Netflix users celebrate news that service is allowing users to disable automatic previews
Subscribers have long criticised the function
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Your support makes all the difference.Users took to Twitter to voice excitement over Netflix’s decision to enable them to disable automatic previews.
The streaming platform announced the change on Thursday on social media. Users can now choose whether or not they want a preview to start playing when they hover over a specific programme. Until now, the previews always played and that option couldn’t be switched off.
One Netflix user tweeted: “In tribute to Netflix turning off autoplay on previews, I’m going to start screaming constantly, all the time, ignoring any attempts to stop me, and then demand praise when I finally FINALLY decide to stop.”
Another wrote: “Netflix’s ‘autoplay previews’ is hands down the worst UX decision of the last few years. At least now there’s a setting to turn it off.”
Some users were more dramatic: “Literally no one found this feature useful. THANK GOD you have finally freed us from this horrific nightmare.”
“Some people find this feature helpful. Others not so much. We’ve heard the feedback loud and clear – members can now control whether or not they see autoplay previews on Netflix,” the company tweeted. The announcement already has 15k likes.
The message was first shared from Netflix’s US account then retweeted from Netflix’s UK account, indicating that the change is effective in both countries.
Netflix also shared a link to an explainer on how to switch off the feature. Users can do so on their own profile and the change will be effective on all devices, without affecting the profiles of other users on the account.
While signed into Netflix, users can click “manage profiles” in the menu. There, they can select the appropriate profile and check or uncheck the box that corresponds to the text: “Autoplay previews while browsing on all devices.”
The option appears under “autoplay controls”, next to “Autoplay next episode in a series on all devices”.
Some users rejoiced at Netflix’s announcement on social media, while others asked for more changes to the platform.
The automatic previews had long been a topic of controversy for Netflix users, with many complaining that it was disrupting their user experience.
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