How to stop Netflix’s Autoplay

Netflix has finally answered the plea of many, many customers and now offers a way to disable autoplaying videos when you’re browsing the home screen. If you’re tired of trailers for shows or movies starting to play whenever you briefly pause on a selection, this is the option you’ve been waiting for.

The important thing to know is that you can only change this setting by signing into Netflix with a web browser; as of now, there’s no way to do it from the Netflix app on your smartphone, tablet, or TV. But the process couldn’t be much easier.

• Sign into your Netflix account on the web.
• Click your profile photo in the upper right and choose “Manage Profiles.”
• Choose the profile you want to disable autoplay for. Beneath the options for your profile name, language, and parental controls, you’ll see a section for autoplay controls.
• You can uncheck “Autoplay next episode in a series on all devices” to prevent Netflix from automatically starting up the next episode when you’re streaming a TV series. This option has been around for several years, but it’s possible you’ve never noticed it.
• You can also uncheck “Autoplay previews while browsing on all devices” to stop clips from playing when you’re navigating around the Netflix home screen and other sections of the service. This is the new setting, the one that will let you browse the service without a trailer starting up every time you stop on a given show or movie.

Any changes you make will apply across all the devices you’re using Netflix on. However, the company notes you might sometimes notice a delay before your chosen setting takes effect. To get around this, all you have to do is switch to another profile on your Netflix account and then switch right back to your own. If that fails, log out of Netflix and log back in again. After that, autoplay should immediately be disabled (if that’s your preference).

Once autoplay is off, you’ll be able to carry on with your indecisive scrolling through Netflix’s many rows of entertainment options. Hopefully you’ll have an easier time picking something now that you won’t be bothered by videos playing everywhere you go.

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