MAX (formerly HBO Max) new CAPTCHA test leaves users in splits

It’s not news anymore that HBO Max has now been rebranded to MAX. But ever since that happened, users have been facing quite a number of issues.

For instance, the ‘Not available in your region’ error troubled users for quite some time. Some Roku TV owners also found it hard to transition to MAX from HBO Max.

MAX new CAPTCHA test

And now, reports indicate that the new MAX displays a CAPTCHA page after logging in that is reportedly inaccessible, making it somewhat pointless (1,2,3,4).

Max is using Arkose for their captcha tests, and Arkose is the most bull captcha provider I’ve ever seen.
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me when I do a stupid rebrand, completely release a new app instead of reskinning the old one, make captcha tests impossible, and remove Close Enough from streaming even tho it was a Max original so the creators don’t get paid anymore
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A number of users feel that it isn’t the most thought-out security test yet. And this isn’t surprising considering some ridiculous ‘Audio Challenges’ have also been used for the test.

Additionally, users are upset about how some of the ‘CAPTCHA’ is being overlapped by other visuals. Such patterns are only reflective of poor design as the arrows appear over the picture instead of the outer edges.

Resultantly, users are asking for CAPTCHAs that are easily solvable and only take a few seconds to crack. You can check out the rest of the discussion about this issue here .

Some also believe that the whole idea of these is to create training data for bots so they can solve these problems, not to secure users’ accounts.

Moreover, when it comes to preventing bots from compromising users’ privacy, two factor authentication method is more secure.

The whole point of these isn’t to protect your accounts lol, it’s too make training data for bots so they can solve these puzzles. Two factor authentication is a billion times more secure for stopping bots from hacking your accounts.
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Will it be withdrawn?

It has been alleged by a user that they got a message from support informing them that the CAPTCHA will be removed. However, no ETA has been shared by the team yet.

The same person also took to Mastodon voicing their concern about the verification process. According to them, the devs could have chosen other methods of verifying someone as a user (email/phone verification).

They are also of the view that the team intentionally made the sign-in process for blind people more difficult.

They could have used many other strategies to verify you as a user (including email verification, phone verification, or no verification at all). They deliberately added an unnecessary barrier to the signin process for #blind people. It’s utterly Ridiculous.
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With many complaining about the new MAX CAPTCHA test, we hope the developers do come up with a simpler verification test.

For now, we can only wait for the team to respond to the matter officially. We’ll also keep tabs on latest developments and update this article accordingly.

Note: We have more such stories in our dedicated HBO section, so be sure to follow them as well.

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