Netflix Privacy And More Tricks You Need To Know

Out of all the streaming services around, Netflix is by far the best in its class. With a catalog [...]

By William Cannon

Out of all the streaming services around, Netflix is by far the best in its class. With a catalog full of classics and exciting original series, it just can't be beat. But there are a few tricks and hacks that can make any users experience better.

A few years back, the streaming service was rumored to be testing out a "private mode," which would allow users to watch whatever they wanted without Netflix remembering what was viewed.

The idea was that you could watch a cheesy romantic comedy, a show with questionable content or something embarrassing to you without anyone else using the account knowing, or having it influence your future recommendations.

The privacy mode never actually made it to Netflix, but the service does have tools you can use to keep your privacy when you're sharing an account.

If privacy is a concern for you, scroll down and follow these tips to make your Netflix experience that much better:

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First up is profiles.

This is not a new feature, but many people still don't use them. Netflix allows each user to have up to five different profiles on their account. This can help maintain and keep your recommendations and watch lists separate.

To create new profiles, go to the Netflix home page and log in. Select your profile and then hover the mouse cursor over your username in the upper-right corner and select "Manage Accounts."

This is especially helpful for maintaining who is watching what. And parents will be happy to know that there is an option to create a kids profile so that only certain movies and TV series appear. When you create a profile, you can select "Kids 12 & under." This only displays movies and videos PG-13 or TV-14 and lower in ratings.

Of course, profiles aren't password protected so there's nothing to stop a child from switching over to another account. Instead, be sure to visit the Parental Control section for each non-child account to activate a PIN. This will keep anyone who doesn't know the PIN from watching content above a certain level.

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Next you can edit your viewing history.

Because different profiles under one account cannot be locked, there is an option to manage what is being watched.

Go to the Netflix home page and log in. Select the profile you want to review and then hover the mouse cursor over your username in the upper-right corner and select "Your Account." Under the "My Profile" section, click "Viewing activity." Or you can sign in and go to Netflix.com/ViewingActivity.

Scroll down the list and click the "X" next to any videos you want to remove. If you're seeing videos in the list you didn't watch, you can click the "See recent account access" link to see if someone else is using your account.

In the My Activity area, in the upper right, you can also switch to see past ratings you've given movies. If you really liked a movie a year ago, but now decide you don't, you can drop its rating or thumb it down. This will make it appear fewer times and also tell Netflix not to weigh it so much when picking other recommendations.

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Finally, you can tweak your recommendations.

The Netflix recommendation system is often hit or miss. Sometimes it will find you the perfect title, while other times it will just guess wildly.

Netflix takes every movie and TV show you watch into account when developing your Taste Profile. This helps it recommend videos from a pool of 76,897 genres.

The way to change your recommendations is by rating what you watch. When you're first starting Netflix, you'll see a lot of surveys called Taste Preferences that ask you to rate movies, shows and genres you've watched recently.

Taste Preferences are important to fill out so Netflix can build your Taste Profile. After a while, you won't see as many of these, however.

If you want to revisit your preferences, go to the Netflix site and under Your Account, load the "Taste Preferences" survey. Or you can simply click this link and log in.

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Kick people out of your streaming world.

If you're like most people, you have probably been so enthralled with a show you wanted to share it with others. Maybe your friend or family member didn't have a Netflix account at the time so you just let them use yours.

Well, what happens when you don't want this individual to use your Netflix account anymore? There is a simple solution to give them a boot.

Netflix makes it easy for you. Simply log in to your account and go into "My Account" and sign out all devices that are currently logged into your account.

After doing that you'll just need to change your password and they can't get back in.

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No Internet, no problem.

Few things will sink your heart faster than wanting to watch Netflix, but not having an internet connection.

Fortunately, there are a lot of shows you can download and watch later. This can come in handy if you happen to get your internet knocked out by a storm, or if you are going on a long car ride.

Or, you could just use this feature to download a few episodes of your child's favorite cartoon as a way to keep them entertained when you go places without internet that aren't really fun for children.

You can download select TV shows and movies to watch without an Internet connection from the Netflix app on your Apple iOS or Android devices and computers or tablets running Windows 10. Downloads are not currently supported on other devices.

To download titles from Netflix on your device, you will need:

  • An iPhone, iPad, or iPod running iOS 9.0 or later
  • A phone or tablet running Android 4.4.2 or later
  • A tablet or computer running Windows 10 Version 1607 (Anniversary Update) or later
  • An Internet connection (to download the content)
  • An active Netflix streaming account
  • The latest version of the Netflix Apple iOS, Netflix Android, or Netflix Windows 10 app

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[H/T Kim Komando]

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