Freesat Users Hit By Another Round Of Feature Cuts

If you’re still clinging onto one of those trusty old Humax Freesat boxes, we’ve got some unfortunate news.

Freesat has just announced another round of feature removals that kicked in on August 12.

This time, they’re stripping away some pretty fundamental bits of functionality that many users rely on daily – such as the ability to scroll backwards through the TV guide and the search function

This is just the latest feature to disappear from these older boxes, continuing a trend we’ve seen over the past few years.

The Affected Boxes: Still Going Strong (Sort Of)

The Freesat boxes getting hit by this latest round of cuts are older Humax models, but they were the backbone of Freesat for years.

Freesat specifically mentions the HDR-1100S (available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB variants) and the HB-1100S non-recordable receiver, but this likely affects all Freesat G2 models sold between 2013 and 2019.

These weren’t budget boxes when they launched – they were proper premium kit that cost a hefty sum at the time.

The HDR-1100S, in particular, was Freesat’s flagship recorder for years, offering twin tuners, decent storage options, and a slick interface, along with several advanced app features (which have since been removed as well – see below).

The thing is, these boxes are still perfectly capable pieces of hardware. They’ve got decent processors and plenty of storage (in the recording models) – many users have had them running flawlessly for over a decade, which says something about Humax’s build quality back then.

But here’s the rub – as is often the case with old tech, they’re getting treated like relics from the Stone Age.

What’s Actually Changing This Week

This week, Freesat announced several feature removals related to the connected services of these devices:

Scrolling Backwards on the TV Guide is probably the biggest loss here. This means you can no longer check what was on earlier in the day or yesterday – something that’s genuinely useful when you’re trying to track down a programme you missed or want to catch up on via iPlayer.

The “deep linking functionality” that goes with this feature also means you won’t be able to jump straight to catch-up services from the guide anymore.

Showcase Recommendations was handy for discovering new programmes and keeping track of popular shows. Again, the deep linking that went with it is also gone, so no more seamless jumping between the guide and on-demand services.

Search Functionality is perhaps the most frustrating loss. Being able to search for specific programmes, actors, or genres across all the available channels and catch-up services was genuinely useful.

Without it, you’re back to manually trawling through channel listings and hoping you remember which channel shows what (or go directly into one of the on-demand apps, and search in there).

The good news is that your box will still work for watching live TV (and recordings), the basic TV guide still functions, and you can still access the various on-demand apps, which will continue to work.

These include:

• BBC iPlayer
• 5
• STV Player
• Watch Free U
• Netflix
• France 24
• YouTube

As before, Channel 4’s app is not available, and neither is ITVX, which was never supported on these boxes.

A History of Cuts and Downgrades

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve been down this road before – repeatedly. These older Humax Freesat boxes have been steadily losing functionality for years now, and it’s starting to feel like death by a thousand cuts.

Back in September 2022, these same boxes lost access to ITV Hub when ITV upgraded their content protection technology ahead of launching ITVX.

That was a proper blow because it meant losing access to all of ITV’s catch-up content and live streaming. Unlike other platforms, these boxes never got ITVX support either, so that content has been gone for nearly three years now.

Then, in June 2024, Freesat pulled the plug on remote recording via their mobile app. This affected all Freesat boxes, not just the older Humax ones, but it was still another useful feature down the drain.

The ability to set recordings while you were out and about had been a staple of the Freesat experience for years.

And then in June 2025, Freesat stripped out the remote control functionality from their mobile app. This one only affected the older Humax boxes (the newer 4K boxes never supported it anyway), but it meant you could no longer use your phone to change channels, adjust volume, or navigate the interface remotely.

And now we’ve got this latest round of cuts, removing search, backwards EPG scrolling, and the recommendations system.

A Pattern We’ve Seen Before

This steady erosion of functionality isn’t unique to Freesat boxes, unfortunately. It’s become an increasingly common story across the connected TV landscape as manufacturers and platform operators prioritise newer devices over older ones.

Whether it’s Sony smart TVs losing Netflix support after a few years, or BBC iPlayer saying goodbye to old boxes, the pattern is always the same – devices that once offered the full experience gradually become more basic over time.

The reality is that maintaining software and app compatibility across multiple generations of hardware is expensive and time-consuming. It’s often easier for companies to simply drop support for older devices and push users towards newer models, even when the hardware itself is perfectly capable.

What Can You Actually Do About It?

If you’re tired of watching your Freesat box slowly lose its functionality, you have a few options.

The most obvious route is to upgrade to one of Freesat’s newer 4K boxes. These come in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB variants and still support all the features that have been stripped from the older Humax models.

You’ll get 4K support (obviously), modern streaming apps, and the full Freesat experience as it was intended.

However – and this is worth noting – even these “newer” 4K boxes are getting a bit long in the tooth now. The first ones launched back in 2020, making them five years old already.

Alternatively, you could stick with your Humax box for basic Freesat viewing and supplement it with a separate streaming device.

Something like an Amazon Fire TV Stick or Roku device will give you access to all the streaming apps (including ITVX, which your old Freesat box can’t get), plus modern features like voice search and recommendations.

The nuclear option is to ditch Freesat altogether and move to Freeview, Sky, or go fully streaming-only with something like Freely – which is due to get a standalone set-top box later this year.

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