How to stop netflix from playing the next episode automatically

The auto-play next feature on Netflix is great when you are binge-watching a show on a cold Sunday afternoon, making it so you don’t even have to touch the remote to watch the next episode of your new favorite show. Despite this undeniable benefit, I however find this feature to sometimes make me watch another episode even though I didn’t really want to.

I live this specific situation pretty much every night. I plan to go to bed when the currently playing episode is over, but all the sudden, another episode starts. “Well, we might as well watch this one too now, but we’re definitely going to bed when it’s over.” I’m sure this will sound familiar to many of you.

Auto-play next is also pretty bad for kids sitting in front of Netflix as they don’t really get a chance to do something but watch what’s coming next, encouraging them to stay on the couch instead of being more active.

Auto-play next is not a fatality though, as the feature can be disabled. In this post, I will show you how to disable the auto-play next feature on Netflix for each profile you have set up under your account. This will put you back in control as you’ll be able to decide what to watch next on your own terms.
How to disable auto-play next on Netflix

It’s important to note that auto-play next is a feature that is set at the profile level. For example, if you have one profile for you and one for your kid, you can choose to disable auto-next for your kid’s profile but not for yours. The steps described below will then have to be repeated for each profile.

In a web browser, log in to your Netflix account. Note that you cannot do that directly from the Netflix app as it has to be done from a browser.

Choose the profile for which you want to turn off auto-play next.
Once the profile is selected, click on Account.
Scroll down to the bottom and look for the Playback settings options. Click on it.

Netflix playback settings
Uncheck the box that reads Play next episode automatically, then click Save.

Don’t play next episode automatically on Netflix
If necessary, repeat the process for each account.

Note that for some reason, you can’t easily access a Kid’s profile account settings. Instead, you first have to select the Kid account, and then go directly to https://www.netflix.com/YourAccount to access specific settings for that profile.

Going forward, when you get to the end of an episode, the next one will not start playing automatically. Instead, you will have to use the remote to manually select the next episode. Auto-play will also be disabled on other devices such as your iPhone or iPad. So likewise, you will have to manually select what you want to watch next once an episode is over.

While not life changing, disabling auto-play next puts you more in control but more importantly, it can also prevent your kids from vegging out all day in front of Power Rangers Ninja Steel.

And while we’re on the Netflix topic, here is how you can reduce data usage generated by Netflix. This tip alone might save you tons of data.

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