How to watch HBO MAX on Linux

HBO MAX is a rebranding of HBO’s on-demand subscription service. It’s a pretty excellent service, and best of all, it works on Linux.

If you have an HBO MAX subscription and you’d like to watch it using your Linux PC, we can help. Follow along to learn how to watch HBO MAX on Linux!

Method 1 – Google Chrome

Arguably the easiest way to watch HBO MAX is with the Google Chrome browser. The reason? By default, Chrome comes with the proprietary tools required to playback DRM video content online through HBO MAX, Amazon, Netflix, etc.

However, the problem with going the Chrome route is this: it is not a browser that comes pre-installed on any mainstream Linux operating systems. Furthermore, the only way to install it is to grab it from Google’s website. So, we must demonstrate how to install Google Chrome on Linux.

Installing Google Chrome on Linux

To install Google Chrome on your Linux PC, start by launching a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open, follow the instructions down below to get Google Chrome working on your system.

Ubuntu/Debian

To install Chrome on Ubuntu/Debian, start by heading over to the Google Chrome download page. Once on the download page, look for the “Download Chrome” button, and select it with the mouse.

After selecting the download button, a pop-up window will appear. In this pop-up window, select the “Accept and Install” button with the mouse. By selecting this button, the Google Chome package will begin to download.

Once the download is complete, use the following commands to install Google Chrome.

cd ~/Downloads

sudo apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

Arch Linux

There isn’t an official release of Google Chrome for Arch Linux, but that doesn’t mean you can’t install it. You can get Chrome working with an unofficial AUR package.

To start the installation on Arch, install the Trizen AUR helper. This program will make setting up Google Chrome on Arch Linux a walk in the park. Enter the commands below to get Trizen set up.

sudo pacman -S base-devel git

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

cd trizen

makepkg -sri

With the Trizen application up and running, the Google Chrome app can quickly be installed using the following command in a terminal window.

trizen -S google-chrome

Fedora/OpenSUSE

To install Google Chrome on Fedora and OpenSUSE, start by heading over to the official Google Chrome page. Then, click on the “Download Chrome” button with the mouse. After selecting this button, click on “64 bit .rpm (For Fedora/openSUSE)” to download Chrome for your operating system.

Once Chrome is done downloading, use the commands below to get the Google Chrome browser set up on your Fedora Linux or OpenSUSE Linux operating system.

cd ~/Downloads

sudo dnf install google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

Or, for OpenSUSE:

sudo zypper install google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

Setting up access to HBO MAX in Google Chrome.

To set up access to HBO MAX in Google Chrome, start by launching the browser. Once Chrome is open, head over to HBOMAX.com and look for the login button. Click it to log in.

After logging in to HBO, you’ll have instant access to HBO MAX on Linux, with no need to configure anything. Why? Chrome doesn’t require the user to enable DRM in the browser to watch content manually. Enjoy!

Method 2 – Firefox

If you’re not a fan of Chrome but still want to watch HBO on your Linux PC, you can do it with the Firefox Browser. To start, you will need to install the Firefox browser on your Linux PC. To do that, follow along below.

Installing Firefox on Linux

Ubuntu

sudo apt install firefox

Debian

sudo apt-get install firefox

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S firefox

Fedora

sudo dnf install firefox

OpenSUSE

sudo zypper install firefox

Flatpak

Install the Flatpak runtime and run the commands below.

sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

sudo flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Setting up access to HBO Max in Firefox.

To set up access to HBO MAX in Firefox, you must enable the browser’s DRM components. To do that, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Step 1: Launch the Firefox browser, and look for the options menu and click on it. Then, find the “Preferences” button, and click on it to access the Firefox preferences window.

Can’t find the right buttons to click on? Paste this URL into your Firefox browser tab to quickly access the right page.

about:preferences#general

Step 2: Scroll through the preferences area for “Digital Rights Management (DRM) Content.” In this area, check the box next to “Play DRM-controlled content. Selecting this box will enable playback on HBO MAX on Linux.