How to Reactivate My Hulu Account

How to Reactivate My Hulu Account

I’d been away on a long work trip last week, so I was looking to unwind and catch up on my favorite TV shows.

I grabbed dinner and pulled up in front of my TV and launched Hulu.

Huh, that was odd.

Hulu said my Account was inactive, and I couldn’t stream anything. That was ridiculous, I’d been paying my bills and everything.

I figured this was some sort of bug and went online to figure out what was going on.

Here’s how I reactivated my Hulu Account and how to handle an unsuccessful Hulu reactivation.

To reactivate your Hulu account, you need to resume your Hulu subscription. To do so, find the ‘Your Subscription’ tab in your Hulu account and select ‘Resume Subscription Now’

Reactivating Your Hulu Account

  • To reactivate your Hulu account, first, go to the Hulu website and log in with your credentials.
  • Navigate to the Account page 
  • Find the “Your Subscription” tab
  • Click on “Resume Subscription Now”
  • You will then be prompted to accept the reactivation of the service and be notified of the new billing cycle.

Why Is My Hulu Account Inactive?

It can be very frustrating having to troubleshoot pesky little things like this, especially during some much-needed downtime. It is important to know why this happened in the first place, to ensure you don’t face the same problem again later.

Your Hulu Account requires reactivation because of one of these three reasons:

1. Your Hulu Subscription Was Paused

Before I went on my trip, I intentionally paused my Hulu subscription. If you are not on an annual subscription plan, this is a convenient option that Hulu offers. So if you’re going out of town for the holidays, trying out another streaming service or just aren’t interested in the library available, you can pause your subscription.

You will not be billed while your Hulu account is paused. When placing your account on pause, Hulu will ask you to select the duration for which you would like to pause your account. After the selected duration has elapsed, the subscription will automatically be reactivated.

Using the steps mentioned above, you can log in and reactivate the subscription earlier. However, please note that if you pause your account for more than 12 weeks, your account might be cancelled for inactivity.

2. Your Hulu Subscription Was Cancelled

You may have intentionally cancelled your Hulu subscription recently. There’s a wide range of streaming platforms available, and that list is growing rapidly. Even the content available on each platform changes relatively frequently. It certainly doesn’t make sense to keep paying for all streaming services if you won’t use some of them at all.

You may have decided that you no longer require a Hulu subscription. If your current billing cycle has not ended, however, your account will still be active and usable. If you change your mind before the billing cycle ends, you can still keep your account, viewing history, preferences etc.

You can use the steps described above to reactivate your subscription to Hulu. You can also contact Hulu customer service and rescind your cancellation request.

3. Your Hulu Account Was Terminated

Your Hulu account may end up terminated for a variety of reasons:

  • You cancelled your Hulu subscription, and the billing cycle has already ended
  • Your account was on pause for longer than 12 weeks and was deemed inactive
  • Hulu terminated your account from their end due to payment issues, the expiry of the trial period etc

Unfortunately, if this is the case you will not be able to reactivate your account in the manner described above. You will have to sign up for a new Hulu account to stream their content library.

The good news is that if it has been more than a month since the termination of your account, you can sign up once again using the same email address or username you had used previously.

Reactivation Was Unsuccessful

If clicking “Resume Subscription Now” didn’t immediately solve the problem, no need to panic. There might be another tiny speed bump to get over. Here’s a quick checklist to narrow down and fix the issue.

1. Check Your Payment Method

Double-check the mode of payment used to pay the Hulu subscription fee. If you had a payment method such as your credit card information saved already, Hulu may try to charge it when you reactivate your account.

If there is a typo in the card details, or the card has expired, you would need to re-enter the new, correct information for the payment to be processed.

2. Check Your Network Connection

A momentary outage in your internet connection or a technical issue on Hulu’s end may be preventing you from reactivating your account. You can verify if your network is up and running by refreshing the webpage.

If there are no issues with your connection, you can try to reactivate the account once again. If the issue persists, try to contact Hulu customer service for further information.

3. Try a Different Browser

If you use Hulu on your Smart TV, you may be running into compatibility issues with the default browser app installed. Try downloading a different browser such as Chrome or Firefox. 

Alternatively, if your TV supports the Hulu app, you can install and use this directly. Ensure that you keep the browsers and apps updated to the latest version available.

4. Reinstall/Update the App

If you are using the Hulu App, you can try to log out and log into the app again to check if that resolves the issue. You can also clear the cache storage for the app, delete and reinstall the app and ensure the current version of the app has the latest updates available.

5. Disable AdBlock

If your Hulu subscription was to one of the ad-supported plans, please try disabling any AdBlocker extensions you may have installed on your laptop. These may be responsible for the stream not playing.

Back on the Hulu Bandwagon!

That was weird, but I was back to watching TV before my food got cold.

If you paused the subscription on purpose, it will be resumed after the duration you selected is up. If you want to resume it earlier, you can log into your account and do so anytime.

If you cancelled it but got back around before the billing period was completed, no harm, no foul! And hey, even if you took your time to return, all you’ve got to do is get through the sign-up form again!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I un-pause Hulu from my TV?

Yes, you can either reactivate your account through the Hulu website from a browser or through the Hulu app on your Smart TV. Go to Account > Your Subscription > Resume Subscription Now

How much does a Hulu subscription cost?

The ad-supported Hulu plans cost $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. If you want an ad-free viewing experience, the subscription costs $14.99 per month.

Can I log in to Hulu with my Disney+ or EPSN+ account?

If you have subscribed to a Disney+ or ESPN+ subscription which is bundled with Hulu, then you can log in to Hulu using the same email address and password combination.

Why can’t I log in to my Hulu account?

There may be multiple reasons why you cannot log into your Hulu account:

  • Your Hulu account may have been terminated if you cancelled the account or left it inactive for too long
  • You may be using the wrong email or password to log in. You can try to recover your account using the “Forgot Username/Password” option as applicable.

About the author

Maria Chan, or MC, as we call her, is the genius girl-boss who gave up on her cushy silicon-valley job to grind it out with us. Her undying pursuit of wanting Zeebox to the best makes it very clear that she has no interest in running a generic tech-site.

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