Netflix has a hidden forget button

Two months ago my best friend stayed with me and looked at everything Emily in Paris on my Netflix account. I’ve spent the time whizzing past worthless recommendation after worthless recommendation because while I enjoy a frothy dramedy, my tastes are different than theirs and Netflix didn’t get that.

A “forget what you just watched” button on Netflix would fix this. But if you’re using the Netflix app on your phone, tablet, set-top box, TV, or even your Facebook portal, there’s no button to forget what you’ve watched. It’s just ruining your referrals after a friend visits or your kid goes to one coconut melon binge drinking

but this tweet pointed this out, there is actually a forget button. Well, no button. You can’t make Netflix forget, you can hide what you’ve seen.

But it is not easy. First you need to watch Netflix in a browser. Then you have to go accounts, giving you access to many more menus and settings than any Netflix app. Then you have to select the profile where you want to hide your shame clocks and go Profile & Parental Controls. then you have to open up show activity. Only then can you find the “Forget” button, which is actually a “Hide icon” located next to the content you’re looking for to flash Men in Black out of your profile.

If you’ve just started watching something and want to be kicked out of your “Continue Watching” queue, there is an actual “Remove from Next Watch” button is also available, but it’s limited to certain TV apps, the web browser, and some mobile apps. So can I remove it is it cake (I only watched one episode and it was bad!) from my queue on iOS but not on Apple TV.

Either way, it’s not an easy or intuitive process. The only reason I even went and circumcised Emily in Paris or is it cake From my viewing history it appears that I wrote this and wished to confirm the removal process as outlined by Netflix.

That shouldn’t be that difficult. Functionality as basic as an “Oops, that wasn’t my taste and I’d rather avoid it in the future” button shouldn’t be limited to a specific operating system or hidden behind countless menus.

Netflix lost 200,000 subscribers last quarter – the first loss in a decade. It blamed many factors, including share password, the war in Russia and increasing competition. I’m not naïve enough to say that with a more intuitive design it would win back 200,000 subscribers, but I think the bad button situation is emblematic of a bigger problem at Netflix: It’s idle.

And Netflix can’t afford to put to sea. It faces real competition for the first time since it pushed Blockbuster into oblivion. It’s no longer just about Hulu and a handful of ill-conceived money-making like CBS All Access. The streaming services that are all frantically grabbing for cash are: mainlythoughtful in their approach and with tremendous culturally relevant back catalogs from shows like The office, That sopranos, star trekand the entire Disney animated film program to quickly gain subscribers.

Netflix? It’s got a whole mess of two-season shows run by an algorithm based on your viewing history and a “Tudum” Sound that isn’t that iconic how it thinks. I admit I still watch a lot of those shows. I will devour everything Russian doll this weekend and I’ll probably do the same when stranger things returns later this year. But I can’t guarantee I’ll stay subscribed between shows like I will with HBO Max.

Netflix is ​​trying to address its catalog problem, and has been for years, but it needs to do more than find its own version of The office to be in competition. It can’t just come down to being first. It needs more than that. It will need things like an easy-to-navigate app that suggests the things you want to see instead of the things your best friend saw while she was sleeping on your couch.