Hotstar in India is now called JioHotstar, not Disney+ Hotstar, since the February 2025 merger of JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar into one product. The app is literally named JioHotstar on the Play Store and App Store in India, though the web address hotstar.com still works and serves the same JioHotstar product. To watch it from outside India, a VPN connected to an Indian server is still the standard method, since JioHotstar’s subscriptions and content rights remain region-specific exactly like Disney+ Hotstar’s did.
What actually happened to the Hotstar brand
Reliance and Disney completed a joint venture in November 2024, combining their Indian media businesses into a company called JioStar. In February 2025, that company merged its two streaming products, JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar, into a single service called JioHotstar. If you go looking for “Disney+ Hotstar” in an Indian app store today, you won’t find it under that name, the listing is JioHotstar.
One detail worth getting right: hotstar.com is still the address that works. It redirects to hotstar.com/in, which serves the JioHotstar product directly. jiohotstar.com, by contrast, redirects back to hotstar.com. If you’ve seen guides pointing you to jiohotstar.com as the “real” address, that’s backwards.
Watching JioHotstar from outside India
A VPN connected to an Indian server remains the standard way to access JioHotstar’s full India catalog, including IPL cricket and other exclusive sports coverage, from abroad. JioHotstar’s own support documentation states plainly that subscriptions and content rights are region-specific, purchased in India, they don’t work outside it, and the reverse is also true. That’s the same restriction Disney+ Hotstar had, the merger changed the brand name, not the geo-blocking model.
To connect: install a VPN app, connect to a server located in India, then open JioHotstar. The service will see an Indian IP address and serve the India catalog. Reliable, reputable VPN providers include NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark, and our best VPN apps for Android guide covers current options in more depth.
A separate, smaller “Hotstar” app exists outside India too
If you’re in Canada, the UK, or Singapore, you may find a standalone app literally named “Hotstar” (not JioHotstar) available directly in your local app store. This is real, but it’s a much smaller product, local-market Indian-diaspora content sold as a regional subscription, not the full India JioHotstar catalog. Don’t confuse finding this app with having full access; if what you want is IPL matches or India-exclusive shows, you still need the VPN method above.
Frequently asked questions
Is Disney+ Hotstar still a thing? Not in India. It merged into JioHotstar in February 2025. Outside Southeast Asia and India, Disney+ continues as its own separate product.
Why do some guides still say “Hotstar” instead of “JioHotstar”? Many haven’t caught up to the February 2025 rebrand. The underlying service and its geo-restrictions are the same either way.
Do I need a VPN if I just downloaded the “Hotstar” app outside India? Depends what you want. If that app is available directly in your region’s store, it carries a smaller, separate content library. For the full India catalog, you still need a VPN connected to an Indian server.
I am a tech enthusiast, passionate about new technologies and innovations, and have been writing technology-related articles for the last 5 years. I have a soft spot for Android OS and am always eager to know about new apps and share my thoughts and knowledge on the same to a wider audience.