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If you enjoy streaming movies and TV shows on Netflix, you’ve no doubt encountered the service’s autoplay feature. It’s been around for years, causing frustration for viewers who don’t want to be bombarded by unwanted trailers while they browse for something to watch.
And, while some people – we’re looking at you, binge-watchers – may enjoy the way Netflix starts a new episode of a series before the end-credits roll, others would like to decide for themselves if they go on to the next episode.
Angry customers go public
A Change.org petition demanding the option to stop Netflix autoplay collected 124,799 signatures.
In March 2017, someone started a Twitter account called Stop Autopreview just to complain to Netflix. While it may sound frivolous at first, some of the complaints made by parents were serious:
A Hollywood heavy-hitter, Rian Johnson (director of Knives Out and Star Wars: The Last Jedi), also weighed in:
The company has now responded to customers who have asked for the option to disable the Netflix autoplay function, and it’s easy to do. Right now, the only way to set this up is on a desktop computer’s web browser; you can’t do it on a device like a phone or a tablet.
Method #1:
All you have to do is:
- Sign into your Netflix account
- Select your profile photo on the top-right and then click “Manage Profiles.” (Yes, that’s right: you can have a different setting than other people on your account.)
- Select the profile for which you want to disable autoplay
- Tick the checkbox for what content you will allow to autoplay — either the next episode of a series, previews while you’re browsing, both or neither. (The “next episode” option has actually been available for some time, although many users seem to have missed it.)
- Click the “Save” button
That’s all you need to do to make the changes across all your devices. The changes will take effect after a delay, but you can push them through by switching to another user profile and then going back to yours.
Method #2:
An alternate way to do the same thing:
- Sign into your Netflix account
- Select “Account”
- On the Account page, scroll down to the My Profile section
- Click the link for “Playback settings”
- You’ll see the same checkboxes, with the same choices. Tick the ones you want to change. There’s no save button, so just exit out
Now you know how to stop Netflix autoplay… and you can browse in peace and binge-watch as you wish. The power is in your hands. Use it wisely.
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