Your Netflix Nightmare Is Now Over: How to Turn Off Autoplay Previews

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read

You know how where you’re trying to browse Netflix and the slightest grazing of a TV show or movie’s thumbnail image triggers a video preview?

Well, stop cursing the intrusion and follow these easy steps to shut the feature off.

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Netflix announced three years ago (in the video embedded down below) that because “sometimes it’s hard to decide on the perfect movie or show,” they had added to their interface a feature through which “you’ll see videos while you search, to give you a better idea of what’s in store.

“So you can browse less and watch more,” they said.

Many users, however, never quite appreciated the added “guidance.”

“I hate the Auto-Preview so much. I would rather just browse Netflix silently and not have the show I want to watch spoiled,” said one of many angry commenters on their YouTube channel. “It’s 2019 and I still hate this feature,” grumbled another. “Literally no one wants this.”

“This is the worst feature I’ve ever seen in my entire f–king life,” roared another, not using dashes, while one commenter put it most succinctly: “TURN IT OFF!!!!!

Such complaints have at last been heard, as the streaming giant on Thursday announced that “members can now control whether or not they see autoplay previews,” by signing into their account and following the instructions at this link.

There, users can shut off autoplay preview videos, as well as disable that other thing, where the closing credits of a show get thrown into a tiny window, while the next episode starts playing.

NETFLIX ANNOUNCES ‘A BETTER WAY TO BROWSE’ (DEC. 2016)

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