When there isn’t much to do other than get through your gaming catalogue and catch up on your Netflix binging, it’s easy to get frustrated by rather inconsequential things. Like accidentally tapping a button or your screen on your phone/tablet and messing up where you were on your current Netflix episode or movie.
Thankfully Netflix has heard those silent tears as a new feature, first spotted on 9to5Google, is in development that will allow Android users to disable their devices from any accidental touches when using the Netflix app. According to the report, a new “screen lock” option will appear at the bottom of the screen after you start watching a TV show or movie. Enabling screen lock will stop the button prompts, such as the “Play/Pause” buttons, from appearing, helping to prevent you from stopping playback or accidentally enabling subtitles. If you want to disable the feature, tap your screen and an “unlock” prompt will appear which you will need to tap twice.
Android system gestures, like swiping to go back, will still reportedly work with the feature enabled however, so there is still room for some error regardless. If you’re watching something on your phone and have a kid or a pet that has a tendency to touch the screen, at least this shouldn’t interfere too much with your current binge-watching.
It sounds like such a minor and insignificant update given all the other news we hear, but with people now taking their binge-watching seriously, it will likely be a welcome addition to the Netflix app. The new feature will initially only be available for Android, with no indication at present if it will be making its way to Apple, though Apple devices are admittedly less susceptible to accidental touching. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see this coming out for that too.
Last Updated: April 21, 2020
BradeLunner
April 21, 2020 at 15:47
It’s already working!