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No, Netflix, I don’t want to keep watching Fate: The Winx Saga. I also don’t want to keep watching the last two minutes of credits on The Dig. And I just wanted to review the last four episodes of Schitt’s Creek – stop trying to get me to start over from the beginning (I mean someday I will, but no need to constantly remind myself now).
The most annoying thing about Netflix, which is shared by almost all of the top streaming services, is a dismal lack of queue management. If you’re like me, your “keep watching” sections on Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, etc. are full of things that you A) don’t want to watch anymore or B) that you have already watched, minus a few minutes at the end.
To give Netflix at least some credit, they’ve rolled out a way to fix Issue A – an option to remove a title from the “keep watching” row – but only on the mobile app. But I mostly stream Netflix to my TV with Apple TV, as do millions of subscribers with various other devices like Roku and Fire Sticks. Many others see it on their laptops.
It certainly makes sampling more painful. I tried the first episode of the YA Fate: The Winx Saga fantasy series but decided it wasn’t for me. Still, it appeared in “Keep Watching” until I finally opened the Netflix app on my phone to get rid of it.
No other streaming service even offers this option, all is well on Netflix. Now deploy it to the website and TV app.
Meanwhile, no streaming service offers a way to fix the problem B. Disney Plus thinks I want to keep watching every episode of WandaVision, as well as every episode of The Mandalorian, the Soul and Folklore: The Long Pond movie. Studio Sessions. That’s because I didn’t let time pass on all of them (apologies to the assiduous contributors mentioned in the end credits).
To force Disney Plus to stop asking me to resume watching, I have to play each episode / movie and end it or fast forward to the very last second.
There’s no way you can tell a service, “Hey, I looked at this!” It would also be useful if you are viewing an episode on someone else’s account, such as watching an episode on a friend’s house.
All of this applies to Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime Video (Peacock does not have a “Continue Watching” section). But there is a streaming app that handles the queue well.
Apple TV lets you control your watchlist
The Apple TV app (available on other devices beyond Apple TV 4K) makes it easy to manage your watchlist. The Apple TV app integrates the shows and movies you watch on other services including Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and more. Think of it like a streaming inbox.
The “Up Next” line does exactly what it says: display new episodes in your queue. But if you saw it or don’t want to watch it, you can get rid of it! Long press the selection or long press the tile (or on a laptop, click the three dots) to bring up a menu of options. You can remove from the “Next” line, mark the episode as watched or delete from the recently watched one.
Now this does not affect the streaming service queue. For example, if I mark WandaVision Episode 6 as watched in the Apple TV app, it doesn’t translate to Disney Plus. The latter still displays the episode as unseen.
So this is a good workaround if you are using the Apple TV app to watch all of your shows. But real services need to work on adding more functionality to manage your queue. We’re all streaming more than ever these days, and with more streaming services vying for our subscription dollars, an easy and painless experience is priceless.
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