Streaming giant Netflix premieres a new Android feature which ensures users conveniently have playlists and favorite movies available on the go.
During the past two years of innovations, Netflix introduced download functions allowing users to watch specific content on mobile or tablet devices while offline.
In the interim, Netflix analyzed users’ download activity, with reports reflecting two or three episodes of a show at a time per user, rather than downloading the whole season.
Recent technology strategies demonstrate how Netflix has built a capability that takes care of it for you called Smart Downloads. When activated, the next time the mobile app connects to Wi-Fi it will automatically download the next available episode in the series and delete the one you just finished watching to free up space.
“We’ve done a lot of user research in markets worldwide, and the main observation is that usually people don’t download an entire season, but tend to download 2-3 episodes at a time. Then they’ll manually delete and download next episodes,” explained Cameron Johnson, Director of Product Innovation with Netflix.
Currently, the new Smart Downloads feature will remain available solely on Android-powered devices, with no recent reports of timeframes in which the feature will arrive for iPhones and iPads.
Last week, reports surfaced that the streaming giant was testing a higher-priced premium “Ultra” subscription in Europe offering 4K Ultra HD video with High Dynamic Range (HDR) quality and the ability to watch on four screens at the same time.
The news led to speculation that the company would reduce capabilities for certain subscription tiers and introduce a more expensive premium plan.