Yes, this is the definition of a first-world problem, but a problem it remains.
Until now.
Let’s set the scene – you open Netflix, and before you can even start to consider your options, a video at the top of the screen starts playing.
You quickly scroll down, and start having a look at what’s trending. Hang on – your mouse is hovering over a show, and boom, now that trailer is playing.
Netflix users know the drill.
The streaming giant has now answered the pleas of users, and given us the option to disable this feature. Sure, it’s only available if you log in on a web browser, rather than through the app, but it only takes a moment.
The Verge has the details:
- Sign into your Netflix account on the web.
- Click your profile photo in the upper right and choose “Manage Profiles.”
- Choose the profile you want to disable autoplay for. Beneath the options for your profile name, language, and parental controls, you’ll see a section for autoplay controls.
- Uncheck “Autoplay previews while browsing on all devices” to stop clips from playing when you’re navigating around the Netflix home screen and other sections of the service. This is the new setting, the one that will let you browse the service without a trailer starting up every time you stop on a given show or movie.
Look at you, browsing in peace. First, you nicked someone’s password, and now you’re fiddling with the settings – smooth.
Once you’ve stopped the autoplay videos, it’s back to scrolling through Netflix for half an hour, before realising it’s too late to start watching something and heading off to bed.
If you’re a serial binge watcher, there’s another option buried in there that may interest you.
In that same section for autoplay controls, you can uncheck “Autoplay next episode in a series on all devices” to prevent Netflix from automatically starting up the next episode.
That option has been around for a while, but not many people seem aware of it. Maybe that’s because the next episode automatically starting is a great excuse to avoid doing that thing you don’t really want to do, while your binge goes on.
Living the dream.
[source:verge]
