Netflix quietly makes major change to platform with ‘zero warning’

Netflix has quietly cut a popular feature which will affect everyone who uses the streaming service on their phones.

The company has ended the ability to cast video directly from your phone to a bigger TV screen, a move many frustrated Netflix users claim came without any warning last month.

Instead of beaming your show from your phone, users will only be able to cast video by grabbing their TV remote and browsing Netflix right on the TV itself.

Casting is a handy way of sharing movies or shows with friends and family, or just enjoying a better view than on a small mobile device.

Popular tools like Google Chromecast make this easy by turning your phone into a remote control for the TV.

The change impacts both Android and iPhone users casting to most modern TVs or streaming sticks, such as the newer Chromecasts or Google TVs.

The only way Netflix users can continue casting is if they have older hardware like the original Chromecast from 2013 or early Google TV streamers with built-in Google Cast support.

However, casting will only work for customers who have Netflix’s ad-free plans, which cost at least $18 per month – a major catch that has infuriated many of the streaming service’s 300million subscribers.

‘First password sharing, now no casting. Netflix is speed-running how to annoy its entire user base,’ one person said on X.

‘Genuinely cancelling my [Netflix] subscription over this. This is the best way to use Netflix? What are they thinking????’ another person commented on The Verge.

Netflix reportedly never made the change known to its customers, with the announcement being found by users going to the company’s help page when the feature suddenly wouldn’t work in mid-November.

‘Netflix no longer supports casting shows from a mobile device to most TVs and TV-streaming devices. You’ll need to use the remote that came with your TV or TV-streaming device to navigate Netflix,’ the streaming service posted online.

Many users fuming over the policy shift claimed this was the latest Netflix change designed to make it harder for subscribers to share their content and force more people to create new accounts

Before this change, Netflix users could walk into a friend’s house, tap the cast button on their phone, pick a nearby TV connected to Wi-Fi, and start watching shows in seconds without signing into the device.

Now, to watch shows on someone else’s TV, that TV has to be fully signed in to the person’s Netflix account using that television’s own remote.

Netflix’s strict ‘one household’ rules also kick in. If the user’s account is already logged in at home, adding it to a friend’s TV can trigger warnings, verification codes, or even block playback unless they pay extra for an ‘extra member’ slot.

When the person leaves, they then have to remember to log out of their account on that particular TV, or risk hitting Netflix’s device limit and getting locked out of their own home setup.

Simply put, casually watching Netflix on a friend or relative’s TV, a hotel, or at an Airbnb has gone from a five-second phone tap to a slow, awkward sign-in dance that often feels like more trouble than it’s worth.

‘Casting is literally the only way for me to watch Netflix on my projector. It doesn’t have Netflix built-in, so “using the controller” isn’t even an option,’ a frustrated user posted on Reddit.

‘This is easily the most consumer-hostile thing Netflix has ever done… There is no longer any way to play Netflix on Chromecast gen 1, gen 2, gen 3 or ultra,’ another social media user explained.

‘Customer support said I should buy new hardware. I guess I just pray they don’t drop support for the new hardware in 3 years?’ they added.

Back in 2019, Netflix quietly pulled the plug on Apple’s AirPlay feature, which let iPhone and iPad users wirelessly beam their shows straight to an Apple TV or compatible smart TV to watch on a bigger screen without cables or hassle.

This move stopped anyone with an iOS device from casting Netflix content via AirPlay altogether, forcing users to either download the Netflix app on their Apple TV or hook up a cable if they wanted to watch on a television.