Silence, please! How to turn off auto-playing Netflix previews

There’s always something happening when browsing for new, interesting content through the Netflix app. This is because an automatic preview is played by default for many films and series to give you an idea of what you’re about to see, usually a trailer or a selected scene.

Many find this autoplay feature annoying, as it constantly draws the eye to the moving elements. Nevertheless, Netflix decided to place the preview even more prominently in a revision of the TV app.

Here’s how to switch off the auto-preview function on Netflix completely.

Deactivate Netflix auto-preview for smartphone or tablet

To deactivate the Netflix preview on Android or iOS devices, first go to the Netflix app. Now select My Netflix and go to the menu at the top right.

You can select a profile via the Manage profiles option and deactivate the last option Autoplay Previews at the bottom. This setting then applies to all devices on which you use the profile.

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Deactivate Netflix auto-preview in the web browser

You can also deactivate the preview option via the web browser. To do this, log into your account and then go to Profiles & Parental Controls in your account.

Here too, select the profile to which the change should apply and then go to Playback settings. Then deactivate the option Autoplay previews when browsing the title selection and save the setting.

Deactivate Netflix auto-preview on TVs

The settings you have made in the browser or app should also apply to playback on TVs. However, the automatic preview is still displayed in the Netflix app on smart TVs, despite being deactivated.

When you call up the detail page of a title, Netflix always shows a short preview to help you decide whether to watch a given video. This is intentional and unfortunately cannot be avoided.

This how-to was originally published on PC-Welt, our sibling site, and was translated from the original German.