Apple Creator Studio is officially here, and if you’ve been even slightly curious about it, now might be the perfect time to take a look.
Apple positioned Creator Studio as a solid value for creators, bundling together tools and services aimed at people who edit, publish, and produce content regularly. And like most Apple subscriptions, it comes with a free trial.
What’s surprising is that Apple may be offering a much longer trial than expected, even if you haven’t just bought a new Mac or iPad.
The 3-month trial offer is showing up unexpectedly
When Apple first announced Creator Studio, the free trial situation sounded pretty straightforward:
- Everyone gets a 1-month free trial
- A 3-month free trial is included with the purchase of a new Mac or qualifying iPad
Simple enough. But now that Creator Studio has launched, some users are seeing something much more generous.
9to5Mac’s Ryan Christoffel reported that when he signed up, Apple greeted him with a message saying:
“Your new device includes 3 months of Creator Studio for free.”
That came with an “Accept 3 Months Free” button, followed by the standard subscription confirmation. After the trial ends, the service renews at $12.99/month unless you cancel beforehand.
Ryan’s device wasn’t exactly “new”
Here’s where it gets interesting. Ryan was surprised to see the extended trial because his last Apple purchase wasn’t recent in the usual sense. He bought an M5 iPad Pro back in October, several months before Creator Studio launched.
So by most definitions, that’s not exactly a fresh out-of-the-box purchase. And yet, Apple still considered it eligible for the 3-month offer.
It’s not just Ryan
Ryan also mentioned that after asking around, he found at least one other person receiving the same deal.
A colleague who bought an M3 MacBook Air in 2024 also reportedly saw the 3-month Creator Studio trial pop up, despite that device being even older.
That strongly suggests Apple is applying the “new device” requirement pretty broadly, at least for now.
Apple hasn’t explained the cutoff
At the moment, Apple hasn’t shared any specifics about how recent your hardware needs to be to qualify.
There’s no clear window like “within the last 30 days” or “only 2025 models.” Instead, it seems like Apple is casting a wide net, possibly to get more people trying the service early on.
So if you were interested in Creator Studio but didn’t buy a Mac yesterday, it may still be worth checking your subscription screen. You might be pleasantly surprised.
