Hulu is out today with a neat update to its iPhone app that puts a remote for controlling playback and more right on your Apple Watch. Like most Apple Watch apps, the Hulu remote app is limited in what it can do on its own, but it becomes a handy utility once you start video playback on Hulu from your iPhone.
The Apple Watch app mirrors basic playback features available on the iPhone app like the ability to play and pause content, but the Now Playing glance on the Apple Watch already supported this. The Hulu remote app features a quick rewind button, though, that will take you back 10 seconds into your stream if you’re watching on your iPhone at a slight distance.
The real utility of Hulu’s new Apple Watch app is the ability to control playback from the iPhone app to a connected TV. Again, you have to first start playback from the iPhone, but you can easily route video playback to a Chromecast-connected TV from the Apple Watch for watching on the big screen rather than the iPhone… without going back to the iPhone. The Apple Watch’s Now Playing glance becomes less useful once you enable Chromecasting so this is a welcome utility.
Hulu says its new Apple Watch remote app also supports playback control from Xbox One-, PS3-, and PS4-connected TVs. The Watch app includes a quick shortcut to enable and disable closed captions on Hulu content playing on those devices as well.
For me, Hulu’s new Apple Watch remote app will be especially useful when casting TV shows from my iPhone to my Chromecast-connected TV in the kitchen while I’m washing dishes as I keep the Watch on and keep the iPhone at a healthy distance.
Hulu version 4.4 for iPhone with the new Hulu remote for Apple Watch is out now on the App Store.
