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Netflix Launches ‘Downloads For You’ Feature; Auto-Downloads Shows You’ll Like

Netflix is bringing its “Shows You’ll Like” feature to offline viewing. Today, Netflix launched “Downloads for You,” a feature that will allow users to opt into automatic downloads of shows they’ll potentially like. Shows are gathered based on your Netflix watch history and will consist of only the first few episodes of a series in order to get you started. From there, you can decide to download the rest of the series or cut your losses and move onto something else.

“We’re excited to introduce Downloads for You. People who choose this new feature will have shows or movies automatically downloaded to their devices, with recommendations based on their tastes,” said Patrick Flemming, Netflix’s Director of Product Innovation, in a statement. “We want to make discovering your next new favorite series or film even easier, whether you’re connected or not.”

Once you opt in, you’ll be able to set how much content Netflix will download on your behalf — whether that’s 1, 3, or 5GB. Then, the service will start downloading content once your device is connected to Wi-Fi. “Downloads for You” will work with any Netflix show or movie already available for offline viewing — though the full catalogue won’t be available due to licensing restrictions.

Currently, the service is only available on Android devices, though an iOS version is expected by the end of the year.

Downloading content is a boon for those who commute to cities with underground transportation or live in areas where signals are unreliable. Obviously, this expanded feature makes sense for U.S. users but also worldwide users who can’t rely on their wireless infrastructure the same way American or even Canadian and certain European users can.

The streaming service allows you to download 100 titles on single device. The number of devices that you can download content to depends on your plan. The Basic ($8.99) plan allows downloads to 1 device, while the Standard ($13.99) plan offers downloads on up to 2 devices, and the Premium ($17.99) plan on up to 4 devices.


Jeff Kotuby is a contributing writer to The Streamable who specializes in sports, music, and all things Japanese media. He cut the cord in 2017 and has spent the last six years of his career writing for technology, entertainment, and healthcare websites. He's a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles and Anaheim Ducks fan, but also enjoys watching animated shows from the '90s.

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