After years of wrangling, Netflix has finally given in. The streaming service now gives subscribers the option to turn off autoplay previews, the trailers that play while browsing Netflix carousels. This solves a long-standing pain point among Netflix’s 167 million members, who have complained about audio popping up in autoplay previews, jolting viewers out of their seats who were simply browsing the available options to find content they were interested in. Netflix claims that previews make it easier for users to make decisions, but many times, it forces people to mute the TV, switch menus, or take any action to prevent playback.
How to turn off autoplay previews on Netflix
To put an end to this threat, you need to open Netflix in your browser – i.e. Netflix.com. There is no way to do this with the Netflix app on any platform. Here’s how to do it:
- Navigate to netflix.com and login from the upper right corner.
- On the “Who’s watching” screen, select Manage profile.
- Select the profile whose settings you want to change.
- On the Edit Profile screen, under Autoplay Controls, uncheck Automatically play previews while browsing on all devices.
- Click savethen click complete on the next screen.
According to Netflix, “There may be a delay before settings take effect. You can force an update by switching to another profile, then switching back to reload your profile with updated settings.”
If you find the five-second timer too cumbersome, you can also turn off “Autoplay next episode in series” using the Edit Profile screen. Once you uncheck it, you will need to manually play each episode.