When it comes to features and being user-friendly, Netflix is definitely the leader of the pack. That’s not to say the likes of Disney Plus, Hulu, Amazon Prime and the others are slacking, but they do all have their drawbacks whereas Netflix, more or less, has it all. However, there is one very useful feature that’s always been absent which is now making its way to the platform, and that’s the option to watch content slower or faster than the standard speed.
Yes, as has been rumored for a while now, the company will finally let you stream movies and TV shows at your own pace. This includes “either 0.5x or 0.75x speeds for slowed-down viewing or 1.25x or 1.5x speeds for faster watching.” However, the catch is that this feature is only available on Android mobile devices – for now. You’ll also need to opt-in to use the playback speeds with every new piece of content you stream, as they won’t just remain active, which is actually a good thing as it’ll prevent you from watching something at an unintended speed.
Speaking about the new feature and how it might impact creators who are concerned with how their work is viewed, a company spokesperson said:
“We’ve been mindful of the concerns of some creators. It’s why we have capped the range of playback speeds and require members to vary the speed each time they watch something new — versus fixing their settings based on the last speed they used.”
Meanwhile, Netflix also noted that its users value the flexibility offered by this, saying:
“The feature has been much requested by members for years. Most important of all, our tests show that consumers value the flexibility it provides whether it’s rewatching their favorite scene or slowing things down because they’re watching with subtitles or have hearing difficulties.”
And while it’s only available on Android mobile devices for now, Netflix says it plans to monitor the response to it and will soon begin testing different playback speeds on both iOS devices and even the web version of their platform. As of yet, there’s no plan to roll it out on televisions, but if it proves popular enough, there’s no reason to think the streaming giant won’t make it available there as well.
