Netflix is under fire from Apple TV users who say the streaming giant has ruined the tvOS app by changing the video player to a design more common among its portfolio of apps..
The saga of the unloved update has been rumbling on for a couple of weeks now, but is gaining the attention of more and more outlets, with Netflix users taking to social media platforms to complain. Essentially, Netflix has replaced the native tvOS video player that’s a staple of most streaming apps and has replaced it with a custom offering similar to what it uses on other smart TV platforms.
The change has introduced a couple of pain points for Apple TV users, including more cumbersome scanning of content and the inability to use all the playback controls from the Apple TV iOS Remote. It also removing the handy Enhance Dialogue control from the video player itself. Now you’ll have to go into the tvOS Settings to change that. The equally useful native player feature that automatically enables subtitles for a few seconds when you backtrack – due to the assumption you may have missed a little dialogue – is also gone.
One user on Reddit explains the newfound faffing: “Did Netflix mess up the app? There are two extra clicks for a simple 10s rewind or fast forward. Instead of it going back 10s in one click, now it pauses and brings up the frame selector, and then you have to click again. Did they not do any research or usability testing before releasing this?”
Why? Some users are suggesting it can glean more useful engagement data by working with its own video player, that it cannot get from Apple. But that’s pure speculation that led one upset Reddit punter to suggest: “Apple wasn’t letting them surveil & monetise to the degree they feel they’re entitled.”
The plot thickens, which is more than you can say for most of Netflix’s TV shows.
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