Netflix is a great service, but sometimes it can be really hard to resist watching a new episode of a show you’ve already watched. There are a few ways to stop Netflix from automatically playing the next episode of a show you’ve already watched.
- Change your Netflix settings so that you only see shows that have been released in the past month. This will help you avoid watching new episodes of shows that you’ve already seen.
- Cancel your subscription if you don’t want to watch new episodes of a show that you’ve already seen. This will also help keep your account clean and free from any future automatic playback of episodes from Netflix.
Netflix’s “Post-Play” feature is primarily aimed toward binge-watching. It’s nice if you’re catching up on all five seasons of Breaking Bad, but if you’re not consuming your TV in marathon 18-hour sessions, it can be annoying. Fortunately, you can turn it off.
Don’t get us wrong, we’ve all fallen into the Portlandiaesque-just-one-more-episode trap, which is why Netflix’s autoplaying abilities are so ingenious. It turns out however, we don’t always want to watch a full series in one sitting. Sometimes we like to pick and choose episodes on their individual merits, not just because they’re next up in the queue, or maybe we just want to watch one episode and then something else.
Whatever your particular needs and wants, you’re not stuck with Post-Play, you can turn it off, though it’s not exactly practical.
Turning Off Post-Play
Disabling Post-Play isn’t something you can do casually. In fact, unless you know the option exists or go looking for it, you might never find it. That’s because Netflix buries it in your account settings, which means you have to use Netflix.com.
The upside to this is that by applying the change to your viewing profile, it’s universal, which is also it’s downside because next time you’re casting from any of your devices and you want stuff to autoplay, you have to reenable it.
To begin, go to Netflix.com using your browser of choice. On the dropdown menu next to your name in the upper-right corner, click “Your Account” from the choices.
Next, on the My Account screen, look for “My Profile” and click “Playback settings.”
The Playback Settings options are pretty simple. The first is where you can specify data usage per screen; the default is “Auto.”
Under the data usage settings, uncheck the box next to “Play next episode automatically” and then click “Save.”
The next thing you need to do is reload any apps you have connected to your account, which means, if necessary, quitting and reopening them.
On iOS, double-tap the Home button and swipe up the Netflix app, then reopen it.
On Android, tap the right Overview button and swipe to close the Netflix app, then reopen it.
Since Post-Play is now disabled across all your devices, other computers, gaming consoles, etc., if you want to watch the next episode, you will have to physically click the play button. You can also go back to browsing Netflix or watch a different episode from that series.
To reenable Post-Play, simply retrace the steps outlined above and recheck the box in Playback Settings.
It would be a lot more convenient if we could just turn Post-Play on and off on a per app basis. Sadly, Netflix’s app settings are pretty Spartan. Perhaps the best workaround is to create a second profile and then select it if you want to autoplay all ten seasons of Friends.
While we think Post-Play certainly makes sense and is nice to have, it’s good we can also curb the temptation to binge or pick and choose our own watch-lists. Have a question or comment you’d like to add? Please leave your feedback in our discussion forum.
