New Netflix feature on Android lets you finish series without even watching it

Netflix is taking a step ahead in the video streaming market by actually moving away from it. The firm has now started rolling out audio-only mode for its mobile app users. This means that users can just listen to the shows while on the go and catch up, without watching the video stream. According to a new report by Android Police, this is arriving to its Android app as a server-side update. This means you don’t really have to do anything or update the app to get this feature.

This feature shouldn’t come as a shock since hints of it were dropped in October when this was found in the APK teardown by XDA Developers website. With the new feature, you don’t have to particularly watch the video and can also save data at the same time.

Also read: Average time spent on smartphone up 25% amid pandemic; Rise in calling, watching Netflix and more

In case you are one of the Netflix users on Android, you will be able to see a new Video Off button at the top when you turn to a full-screen video player. Once enabled, you can only hear the audio with the video being blank along with the playback controls and the brightness control slider.

There’s an ‘audio-only’ option in Settings as well that lets you chose either the ‘Always On’ feature or ‘Headphones or External Speakers’ or ‘Off’ options. It is worth adding that this feature might take some time to reach end users as it has just started rolling out.

On a related note, Netflix recently revealed what Indians watched the most in 2020. Over 80% of users in India have watched a film every week since last year. It also witnessed an increase of 250% in viewing of romantic films in India as compared to 2019.