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As reported by Engadget, Netflix offers several hidden features and lesser-known settings designed to make the streaming experience more personalized and enjoyable beyond basic functions like downloading content or adjusting video quality. From secret sub-genre search codes to viewing history tracking, these five tips help users optimize their platform usage.
View your entire watch history
Subscribers can review every movie and TV episode they have ever watched by accessing their Netflix account on a web browser, signing in, selecting ‘Manage Profiles’ under the profile icon, and scrolling down to ‘Viewing Activity’. Engadget noted that while there is no search feature, users can download the entire list by selecting ‘Download All’ to thoroughly check viewing logs or ensure children are not accessing restricted content. Additionally, individual titles can be hidden using a designated icon.
Micro-genre codes
To find specific content outside standard categories, users can utilize dedicated four- to seven-digit numerical codes. As outlined by Engadget, typing http://netflix.com/browse/genre/ into a web browser followed by a specific code—such as 1476024 for 1990s children and family Christmas films, 8985 for martial arts, or 7687 for film noir—allows viewers to instantly locate and bookmark niche titles.
Clean up your Continue Watching category
Unfinished or abandoned movies and TV shows that remain in the ‘Continue Watching’ row can be manually removed across different devices, according to Engadget. Mobile users can tap the three dots under a title and select ‘Remove from row’, big-screen viewers can press and hold the select button on their remote, and web browser users can hover over the title and click the ‘X’ icon.
Disable autoplay previews
Engadget reported that users can prevent noisy or unwanted video previews from playing automatically when lingering on a title. This can be disabled by navigating to ‘Playback Settings’ under the ‘Account’ menu and unchecking both ‘Autoplay next episode’ and ‘Autoplay previews’.
Customizing subtitles and captions
Subtitles and closed captions can be tailored for better viewing by visiting ‘Manage Profiles’, selecting a profile, and clicking ‘Subtitle Appearance’ to alter font sizes, shadows, and backgrounds. Furthermore, as detailed by Engadget, viewers who want dialogue without descriptive sound text can open the Subtitles menu during playback and switch from English [CC] to standard English.
