[Updated] Hulu app rewind or fast forward options not working even on ad-free accounts, issue acknowledged

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Original story (published on July 9, 2021) follows:

Video playback issues on Hulu haven’t been uncommon recently. We have highlighted several of such including shows/episodes starting at the end, Unwatched badge displaying improperly, ‘This video can’t be played’ error, and more.

Thankfully, Hulu is usually quite prompt when it comes to acknowledging most of them and thus they do not linger.

It’s almost like the streaming service is locked in an endless cycle of fixing bugs whenever they pop up – and boy, have there been plenty of those lately.

As if the pre-existing bugs haven’t been enough of a bother, another one just dropped that causes rewind or fast forward options to not work at all.

@hulu_support hey hulu – for some odd reason i’m unable to fast forward on my roku device today. i have a paid sub with no ads but it keeps giving me the message that i can ff after the break (but there is none). thanks!
Source

hulu can you please tell me why your app doesn’t rewind/fast forward all of a sudden?
Source

As clear from the above complaints, trying to rewind or fast forward on the Hulu app causes it to throw a prompt that says “you can rewind and fast forward after the break”.

This message usually pops up when trying to skip ads that play between shows or movies, but apparently, Hulu has now begun treating its entire catalog of content as ads too.

What’s even weirder is the fact that even those that are subscribed to the paid ‘Hulu (No Ads)’ plan have been victims of the issue – subscribers that have nothing to do with ads at all in the first place.

Further, while most people only get a prompt that prevents them from rewinding or fast-forwarding, there are also scattered reports of the screen going black and the remote turning unresponsive upon trying to perform the said functions.

If you are one of the unfortunate peeps suffering from this extremely annoying bug, then you will be relieved to know that Hulu is already aware of this unexpected behavior and is investigating it.

An ETA for a fix wasn’t provided but given Hulu’s track record with former issues of this kind, it should all be sorted out soon enough.

09:20 am (IST): Hulu support has confirmed that the rewind or fast forward options are not working on Roku devices and the bug is not present on other platforms. Here are a couple of tweets for reference:

Sorry to hear about the trouble! Are you streaming from a Roku device be chance? If so, we’re currently investigating this behavior with a high priority, and we hope to have a fix in place soon. (Source)

The affected users may have to wait longer for the issue to be addressed, as Hulu support has shared there is no ETA for the fix as yet.

Sorry about the delayed response and for any ongoing frustration. There’s no news or ETA to share at this time. The appropriate team is digging into it so we hope this gets cleared up soon. Thanks for bearing with us!

In the comments section of this article, Kara Leadbetter has shared with us the workaround that resolved the issue for them. All you have to do is access Hulu on your phone and play the show via AirPlay. See if this resolves the problem for you.

Deleting the affected channel and re-adding it is one of the tricks that appear to have helped a couple of those affected. So you may give it a try and see if that helps. here’s what one of the users said:

I fixed the issue on my roku i just deleted the channel and added it again and now its fine! (Source)

Hulu support is suggesting the affected users to see if the app is up to date.

May we ask if you’re using a Roku? If so, this is something our team is working on getting resolved. For now, please be on the lookout for an update by going to About > App & Device Info > Version Number.

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