the new app when it no longer has the HBO moniker to differentiate it from a thousand other apps named "Max [something]". Or having your Google Play subscription automatically cancelled. Or a host of other issues. So as of today I'm no longer an HBO subscriber. I've never been dumped so hard by an active service before 😂
Show threadFreediverXMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica
My workaround: Account cancelled, apps deleted.
Show threadI am who I am.May 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica Took me ten minutes to figure out all I needed to do was update the Roku app I already had. No help from them on that tip. But thanks for sending me to a website that also didn't explain it.
Show threadΩ 🌍 Gus PoseyMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica I actually miss the old cable-TV model. Streaming ruined everything.
Show threadDogzillaMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica Well, helping your 75-year-old mother navigate that update remotely so she can watch “Succession” comes close. And I got her an iPad because it’ll be simple to use.
Show threadPaul HouleMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica nothing says “bull in a china shop” like spending 30+ years building a brand known for quality and then trading it all for something generic which any rando could file a trademark claim against
Show threadInfosec V'gerMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica They took the hubs out of the app. They literally launched a new app with less functionality. Just awful.
Show threadMarty FoutsMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica lucky you. Max doesn’t support my iPad air.
Show threadStoicism is My CharmMay 25, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica Then there's the time you spend uninstalling the old app, reinstalling the new app, and getting the new app to appear in your apps ribbon on each TV you own.

Good times!

Show threadCitizenZMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica I didn’t have to do anything but wait for a couple mins for the new app to download. My account info ported over automatically. I was surprised it was so easy.
Show threadCheryl G KassonMay 25, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica This is why I love Roku. On Roku, I didn't have to log out, uninstall or reinstall the HBO Max channel. I just opened up the channel, and it automatically changed to the new Max channel.